Chapter 111

Reversal of Fortune

"It should be working now." Wave wiped the sweat from her forehead and stepped away from the console. A tangled mess of wires and hastily repaired metal components had been artfully integrated into the Primrose's main computer. In the center of the new combination was a pulsing pink Sol Gem. Jet tapped a watch on his wrist and let out a sigh of relief.

"I can't find us on the radar. You're some kind of magician, Wave." He gave her a faint smile before collapsing into the chair behind him.

Amy was impressed as well. Shortly after their initial escape, Wave had set to work on ensuring that the Primrose would not be detected by any of GUN's radars. Amy didn't understand the technical aspect, but it was clear by how much work Wave had to do that it was a difficult task. To power the new stealth capabilities, Wave had used some of the Sol Gems that the Rogues had traded for in Arvana.

With her work complete, Wave sat cross legged on the floor and pulled a large wine bottle towards her. "Bottoms up," She said grimly as she popped open the top. Without offering any to the others, Wave started to drink straight from the bottle.

Amy sat in the corner, awkwardly separated from the other two. She had not felt so out of place in her entire life. Neither Jet nor Wave had mentioned Storm yet, but the ghost of his passing was still heavy in the air. However, she did not want to be alone either. The attack of the Diamond Sonics had terrified her, and the threat was still heavy on her mind.

An hour passed in slow silence. The Primrose had no destination other than to avoid the skyline of major U.F territories. Jet tinkered with his board which had been damaged during the battle, while Wave finished one bottle of wine and moved on to a second. Meanwhile, Amy curled up into a ball and held her arms over her knees. Her fear was slowly passing, but in its place, was a deep anxiety. Her and Wave had nearly died fighting just one of those Diamond Sonics and there was no telling how many GUN had at its disposal.

Tails will figure them out…if he's still alive. That thought depressed Amy even more. It was one thing to feel a tremendous amount of worry for her own safety, but another thing to not even know if her other friends were still alive. Sonic entrusted the earth's safety to us. We can't give up.

Amy laid her head back against the cold metal walls of the Primrose. Her eyes started to droop and, though she resisted it at first, she allowed her mind to drift off into fantasy. She walked up a flowered hill hand in hand with Sonic. The air was crisp and Amy clutched at her fur jacket. Sonic did not seem to feel the cold, and he led Amy up to the top of the hill. From there, they had a perfect view of an endless field of white roses.

Sonic took a deep breath as he cupped his hand over his eyes. "How far does it go?"

"Forever," Amy said as he tightened the folds of her jacket. She kept waiting for Sonic to notice how cold she was.

"Forever?" Sonic asked dubiously. "I bet I could reach the end."

"You can't!" Amy tugged on Sonic's hand to keep him still. "Not everything has to be a race you know. Sometimes, things can just be. You don't have to reach the end."

Sonic turned to her and smirked. "Not by myself. Why don't you come with me?"

Amy glanced nervously at the rolling fields. She did not want to leave the safety of the hill. While the white roses were beautiful from a distance, closer up they appeared like sharpened icy fangs. "Can't we just stay here?" She whispered as she took a step closer to Sonic. Heat radiated off his body and warmed her up slightly.

Sonic shook his head. "What's the point? Everything we want is out there. We just have to be brave enough to go for it."

Amy cringed back. She was comfortable here. With Sonic by her side she was warm, and the view was much prettier from up on the hill. "What if we get lost? How will we get back?"

"We don't. We've already been back there, why would we want to go back?"

Instinctively, Amy tried to turn around, but Sonic took her by the shoulders and pulled her close. "The only way ahead is forward. Will you come with me?" He held out his hand. Amy stared and it and trembled. To go would mean risking everything. Yet what would she gain by staying?

"Okay…just promise you won't go ahead of me will you?"

"I promise." Amy took Sonic by the hand. Together, they raced down the hill and into the field.

"To Storm!" Amy woke up with a start. She was still huddled in the corner. Jet and Wave were now sitting very close together. Jet had a glass of wine and was holding it up. They had apparently just given a toast. Wave put back her drink and finished her second bottle with a deep chug. Afterwards, she tossed the bottle aside and the glass rattled on the floor.

Her head drooped and when she spoke, she slurred her words. "We're all that's left…"

Jet said nothing. He glared at his still untouched wine. "It's my fault. You were right, I should have tried to make a deal, I should-"

"Storm trusted you," Wave insisted. "You did what you thought was right, and that's what matters."

"My trust got him killed," Jet said. His tone was laced with self loathing. "I'm not fit to lead. I've let everybody down…" Jet withdrew the blue cube that was the key to the Ark of the Cosmos. "My father trusted me with this…but I'm not worthy." Jet let the cube slip out of his hands.

