After Kit hung up, Surge immediately called Josh. "Hey, Surge. What's going on?" Josh said. "This is quick, just gotta ask you a question." Surge said. "Go ahead." Josh. "Do you know when will they start scavenging that base we blew up?" Surge asked. "Not sure. First we have to fully clear it out first. We already have operations underway to find any stragglers who may still be lurking in that area. Then the teams have to go inside the base and do the same thing." Josh said. "How long would that take?" Surge asked. "Eh, it depends. Since the base close, we have the luxury to be thorough. That way, it would minimize any chances of future incidents when the scavenger teams go in." Josh said. "And?" Surge said. "I'd say...two weeks for the cleansing and then four weeks for the scavenging. Keep in mind though, I usually don't get involved in any of those operations so, my guesses may not be accurate." Josh said. "How come you don't get involved?" Surge asked. "It's kinda like the post-action stuff. Nothing but walking around and doing nothing. And when action does happen, it's over quick. Plus, all the destruction and carnage is being rubbed in your face that whatever battle that occurred must've been crazy, and you weren't a part of it." Josh explained.
"Yea, that would be boring." Surge. "Definitely boring for operatives like you and I." Josh said. "Thanks for tip." Surge said. "No problem. How come you're interested in that stuff anyway?" Josh asked. "I just wanted to know what follows after our operations. You did mention to me and Sonic about not doing too much damage." Surge said. "Yea, with a base that close, we can run so many scavenging teams, it's no even funny. Don't get me wrong, it's concerning that they were this close to us but, it's also a blessing that they were. Double edge sword or whatever the crap they call it." Josh said. "Gotcha." Surge said. "It's Sonic and I, by the way." Josh said. "What?" Surge said. "You said, me and Sonic, It's Sonic and I." Josh said. "Why are you guys so hooked up on that. You guys jump at any chance you get!" Surge said. "It's just easy grammar to fix. if you say it the correct way, no one would correct you. Haha." Josh said. "Whatever, grammar police." Surge said. "Sounds like that's my que, Chat later!" Josh said, sensing Surge's growing annoyance and hanging up.
Surge rolled her eyes as she stretched and prepared to head outside. "Guess I should pick up the rest of my clothes from Sesamie's Cleaners." Surge said, to herself. She got dressed and exited her dorm room. As Surge made her way to the common room, she heard someone in the kitchen moving silverware. "Oh hey, Surge!" a female voice said, from the kitchen. Surge turned and saw it was Amy, stacking plates and utensils in their respective cabinets. "What's up?" Surge said, already done with the conversation and crossing her arms. "Just wanted to check up on you and see how things are with you and Kit." Amy said. "Eh, can't complain. I mean I could but, you know." Surge said. "I hear ya. I heard about that base you took down along with the group. How's it like working with a team?" Amy said. "It's...different. There's definitely things I would've done differently but, we got it done." Surge said. "Haha, that's what most recruits say after their first operation." Amy chuckled. "We'll, I'm no recruit. I doubt a average scrub would be trusted to be put on a operation like I just went through." Surge said. "Although that's true. The reason you were put on there was-" "Yea yea yea, I get it. Sonic vouched for me! Even so, that still proves my point. He wouldn't put some random member to be put on that operation." Surge said, cutting Amy off.
"No it wouldn't." Amy said, stopping her chores to focus on the conversation. "Oh, yea? Why would that be?" Surge asked, intrigued by the rebuttal Amy had in the chamber. "Because, regardless on how capable you are on the field, you would still be a liability. Unless you helped on us in some ways before you joined, we wouldn't have trusted a newcomer with an operation were someone would have a high chance of dying." Amy said. "Ok, then. Riddle me this, if that's the case, right? And I have a long rap sheet of doing Chaos knows what, right? Why would Sonic trust me in joining the operation. Hell, why would he trust me to have is back when it was just the two of is in the base. And don't tell me that shtick of, "Well, he's that type of guy, he forgives people and gives them a second chance." because that won't cut it for this one. At least, not for me. It's one thing to forgive you're enemies and let them live in the same community as you, it's another when you put your life in their hands, knowing damn well they still hate you." Surge said, getting some thoughts off her chest.
