"We've got to get back," said Chris.
"We should wait for Sonic," replied Chuck.
Chris, Chuck, Tanaka, and Ella were on the highway, driving away from the Thorndyke residence. Chuck was at the wheel, and as he responded to Chris, he switched to the leftmost lane and urged the car to go faster.
"That's the thing," said Chris. "Sonic could be in danger. We should go back to help him."
"Help him?" said Chuck with a dry laugh. "We'd only get in his way. We should wait until he finds us and gives us the all clear."
Chuck was not driving his usual car, which had been totaled following their first confrontation with enemy agents. As Chuck pushed the accelerator to the floor, a siren began to wail from behind them.
"Ugh, just what we needed," said Chuck. With adrenaline still flowing, Chuck had been swerving in and out of traffic to get as far away from home as possible. As he glanced down at his speedometer, he gulped and mentally facepalmed as it read more than 100 miles per hour. However, when he glanced into his rear-view mirror expecting to see a police cruiser, he was surprised to find what looked like a race car.
"Wait, is that Sam?!" said Chuck. "Maybe this is just what we needed."
Chuck immediately pulled to the side of the highway, and as soon as the car came to a stop, he leapt out of the car and towards the race car.
"Sam!" he cried. "There's been some big trouble. We were attacked by—"
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" yelled a female voice, amplified by a loudspeaker coming from the race car.
Chuck froze. He mentally facepalmed once again as he realized that he had merely assumed that Sam was driving the race car. In fact, Sam was the leader of Station Square's "S-Team"—an entire team of race car drivers who patrolled the area's highways.
"Keep your hands where I can see them," ordered the S-Team officer, who stepped out of the race car and walked slowly towards Chuck. Slowly, Chuck raised his hands in front of him.
"Listen," said Chuck. "My name is Chuck Thorndyke. I am the father-in-law of Sam Speed, the leader of your division. If you don't believe me, call it in. You can run the plate of this car."
"He's right," said Chris, who popped his head out the window.
The officer narrowed her eyes and pointed at Chris. "You," she said, "stay in the vehicle." Then, glancing back to Chuck, she said, "You, place your hands on the vehicle. Keep them there."
Chuck complied, and the officer patted down his body. When she was satisfied that Chuck was not carrying any weapons, her apprehensive energy slightly lowered. She reached into Chuck's pocket and retrieved his wallet. Inside, she found Chuck's photo identification and gaped in surprise when the card confirmed that the man before her was in fact Professor Chuck Thorndyke.
"Mr. Thorndyke…" said the officer.
"Professor Thorndyke," corrected Chuck.
"… do you know why I stopped you today?"
Chuck rolled his eyes. This was a common tactic that police officers used during traffic stops. Often, people would answer the question in a way that incriminated themselves. Chuck decided to answer the question with a question: "Are you going to call my son-in-law or not?"
The officer eyed Chuck carefully. "Wait right here," she said. She then walked briskly back to her vehicle and disappeared inside.
After a few minutes, Chuck expected the officer to emerge from her vehicle, but to his surprise, after just 5 minutes, a second race car appeared, sirens wailing. Chuck breathed a sigh of relief as the face of his son-in-law emerged from the backup vehicle.
"Sam!" said Chuck. "You've got to help us. We—"
"I know," interrupted Sam. "We've already been briefed on the situation, and we're working with the government to intervene."
Chuck blinked. It had not been more than 30 minutes since they had fled from their home. "How did you know so quickly?" asked Chuck.
Sam winked in response. "They don't call us the S-Team for nothing. We're going to help transport you all to a secure location. Come with us."
Chris looked at Sam's race car curiously. There was only room for the driver and one passenger. It wasn't clear how they were going to fit him, his grandpa, Ella, and Tanaka. "How should we—"
Suddenly, an entire squadron of race cars appeared, parking on the shoulder in a line behind Sam's.
"Ah," said Chris.
Soon, they took off, sirens blazing. Their urban surroundings soon gave way to a desert landscape. Once they were outside of the city, there were much fewer cars on the road, allowing them to travel much faster. Not as fast as Sonic, of course—if they traveled anywhere close to the speed of sound, the cars on the road wouldn't have time to react, and an accident could happen—but fast enough that they reached their destination 100 miles away in less than an hour.