Wave sat up and inched closer to Jet. "Who cares," She stared earnestly. "Who cares about all that Jet? You aren't your father, and we aren't our ancestors. Who cares what they wanted? This is our life." Wave moved onto her knees and caressed Jet's cheek. "I've never let any of that affect how I think about you. You've never let me down…"

Jet took Wave's hand and firmly moved it away from him. When he spoke, his tone was unusually sharp. "I can't deny my past. What am I without my heritage? Everything we stole, all the wealth we accumulated…what was it all for?"

"For us!" Wave pushed herself closer to Jet. "You don't owe anyone anything. You are allowed to just enjoy your life. We should take what we have and disappear! Leave that Rose girl somewhere and let's start fresh. We have enough money to have whatever we want."

Jet closed his eyes. It was as if he were physically resisting against some inner voice. "I….I can't. I would never be able to escape, not really. If I tried, then there would always be regret."

"At first," Wave said in a low tone. "But that would fade with time. There is sweetness that buries the pain." She moved closer towards Jet and kissed him. For a moment, Jet seemed to relent, but then he took Wave by the shoulders and pushed her away.

"No," He said fiercely. "We couldn't do that. We could pretend, and we could drown ourselves in comfort, but we would never really escape. That's not who we are."

Wave drew back. Her eyes were red, and her expression twisted into one of hurt and anger. "Why are you insisting on being miserable? I…I've always been with you…I've always…" She wiped her face of the tears that were streaking down her cheeks. The movement caused her to look over and see that Amy was awake. Her eyes narrowed. She looked from Amy to Jet and back again. "You could have always had me…" She whispered faintly. "We could have been happy together."

Wave rose unsteadily to her feet. Jet made a feeble attempt to stop her, but Wave brushed past him. She went into the captain's quarters and slammed the door behind her. Amy turned to Jet, but he intentionally avoided her gaze. He rose to his feet and tossed his drink aside. "I'm going to bed."

Jet headed down the ladder, leaving Amy all alone. Amy felt even more wretched now. Whatever chance she may have had of convincing Jet to stand against GUN had probably died along with Storm. Amy walked over to the corner of the room where they had shoved the offline remains of the Diamond Sonic.

Other than the hole in its forehead, the exterior of the machine was left undamaged. Nothing seemed to make a scratch on the hard metal hull. Amy wondered how many of these things GUN had at its disposal. Even Sonic would be hard pressed to fight an entire army of these replicas.

If the Rogues wanted to spend their lives hiding that was their problem, Amy however, would do anything and everything she could to help. So she started searching every nook and cranny of the Diamond Sonic, looking for some kind of weakness or exploit. However, all she managed to do was make her knees sore and her heart pine for Tails. He would have been able to make something out of the confusing jumble of wires and metal.

Amy would not give up. She took Wave's tool belt which had been left out, and rifled through the various appliances. The Diamond Sonic could not be pulled apart by conventional means, but after a few hours of searching, Amy finally identified small screws hidden between the joining of the limbs to the torso. It took Amy another couple of hours to unscrew them and separate them.

The sun was already rising and an orange dawn paraded through the windows of the Primrose. Amy didn't care. She continued to work, though she had no idea what her actual objective was. Pulling apart the Diamond Sonic had not brought along any revelations as to its weakness.

"What are you doing?"

Amy turned to see Wave towering over her. Wave seemed to barely have enough energy to open one eye. She had a warm pack on her head which she seemed to be using to nurse a bad headache. "I forgot about the altitude…" Wave said somberly. "I think my head is going to split apart."

"Why don't you sit down?"

Wave didn't seem to have a choice. Her legs appeared to fail as she lurched to the floor. Amy caught her and guided her to a chair. Wave leaned her head back with her eyes closed firmly. "Why's everything moving?" She chuckled dryly.

"Here, this might help." Amy took two fingers and pressed them against the back of Wave's temple. She gently moved them in a tight circle, massaging wherever she felt pressure.

Wave sighed. "That's not bad." She folded her hands over her chest and rested peacefully. "I…I'm sorry about last night. I shouldn't have said that. I told Jet to leave you behind, and you had just saved my life…"

"It doesn't matter," Amy said curtly. "I don't want you to risk anything more for me. If you want just drop me off somewhere, that's fine."

"That's not it…It's just…" Wave sighed and shifted slightly in her chair. "I was stupid for thinking that things can go back to the way they were. Everything has changed. I always knew that Jet wanted something more than the life we had, but…I thought he would come around one day and see that what we had wasn't so bad. We didn't have to hold onto the baggage of our people, we could make our own destiny. But even that choice has been taken from us. Just like our ancestors we got too greedy. We never should have traded in Sol Gems. Now we are paying our just penalty."