Amy wasn't expecting that kind of response. "We'll, when you put it that way..." Amy said, trailing off. "Just a food for thought. Looks like you don't know him as much as you think you do. Guess you should fix that." Surge said, done with the conversation and making her way to exit the building. "And was that supposed to mean?" Amy said, walking into the common room to maintain eye contact. "I don't know, aren't you two like, together or something?" Surge said. "ye- We'll it's -" Amy uttered, struggling to find the words. Surge stood just outside the exit door with her arms crossed and a raised eyebrow. "It's complicated." Amy said. Surge continued to stare at Amy with her un-satisfied look. "If you say so." Surge said, exiting the dorm.
Surge made her way to Sesamie's Cleaners. The Void-colored cat was already at the front counter, going over her order list. "Hey." Surge said. "Hey." Sesamie said, with a lack of life, while going over her ledger. "What's up with you?" Surge said. "Work. I wish I were still at home, but that won't pay the bills. Here for your order, right?" Sesamie said. "Yup." Surge said. "Right. Give me one second." Sesamie said, leaving her counter and entering the room in the back. Surge waited patiently until Sesamie returned with the remainder of Surge's orders. "Here." Sesamie said, handing the outfits to Surge. "Thanks." Surge said. "No problem. So, are you going to commit?" Sesamie said, returning to her ledger. "What?" Surge said, caught off guard. "Sonic. Are you actually going to commit to trying to get with him?" Sesamie said "Uh, yea? Thought I made that clear?" Surge said. "You did. I just wanted to make sure. With that in mind, you do have an obstacle between you and your future boyfriend." Sesamie said. "And what would that be?" Surge said, blushing slightly at the relationship term. "More like who. Amy." Sesamie said. "I just talked with her before I got here. I thought she and Sonic were in a relationship already. But, when I asked her, she said it was "CoMpLiCaTeD" " Surge said, mocking what Amy told her earlier.
"Well it's not like she lied to you. It is complicated...somewhat." Sesamie said, before yawning. "How can a relationship be complicated? You either love each other or you don't. Simple stuff." Surge said. "Oh, if only you knew. Actually, you could say the same thing between you and your little friend." Sesamie said. "You mean Kit? What are you getting at?" Surge said, getting slightly offended. "From what I heard, you two practically work together like siblings. That is until, you start treating him like absolute shit sometimes." Sesamie said, with a smirk. "No I don't. And even if I did, that's none of your business." Surge said. "Sounds complicated to me." Sesamie said, with a smirk on her face. "I'll treat him how-" "Ok, I get it. But, back at matters at hand." Sesamie said, cutting off Surge and making eye contact with her. "The cliff notes version is this. Amy likes Sonic, Sonic doesn't like her back. Sonic is aware of this, but still hangs out with her from time to time. Amy thinks if she hangs out with him enough, he would eventually like her. I think you can see how that could get complicated." Sesamie said. "I guess. But, how would she be an obstacle if Sonic doesn't like her?" Surge said. "She would, without a doubt, get in your way if she feels like you might steel him from her." Sesamie said. "Again, he doesn't like her. Why would she be stopping me if she knows that too." Surge said. "Love makes you do...dumb things. But, I'm telling you this now, she will get in your way. We need to figure out a way to deal with her. WITHOUT injuring her, killing her, kidnapping her, or putting her in any sort of traumatic event...except emotional." Sesamie said, driving home the emphasis on the last bit. "I didn't even say anything yet!" Surge said, trying to defend herself.