Even before their destination became visible in the distance, Chris already had an idea of where they were going. The first time Sonic and his friends arrived in Chris's world, they had all appeared in separate, seemingly random places throughout Station Square. Cream and Cheese ended up on a tall platform beneath a highway billboard. The government quickly captured them and moved them to a remote, top secret military base called Area 99. After catching wind of this, Chuck and Chris helped Sonic infiltrate the base and rescue Cream and Cheese. It was the very first of countless daring adventures that Chris and Sonic would embark on during their times together. The route that Sam and the S-Team were taking was identical to the route that Chris and Chuck had taken to reach Area 99 all those years ago.
"Wow, this really takes me back," said Chuck when they arrived at the base, and Chris smiled.
The S-Team led them into a nondescript building, into a nondescript elevator, and into a nondescript hallway with nondescript doors every few feet. Finally, Sam paused at a seemingly random door and knocked twice.
"Come in," said a deep voice from behind the door.
When Chris, Chuck, Ella, and Tanaka entered, they all gasped.
It was a conference room with a ton of television screens that covered an entire wall. The people at the conference table all stood up to greet their guests, whose eyes were fixated on the man at the head of the conference table. They recognized him immediately.
"Welcome," he said. "I'm—"
"M-M-Mr. President!" stammered Tanaka, who started bowing.
"Please, lift your head," said the man, smiling. "That won't be necessary. Besides, I'm not the president anymore."
He was a relatively large man with age-wrinkled skin and gray hair. His name was Michael Rogers. He had been the country's president during the time when Sonic was previously in Chris's world. He had gotten along with Sonic (though not initially, thanks to an overzealous aide), and because of Sonic's popularity, his acquaintance with Sonic had been a boon for his public image. He was reelected in a landslide and left office with some of the highest approval ratings of any president in history.
"Welcome," the former president said once again. "Welcome to the Firebird."
"The Firebird?" said Chris, tilting his head.
The president smiled. "Yes, Operation Firebird, to be precise. That's what we're calling ourselves." He swept his hand to point to the others at the conference table.
When Chuck's eyes landed on one particular man at the table, he raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"You!" said Chuck. "You're that agent."
"It's good to see you again, Professor Thorndyke," said the man, who smiled warmly.
The last time Chuck encountered this man, it was on the front porch of the Thorndyke residence. He had opened the door expecting a gruff, burly government agent, but instead, he had been surprised—just as surprised as he was now—to see a young face whose eyes seemed to shimmer constantly with concern for those around him.
"Eppes, is it?" said Chuck.
The man smiled and nodded. "Yes, Don Eppes. I'm the one that informed you about Kim Bickley." When he mentioned this name, his smile disappeared and his eyes turned dark. "Unfortunately, I have bad news to report about Bickley."
"Bickley… isn't she the jerk that lied to us about time stopping?" said Chris.
"Yes, she fabricated the whole thing as part of a conspiracy to remove Sonic and his friends from this world," said Eppes. "After I discussed this with your grandfather, my team and I rushed immediately to arrest her." When Eppes said my team, he motioned to the rest of the people in the room apart from Sam Speed's S-Team crew. "Unfortunately, when we got to her office, she was already gone."
"Wait," said Chris. "Let me get this straight. She's still out there?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Do you think someone tipped her off?" asked Chuck.
"I know who tipped her off," said Eppes with a pained expression. "The mission was top secret. The only souls on Earth who had the intelligence we did were you, me, the members of my team, plus one other person: my supervisor at the time. As soon as we confirmed Bickley's culpability, I informed my supervisor of our findings."
"Your supervisor?" said Chuck. "At the bureau of investigations?"
"Yes, and I know it was him," said Eppes. "After our failed operation, he stopped showing up to work. Besides, I know my team. We have all risked our lives for each other in the past. We have known each other for years. But my supervisor was new. He had just transferred to our division a few months ago. If it wasn't him, then it had to have been you." Eppes's normally calm, concerned eyes now looked like they had fire in them, and right now that fire was directed at Chuck, who gulped and shrank down at Eppes' intensity.
Michael Rogers, the former president, placed a hand on Chuck's shoulder. "It's all right, we do not suspect you."
"So what you are saying is, Bickley has connections going as high up as a supervisory agent in the bureau of investigations?" said Chris.
