Hunting With My Brother
A Metroid/Sonic The Hedgehog Crossover Fan Fiction
by Derald Snyder
Chapter 2: Stop, Thief!
That night, in the city...
Donald's starship had been parked atop one of the concrete apartment buildings, with its cloaking device engaged so nobody saw anything out of the ordinary. As for the brothers themselves, they were double-checking their equipment before heading out, Daniel's trusty recon drone standing with them, waiting for instructions.
"Alright, looks like we're ready to go," Donald affirmed. "Let's head to where the lieutenant met with the Black Phantom to make the deal and check the surrounding buildings, and expand our search from there."
"Okay, let's go," Daniel nodded. Picking up his drone in one arm, he climbed over the roof's edge, using his Power Grip to slowly slide down the wall to the street below, jumping down the last few feet. Setting his drone down, he watched as his brother simply climbed down the nearby ladder. "Just so you know, I didn't do that just to show off..."
"Could've fooled me," Donny said facetiously as he walked up. "Anyway, let's go..." So they headed to the alley that Lt. Carper had pointed out, not immediately seeing anything out of the ordinary. "Okay, let's split up. I'll check the building on the left side, you check the one on the right."
"Alright, then you take the drone in case you find any weird holes or something," Danny suggested. "After all, I'm the one with the scan and x-ray visors."
"Sounds good. Come on, drone," Donald ordered, the little robot obediently following him as he went off, Daniel turning and heading in the opposite direction.
A few minutes later...
Danny sighed in frustration as he shut off his scan visor. (Another fat slob, can't be the Phantom...) Moving away from the window quietly, he turned and climbed the metal stairs to the next floor up...
At which point, he suddenly spotted something odd- a white, egg-shaped drone floating in midair, it's single red eye focused on a window higher up... (Hello, what's this?) Scanning the robot confirmed it was indeed a surveillance drone, which was also equipped with a laser weapon. (Will it fire on me if I get too close...? I could try to take it out from here, but what if that's the Black Phantom's apartment it's spying on? The explosion might alert him...) Looking down at his Grapple Beam, Danny suddenly got an idea. (Maybe...) Activating his welder gun, he began charging a powered-up Plasma Beam... once at full charge, he fired his Grapple Beam from his other arm, catching the drone and pulling it down closer to his level, before opening fire.
As expected, the charged Plasma Beam tore through the drone like tissue paper, what was left exploding and falling to the street below. That done, Danny quickly made his up the stairs to the apartment the drone had been observing... (Curtains over the window... figures.) Activating his x-ray visor, he saw a male skeleton, holding something in his hands... (A large diamond-cut jewel? Could it be...?) Moving away from the window, he opened the comm-link. "Fire to Ice. Find anything?"
"Nothing yet, just one false alarm," Donald's voice responded. "How about you?"
"I think I might have hit paydirt. I'm going in. Standby," Daniel relayed before closing the link. He crept up to the window again, firing his Plasma Beam once, then twice, before punching the heated area with his fist, causing the window to shatter!
"What the hell?!" yelled a male voice from inside, Daniel pulling back the curtain as he pushed through the busted window, said voice revealed to belong to a young man with black hair and a small goatee, dressed in black clothes and holding a large purple gem in his hands.
"Freeze, Black Phantom! You're under arrest for grand theft!" Daniel exclaimed.
"Shit!" the man cursed as he turned and ran, fleeing through a door to the main stairway, Danny quickly following him, going through the door just in time to see the thief's feet disappear upstairs.
"Fire to Ice, I'm in pursuit! He's heading for the roof!" Daniel radioed as he began climbing the stairs, using his Space Jump Boots to clear several steps at once so he could catch up to his quarry...
Apartment Roof
The Black Phantom burst out the door to the roof, clutching his ill-gotten gem tightly, looking behind him for signs of pursuit- only to hear something in front of him, hitting the brakes as something large dropped down before him. "Oh, shit, no! Not an Egg-"
Daniel slammed the door open as he emerged onto the roof, just in time to see the Black Phantom being sent backward off his feet, tumbling bonelessly to a halt as the large object pulled back a spiked ball on a chain. It was vaguely egg-shaped, sporting a fake face near the top, with beady eyes, square 'teeth', and markings that gave the impression of a bushy mustache. "What the hell...?!" Danny said in disbelief, before looking over at the Black Phantom, his stomach doing a flip as he realized the thief's skull had been smashed in. Then his attention was drawn back to the large robot as it sent out a claw from its left side, grabbing the gem that the Black Phantom had tried to flee with.
"Chaos Emerald retrieval complete. Returning to base." With that, the egg robot launched into the air, paying no mind to the new arrival... to its detriment.
"Oh no you don't," Danny growled as he opened the comm-link- but not to his brother this time. "Daniel to starship! Attack the flying egg-shaped robot! Shoot to kill!"
"Acknowledged," the ship's AI replied, said ship decloaking and launching into the air, locking onto the robot and launching a missile barrage... (KA-BOOM!) Direct hit! The egg robot went out of control, smoke trailing behind it as it fell, crashing in the midst of some other apartment buildings, though there was no explosion.
"Ice to Fire! Ice to Fire, come in!" Donald's voice was heard over the comm, Daniel promptly answering.
"Fire to Ice, copy."
"What the hell was that just now?!"
"Some egg-shaped robot came outta nowhere and smashed the Black Phantom's face in, then tried to take off with the gem he had! So I ordered the ship to shoot it down!"
"You better hope that thing didn't hit any innocents when it crashed! You should know better than to open fire in a civilian zone, Soldier Fire!"
"Hey, the only reason I bothered was because Major Torres really wants that gem back! So before you yell at me any further, we should get down to the crash site and see if we can find it!"
"...You're sure the Black Phantom is DOA?"