"Didn't need to, you psycho. But, seriously. Just keep it in the back of your heard for now. I'm probably going to come up with an idea before you anyway, since I got nothing else better to do but, still. Couldn't hurt to see what you come up with. " Sesamie said. "I'll keep that in mind." Surge said. "And if you need anything, you know who to call." Sesamie said, returning to her ledger. Surge exited the store and made her way to her dorm. "Hanging out with someone who knows you like them but, don't like you, in hopes to get them to like you, that... is complicated. Who would even put themselves in that situation anyway?" Surge thought to herself, as she walked. Surge made it back to her dorm and placed her outfits in the closet.
Surge called Kit on her Scroll. "Hey, Surge!" Kit responded. "Are you free? It's important." Surge said, indicating what she was about to say was for his ears only. "Yea, no one is around." Kit said. "Ok, I spoke with Josh earlier today about their procedure on scavenging." Surge said. "What did you find out?" Kit said. "They will be running clean up teams in the area to make sure there's no Eggman's toys lingering around. I didn't want to ask too much but, that's what I got so far. Which means you would need to be on the look out for both the bots and the clean up crews." Surge said. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Surge. "Don't mention it. I'm heading to the Gym. Let me know about a half an hour before you head out. Got it?" Surge said. "Y-yes!" Kit said. Surge hung up on the Scroll.
###
It was well past sunset, and the night sky was riddled with as my stars as there were grains of sand on a beach. Kit and Surge were in their dorm room, going over the night's mission.
"Ok. Haven't even thought about this until now but, what exactly are you looking for? Besides the left over data." Surge said. "It really all depends if I could find the schematics or not. If I know what was used to build the original Dynamo Cage, I could just look for those components that were used." Kit said. "And if you can't?" Surge asked. "Then I would continue to start from scrap and come up with my own way of making the new project work. But, having the schematic would greatly reduce the time it would need to create it." Kit said. "Gotcha. Are you sure you don't need my help?" Surge said. "I think it would be best if I go alone. I thought about you being as a lookout but, I'm not to sure if you would be able to contain yourself for long." Kit said. "Damn right I wouldn't. Anyway, don't get caught. If you need me, just call." Surge said. "Got it." Kit said.
Surge watched as Kit left the dorm room. She continued to watch again as she observed Kit walk through the base from her window.
###
It was a long walk, but Kit finally had sight of the mountain or was supposed to be one. Kit was only able to see the outline figure of the mountain from the lack of light, but the shape made it clear that it sustained heavy damage. From Kit's angle, the mountain no longer had a peak at its top. In fact, the mountain looked more like a volcano. One side of the mountain appeared to be much taller than its opposite side. Kit continued to approach the mountain through the flat grass fields. As the silhouette of the mountain got bigger, Kit equipped the binoculars he outfitted for Surge's operation. This time, Kit removed the modification of being able to detect material and its components and replaced it with night vision. As Kit looked through it, he noticed the display was fuzzy and a bit distorted when looking at faraway objects such as the mountain. "Guess that's what I get for rushing it." Kit said to himself.
Kit had figured he was about four hundred yards away and began to notice objects on the ground. Kit approached the closest one to him and identified it as the head of one of Eggman's robots. Kit approached the next object, which was about twenty feet away, and it appeared to be some sort of motherboard. "I guess the explosion was so powerful, it launched the debris around the mountain. Better watch my step." Kit said. As Kit got close to the mountain, the frequency of debris grew to the point where Kit had no choice but to climb on it to continue. As Kit reached the base of the mountain, he removed the binoculars to rest his eyes for a bit. Suddenly, a shot ranged out. Kit looked in the direction from where the sound came from and saw cones of lights moving around the base of the mountain. It was hard to tell, but Kit figured there must've been at least four sources of lights dancing around and was at least fifty yards away.