Eppes nodded gravely. "Yes, that about sums it up. One thing we are not sure about is whether Bickley is the ringleader of the operation or just a pawn in the game. One thing we are sure about is, there are very few people we can trust. Most of them are in this room."
Chris sat down in a chair and leaned back. His head was spinning a bit, overwhelmed by all this new information. Suddenly, a lot of things that did not make sense before—from the attack the other day when they were searching for Sonic to the attack today on their own house—were starting to make some sense.
"You said that these other people were your teammates," said Tanaka. "How then do you know the president?"
Eppes smiled. "Back when he was the president, my team and I used to report directly to him as a member of his security team. After his term ended, we were reorganized under the bureau of investigations. After my supervisor there betrayed us, he was one of the only people left I could trust."
"Even though I am not the president anymore, I still have many powerful connections," said Rogers. "I have arranged it so that this team and its mission are now under top secret military jurisdiction, hence why we are now based in Area 99."
"Who do you know in the military that could make such an arrangement?" asked Chuck. "Or perhaps a better question would be, who can you trust?"
Rogers smiled. "Someone whom I think you all know and trust too."
He looked at Tanaka, who was standing with Ella. When Tanaka saw that the attention in the room had suddenly shifted to him, he looked bewildered and scrambled to stand up taller. "Who? Me?"
Rogers laughed. "No, as skilled at karate as you may be, I do not believe you have any military command of your own, but I do believe that you have—"
"Topaz!" Tanaka blurted out, realization dawning.
"Yes," said Rogers, who beamed at the mentioned of her name. "During my time as president, Commander Topaz and her team also reported directly to me. I trust her with my life. She now has a military command of her own, and she was the one who authorized this team and its top secret mission, which we are calling Operation Firebird. The objective is firstly to protect Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends and secondly to capture Kim Bickley and her collaborators."
Rogers paused here, and the room fell silent as everyone took in his words.
"Forgive me for asking," said Tanaka after a while, "but why did you choose to call this operation 'Firebird'?"
The former president smiled. "The Firebird is an old legend from a faraway land," he explained, his voice enthusiastic. "In the story, a mighty prince once stumbled across the garden of a magical being called the Firebird. At first, the prince thought he might capture this magnificent creature, whose feathers were as radiant as the sun, but he changed his mind as soon as he realized just how extraordinary she was. Rather than approach her with hostility and aggression, he decided to approach her in peace and harmony. The Firebird, sensing the prince's good intentions, gifted him one of her brilliant feathers as a sign of friendship and gratitude.
"Later on, the prince found himself in a battle against a powerful, evil sorcerer. Things weren't going well, and as he was about to lose, he pulled out the feather he received and held it close to his heart, accepting his fate. The feather, you see, was magical, and it summoned the Firebird, who came to the prince's rescue. She distracted his enemy with her magical powers, allowing the prince to outsmart and defeat him."
"What a beautiful story," said Ella.
"Yes, it is a fitting name for our mission," said Tanaka.
Chris also smiled upon hearing the story. It made him think about how he had first met Sonic by saving him from drowning in a pool, as well as all the times he had gotten himself in some kind of danger, and somehow, Sonic had been there to save him every single time. Sonic was an elusive hedgehog—it was often hard for anyone to find him because he would spend his days traveling the world alone. But no matter how far Sonic was or what he was doing on a particular day, he somehow always found a way to be there for his friends when his friends needed him the most. No magical feather required.
A phone rang. It was a landline phone attached to the center of the conference room table.
The former president, who pressed a button on the phone, putting it on speaker. "Hello, would you like to order a pizza?" he said, answering the call.
From the speakerphone, they could hear the sound of helicopter blades chopping the air. A female voice on the other end then said, "There's no place better than the mountains. 4 slices of pepperoni."
"State your report, Topaz," said Rogers.
Chris was perplexed by this exchange at first, but quickly realized that they were speaking in a kind of code. He wondered if different pizza toppings and amount of slices could refer to different things.
"We have Sonic the Hedgehog," said Topaz on the other end of the line, "plus a few more. We're en route to you now."
In response to this, Agent Eppes stood up, the fire back in his eyes. "A few more?" he said. "Commander Topaz, I thought we had an agreement. Only Sonic. Anyone else needs to be cleared by the Firebird first. We can't just trust anyone."