"That's not true," Amy said firmly. "Everything that has happened so far was meant to happen, but it wasn't meant to destroy us. It is supposed to make us stronger, to put us in the place we need to be, and with whom we need to be with."

Wave turned slightly. "It sounds like you're talking about fate."

"Maybe I am." A girlish blush covered Amy's cheeks. "I used to do a lot of Tarot card reading. I kept thinking that if I could scry my future, and once I knew what was in store for me, I could go get it. But I realize it is the other way around, I won't ever get my future unless I go for it while I have the chance."

Wave's eyes hardened. Both of them knew what they were really talking about. "But what if we fail…" Wave whispered. "We'll lose everything. If we stay, at least we can hold on to what we have."

"If we do that, then I think we will find that what we will be allowed to hold onto will become less and less. We have to make that stand now. We have to be brave."

Wave sat up. She turned slightly to face Amy. "Is that what you think I am then? A coward?"

"No, I think…I think you're like me. Maybe it's in their nature as boys or something, but they are often stuck looking back, or looking forward. That can be good sometimes, but that often means it is left to others to hold fast to the here and now. There isn't anything cowardly about cherishing what you have. Just as it isn't necessarily more noble to be shackled by the past, or so obsessed with the future you miss what you have right in front of you."

Amy folded her hands together. "Someone has to make the present worthwhile. They may not always do a good job of showing that they appreciate it, but I think that they do. But when it comes to it, we all have to make a sacrifice. And for us, maybe that is giving up the small happiness we have on hand, and hope for something more, even if that means that we risk losing everything."

Wave gazed back at Amy with a curious expression on her face, as if she had never really seen her before. "When we first picked you up, I thought you were just a ditzy girl that had an obsession with Sonic. I just assumed that he felt some kind of obligation towards you, and that's why GUN could use you to blackmail him." She put a hand on her hip and smiled mischievously. "It looks like I fell for one of my own tricks. For years, I've been underestimated. Everyone thinks that I'm just Jet's arm candy, here to look good and do cool tricks on my board. What they don't know is that I'm the brains of this outfit."

"GUN made a big mistake coming after us, and they're going to regret it. Whatddya say?" Wave held out her hand. Amy reached out and the two girls shook hands.

They started their work immediately. Wave had Amy serve as her assistant as she performed a kind of autopsy on the Diamond Sonic. After an hour of work, Jet returned with some breakfast sandwiches. Jet was completely stunned by Wave and Amy's sudden reversal in attitude towards each other. Unable to comprehend the complexities of the female mind, Jet relegated himself to steering the Primrose, leaving the girls to work alone. Amy distinctly heard Jet muttering something like "girls" under his breath.

By midday, they had finally managed to open the Diamond Sonic's torso. Amy was immediately confused by the mess of wires, and chips, but Wave had only smiled as if she were looking at the pieces of a particularly interesting puzzle. By the end of the night, Amy had exhausted her eyes and had resorted to just sitting back and watching Wave work. The swallow had her sleeves rolled up, and despite her hangover headache, hardly stopped to take breaks. She had that slightly manic look in her eyes, that Amy sometimes saw Tails have whenever he was really engrossed in a project.

"Finally," Wave wiped her forehead before gently prying off the metal frame of the Diamond Sonic's face. Amy cringed as her brain morphed the confused set of wires and drivers into a facsimile approximation of a skull. Wave bent over and used her smallest tools to gently pull up what appeared to be the main motherboard. Her eyes expanded as she motioned to a large chip in the center of the board. "There you are." Very carefully, Wave moved aside the other components and unconnected the CPU. She picked it up and held the chip between two fingers. "Gotcha."

Jet turned aside from his pilot duties and frowned at the chip. "And what exactly is that?"

"The central processing unit. Looks like GUNs paranoia is going to get the better of them."

"What do you mean?" Jet said, coming over to inspect the chip.

"I mean, these Diamond Sonics were remote controlled. All their functions were inputted remotely from one site. I assumed they did this so none of the units could be hacked or go rogue."

"How does that help us?"

Wave flashed a dangerous smile. "It means that if I can break the encryption on the chip, I should be able to locate where this unit came from. I'd bet anything that is also where they are warehousing the remote consoles."

Jet smirked. "Knock them all out with one blow?"

Wave snapped her fingers. "Their whole stock of these creeps, gone just like that. I'd say that would at least be a start of making them pay for what they did to Storm."

Both Wave and Jet turned to Amy. "What about you?" Jet asked. "Are you coming with us?"

"Of course!" Amy answered eagerly.

"Well then, I guess that makes you the newest member of the Babylon Rogues."