Kit put his binoculars back on to see if he could tell what it was, but the night vision quality was so poor he could only make out dark, fuzzy shapes. Kit began his approach to the lights to see what it was. As he got closer, he was more careful in where he placed his steps amongst the graveyard of machines and ash. Another shot rang out. Kit ducked for a moment and continued his approach. Kit could barely hear a voice coming from the direction of the lights. "-I doubt anything wou-" was all Kit could make out from the distance he was at. Kit got closer and kept himself low amongst the wreckage. "Do you see how much damage they've done? What are we going to find that's useful?" a male voice said. "They did what they could. With a base this close, I would blow this place to hell as well. But, there's still base that's inside the mountain. There could be some salvageable stuff in there." A second male voice said. "That's where the explosion happened dumbass! You think we would find something to make use of from where explosion started." a female voice said. "I heard that new girl, Surge participated in this operation. No doubt this was her doing. I know Sonic can do this too but, I just have a hunch you know?" a second female voice said. Kit watched the silhouettes as they walked along the wreckage.
"Speaking of which, am I the only one that thinks bringing her in the Resistance was a mistake?" The first male voice said. "No, I hear ya. Heard she started a fight within the first few days of being here. Nothing but trouble." The second female voice said. "I think her and her little friend she get the hell out of our base until they prove to use that they've changed." The second male voice said. "Dude, what? Have you heard what those two did before they got here? You can't just change over a new leaf after the shit they did." The first male voice said. "Yet for some reason, her first operation involved taking down a Eggman's base. How does that happen?" The first female voice said. "Now, this is just rumors, ok. Don't ask questions when I say it because I won't have the answers." The second male voice said. "You know, that's all you ever share nowadays. Rumors this rumors that." The first male voice said.
Kit slowly stalked the group from a distance as they continued to survey the area. "Hey! Some of them are true!" The second male voice said. "Yea, like thirty five percent of the time. Haha." The first female voice chuckled. "Go ahead and lay it on us. What did you hear?" The first male voice said. "I heard Sonic personally requested for Surge to be in the operation." The second male voice said. "Ok, now you've done it. Are you sure you didn't take anything before we got deployed." The first male voice said. "No, I'm sober! I've been clean for three years! You know this already!" The second male voice said. "But, why would Sonic trust someone who committed so many crimes and tried to kill him on more than one occasion, with an operation like this? That doesn't make any sense." The second female voice said. "Haha. Maybe he's trying to get close to her." The first male said. "WHAT? That would be the least compatible relationship ever." The first female voice said. "Hey, we don't know Sonic's type. We especially don't know how he is as a person in private." The first male voice said. "Yea but, what would Sonic see in her?" The second female voice said. "How would I know? I'm not...There's another one!" The first male said.
Kit saw a cone of light pointing in the direction of the wreckage. From what Kit could make out, he saw an Egg Pawn with most of its body intact, malfunctioning, and tweaking. A shot was heard, and a bullet hole appeared in the head of the now lifeless robot. "This must be one of the clean up crews." Kit thought to himself. "How long do we have to do this again?" The first male voice said. "It's similar to a midnight shift. We'll be here until 0600." The first female voice said. "Damn. Well, let's get a move on. I wonder how the other team is holding up." The first male voice said. "Other team?" Kit thought to himself.
Kit stayed stationary as the clean-up crew walked away. "It would be a while until they start patrolling the insides of the base. I should start there." Kit said. Once Kit deemed the clean-up crew was a reasonable distance away, he activated his Hydro Pack to create multiple hydro-coil tails. Kit then began to ascend the mountain carefully. Through the ascension, more debris of machine parts and robots were observed. Kit reached the top of the short side of the mountain and surveyed the area. The poor-quality night vision binoculars didn't have the range to see the insides of the mountain properly and were only met with a dark abyss. Kit took them off and took in the view. What was once a dark abyss was now a spectacle of flashing lights and sparks all over the insides of the mountain. From the endless bottom of the mountain to its walls, there appeared to be multiple machines and computers still on. Whether they were functional would be another question entirely. Kit activated his Hydro Pack again and began to make his descent.