"Agent Eppes, I understand your position, but in this case, I think we can make an exception."
"Who are they?" asked Eppes.
There was a brief pause and then a muffled sound on the other end of the line. It sounded as if Topaz had covered the microphone and was speaking to whoever was with her. Then, in a clear voice, she said, "Stand by. We have a situation."
It was Rogers' turn to stand up. "A situation?" he said. "Topaz, what's happening down there? Are you under attack?"
"No, Mr. President," said Topaz, "but you may want to turn on your TV. I have to go now, but I will give you an update as soon as I can."
With that, the call ended. Alarmed, Don Eppes grabbed a TV remote from the center of the conference table and switched on a screen mounted to the wall.
A news reel was just starting. "This is Scarlet Garcia reporting live from SSTV News in Station Square," said the newscaster, who appeared to be standing on the roof of a high-rise building in downtown.
"Wait, what is that in the background?!" said Chris.
The news camera was angled so that the sky was in the background, where they saw about a half dozen box-shaped aircraft. The aircraft appeared to be hovering, but none of them were helicopters.
Chuck said, "If I didn't know better, I'd say that looks like—"
"—Eggman tech," Chris finished through clenched teeth.
Then, something happened on the screen that made everyone in the conference room gasp. Another aircraft materialized next to the others in the sky out of thin air. And then another. And another.
"What in the world?" said Rogers.
"Is this some kind of alien invasion?" said Sam Speed.
"Nothing can just pop in like that," said Eppes.
It was Chris who realized it first: "Nothing except—"
"Chaos Control!" interjected Chuck.
"… a number of unidentified flying objects have appeared over Station Square as of 15 minutes ago," the newscaster was saying. "These UFOs appear to be spawning instantly in the sky, leaving everyone in the city in shock. This is a developing story. Our station is trying to get into contact with the government to understand if they have any …"
"It's Bickley," said Eppes suddenly.
"What?" said Chris.
"That makes sense," said Chuck, who was stroking his chin. "It's all starting to make sense. For years, she was a renowned physicist with the National Science Institute. After she completed Project Homebound, she continued her research at understanding the spacial displacement effects of Chaos energy. We were peripherally aware of her existence because the research Chris and I were doing was adjacent to that work."
"Wait a second," said Chris. "You think Bickley found a way to cause Chaos Control herself?"
"If you think about it," said Chuck, "that's already been done. The objective of Project Homebound was precisely to find a way to cause Chaos Control to send Sonic and his friends back to their universe, and we accomplished that. What I think Bickley has been researching is more on the scale of what Shadow could do: causing Chaos Control locally, within the same universe."
"When we sent Sonic's friends home, we needed all seven Chaos emeralds for it to work," said Chris. "Later, when I went to Sonic's world myself, I had to tap the power of the Master Emerald. It's a tremendous amount of energy required."
"But that was for an interdimensional jump," said Chuck. "What if you just wanted to teleport yourself to the end of the street? Couldn't you do that with just one emerald? Heck, Sonic was able to do it with that fake emerald that Tails made."
Realization and horror was dawning on Chris's face.
Eppes: "So what you're saying is, the enemy now has the ability to teleport themselves anywhere, anytime."
Chuck nodded gravely. "We can safely assume that they have managed to find yet another Chaos emerald."
"This is bad," said Chris, who had his hands on his head in a panicked expression. "This is very bad."
"All throughout human history, military defense and national security has depended on physical barriers," said Rogers. "What good is a wall if the enemy can just walk right through it?"
"If they knew our location was Area 99, they could be here in an instant."
As soon as Eppes said that, an alarm began to blare across the base.
"Speak of the devil, and he will appear," said Rogers grimly.
Author's note: The title of this chapter is inspired by Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird. I would like to point out that this year, 2024, will contain the tenth anniversary of when I published Chapter 1 of this story. Holy crap. I'm thinking some of you people reading this story today were probably only babies or toddlers when I first started this thing in 2014. Maybe you weren't even born yet. That is crazy to think about. Where has all the time gone? Even though I am an adult now, and I started writing this story when I was in high school, my love for Sonic somehow still has not dissipated, and I would like to finish this story if possible. I am just a really slow writer. :(