"There's nothing left of his face, Don- Righteous Ice. I'm trying hard not to upchuck from the thought!"
"All right, sorry. But at least we found his hideout. Hopefully that'll be good enough for the major... anyway, go ahead and get down to where the robot crashed, I'll head that way as well."
"Sounds good. Soldier Fire out." With that, the engineer headed for the roof's edge, climbing down a few flights of stairs before getting the nerve to slide down the rest of the way with his Power Grip. Fortunately he reached the street safely, promptly running off towards the crash site...
A short time later...
Danny turned a corner, finally seeing the crashed robot, leaning against the wall as he caught his breath. Once he recovered, he hailed his brother... "Fire to Ice, I have visual. No movement from the robot that I can see..."
"Be careful, Fire. The robot might still make a sudden movement or explode... if you find the gem, get it if you can and then get out of there. The local authorities will probably show up soon to secure the area..."
"Roger that, Ice, I'll be careful. Fire out." So he approached cautiously, activating his Scan Visor...
[Caution: Robot's power source is still active. Self-repair systems detected. Missile weapons system detected. If robot engages combat routines, maximum firepower is recommended.]
(Self repair?! Okay, clearly no run-of-the-mill robot...) Danny thought grimly. Switching to his X-Ray Visor, he could make out the large gem just beyond the robot... then said robot began to move, the engineer backing off a few paces and switching back to his Combat Visor as the egg-shaped machine rose back to its feet. (Best bet would be to try and take out the eyes first- whoa!) He used his Space Jump Boots to dash to the side, narrowly avoiding the large mace that was thrown at him, which still bore traces of the Black Phantom's blood. (Focus, Danny, or you're gonna be as dead as the thief is!) The robot's chest then opened, firing off several small missiles... Daniel waited a second before lunging forward, most of the missiles exploding harmlessly on the spot he'd just been standing, the engineer now kneeling at the robot's feet- fortunately, they didn't seem capable of kicking. (Okay, now what?)
He got his answer as the robot suddenly fell forward, Danny dash-jumping to the left to avoid getting crushed. (Was that deliberate?!) He checked his suit's energy- only half an Energy Tank gone so far, but that could change quickly. The robot stood to its feet again, turning in its target's direction as it whirled its mace for a devastating blow-
-but then a beam saber suddenly cut through the mace arm's shoulder joint, the spiked ball flying off and smashing into a parked car further down the street, setting off the alarm. "Danny, you okay?!"
"About time you showed up- DUCK!" Danny cried as the robot unleashed another missile barrage, the engineer opening fire with his welder gun, the Plasma Beams easily destroying a good chunk of the missiles, Donny managing to dodge the remaining ones, though the shockwave from their explosion still sent him tumbling. The egg robot then tried to crush Danny under its body again, who barely dash-jumped out of harm's way.
"Activate Nova Beam!" Daniel intoned, an idea forming in his mind as the robot rose up again... Donald was trying to cut the bottom open with his beam saber without much success, as the robot's chest port opened again- but this time Daniel fired a charged Nova Beam at the chest cavity, the green energy easily piercing straight through, the missiles exploding before they could launch, causing critical damage to the robot's insides! The mecha jerked erratically, before collapsing on its side, its body rocked with several small explosions as its eyes dimmed out.
"I... I think you got it!" Donald gasped in mild relief.
"...yep, I did," Daniel affirmed with his Scan Visor. "Power source has shut down. Thanks for taking care of the mace arm."
"No problem," Donald nodded. "Okay, let's hurry and find that gem before the police get here..."
"Should be over that way," Danny pointed. "It's purple."
"Yeah, I think I see it," his brother grunted as he climbed over the dead robot's legs, then bent down, coming back up with the gem in hand. "Here it is... I can see why the Black Phantom wanted this, it looks worth a fortune..."
"But why did the robot want it?" Daniel pondered, deciding to scan the gem out of curiosity... "Wha... analysis inconclusive?!"
"Of course, that's why it's called a Chaos Emerald," a low male voice echoed from seemingly nowhere.
"Who's there?!" Donald demanded- but suddenly a black blur nailed him in the head, sending him to the floor unconscious!
"Donny!" Daniel cried, only to feel something kick him hard in the back, making him fall forward- then another blow to the helmet, his head smashing into the asphalt! Despite the pain, he managed to lift his head up slightly, seeing white shoes with red soles, yellow bands holding them on a pair of black legs.
"You won't be needing this emerald," the mysterious male spoke, Danny discerning a purple glow which was likely from the emerald in question. "But you have my thanks for taking care of the robot. Chaos Control!" In a flash of light, the stranger was gone.
"Argh-!" Danny grunted as the pain subsided, pulling himself up to a kneeling position- he'd lost nearly a whole Energy Tank from that assault. "Who the hell was that...?" But then his attention was drawn to the sound of sirens, several ground-bound police cars speeding onto the scene and screeching to a halt, discharging several policemen.
"Freeze! Keep your hands where we can see them!" cried the lead police officer with his gun drawn.
"I'm not resisting!" Danny insisted with raised hands. "My brother's hurt! Please help him! He's over there!" he motioned with his head.
"We see him," another policeman said, he and another pulling Donald up by the arms. "Looks like a blow to the head."
"Disarm your weapon, then take your helmet off!" the first policeman ordered.
"All right! Disengage right suit arm," Daniel said, detaching the arm of his suit with his welder gun, then removing his helmet. That done, the policeman moved in and shoved him to the ground before cuffing him.
"We'll get this sorted out in interrogation!" the officer said as he pulled Daniel to his feet, marching him to the car and making him get in the back seat, the same being done with the unconscious Donald...
To be continued...
A/N: Yes, that was Shadow the Hedgehog. And three guesses who the robot belonged to... ;-)