As he descended, some of the base structures, or what was left of it, came into view. The hallways and rooms looked like badly destroyed trailer homes that were stacked on each other or resembled a shape or letter. As Kit took in the view, it dawned upon him how much ground he had to cover to find what he needed. As if on cue, Kit saw cones of light emerging from one of the rooms of the base that was sitting on a pile of wreckage. Kit figured this could be the other team that was mentioned and made his way over. Kit traversed the side of the mountain and stationed himself just above the room where the cones of light were emitting from. Kit crawled just above one of the entrances and heard voices. "I told you picking the inside of the mountain was worth it. We'll be able to take these for ourselves before the salvage operations begin." A female voice said. "But, wouldn't the Resistance need that? That's the whole reason why we're clearing this area. So that they can salvage it." A second female voice said. "Oh lighten up. It's not like I'm taking everything for myself. The Resistance will have as much time as they like to look through this junk. I think of it as a bonus for putting my life on the line to make this place safe." The first female voice said. "But...you volunteered. No one forced you to do this." The second female voice said.
The first female voice didn't respond. "Kate! Jasmine! Are you two done up there? There's still more areas to clear!" A male voice yelled. Kit crawled to the broader side of the structure facing the center of the mountain and observed two more cones of lights shining right at the structure he was on. "Yeah! We'll be right out!" the first female yelled out. "This should be enough data. Let's go." The first female voice said. Kit crawled back to the top of the entrance and saw two figures in black clothing climb down the side of the mountain and regroup with the rest of the crew. Kit entered through the entrance of the structure to investigate what were Kate and Jasmine doing. Kit equipped his binoculars and observed the hallway he was in. It was almost as if he was in an abandoned spaceship that was drifting in space. What Kit saw were exposed wires that were sparked from the ceiling, small fires along the ground, and parts of the wall that looked like it was opened from the inside out. Kit continued to walk and noticed a bright light emitting from an upcoming corner. Kit turned the corner and observed a room with one computer in the middle of the room and multiple rectangular devices that were stacked on top of each other in the back of the room.
Kit removed his binoculars and approached the computer. Upon looking at the screen, Kit observed a prompt that read, 'Data extraction complete .'Kit, now intrigued, exited the prompt and navigated through the system's Operating System. The computer's OS was definitely different from what he was used to back in Dr. Starline's base, but it didn't make navigating it too tricky. Kit accessed the file explorer and observed multiple external drives that showed up. "Those must be the storage devices in this room." Kit thought to himself. When Kit clicked on the first drive listed, it showed no files. Kit clicked on all drives that were listed and only came up with no files. "She must've extracted everything!" Kit thought to himself. Kit noticed that the local drive, the one that was built into the computer, still had some contents in it. Kit clicked on the local drive and saw that all the contents were documents only. Kit opened the documents tab and saw multiple folders. "Energy maintenance, Power projection, Logistics ledger, Expansion," Kit said, reading off the folder names. "What would the Dynamo Cage be under?" Kit said. Kit used the search bar and typed in 'Weapons'.
A folder with that name showed up as a result. Kit clicked on the folder and saw multiple documents opened. Kit scrolled through the documents and didn't find anything that hinted at the Dynamo cage. Kit exited out of the folder and typed in the search bar 'experiment'. Multiple folders showed up as a result. One in particular, named 'experimental designs,' caught Kit's attention. He clicked on the folder and saw multiple documents listed. Kit scrolled until he found a document named 'The Transfer of Power.' Kit clicked on it and had a burst of adrenaline from what he saw. The computer showed rough designs of the original Dynamo Cage. Kit tried to scroll down to see more, but, the computer wouldn't. "This can't be all that's left." Kit said, as he studied the diagrams. As Kit continued to observe the project, he observed some text at the bottom. The text read, 'Three-dimensional model, components, and functions are located in path G:\eperimental_desings\The transfer of power\Main\project. "She took it!" Kit said, slamming his fist on the computer in frustration. Kit exited out of the file explorer and made his way out of the structure. He climbed on top to see where the clean-up crew was located. Kit spotted them near the opposite side of the mountain. "I have to get that file." Kit said, with determination.
*Author's Note*
Again, sorry for the long wait. My reasoning is the same as I gave last time. To be clear, I fully intend to finish this story. It may take a while but, I will get it done.