FicWad

Changes Are No Good
By: Chibi
Chapter 2: "Symbol of Resistance"

*

Noon, GUN Central Command...

A large blue cat walked up to her furiously typing comrade in arms. "The report, Saffron?" she asked.

"Yeah, Edina," the hare said, stopping finally to push her glasses up and hit "Print". "Messy scene, from the data we've collected. They even went after the Roses."

"The commander's old allies?" Edina said, normally sleepy face showing signs of surprise. The hare nodded. "Bad move on St. Jimmy's part. If Cmdr. Sonic doesn't get him, Shadow will, and he'll do worse to 'im than the commander would," the cat noted grimly. "Speaking of which, where did the commander go?"

"Rosetta," Saffron replied. "He took off in a rush when the data came in. I haven't seen the commander that spooked since the Doom's Evangelists tried to capture Dr. Robotnik."

"I'll never understand why he cares about that..." Edina began. She shook her head. "Anyway, the specialist is here to look at the recovered machinery from the attacks."

The hare perked up. "Dr. Prower is here?!" she asked with clasped hands and wide eyes. She grabbed the printout, shoved it in a folder, then dashed from her seat to the door.

Edina sighed at her co-worker, who just ran off with her file open. "No wonder she's Sonic's pet; she's as flaky as he is."

*

Elsewhere in GUN Central Command, a peculiar two-tailed fox stepped away from his work and pulled up his goggles. "This is ridiculous!" he complained. "Everything so far's been too smashed up to figure out much of anything, and the other recovered 'bot isn't in much better shape! How do they expect me to do anything with this?!"

"I take it things aren't going well," Saffron said as she entered, still in the middle of putting on safety gear.

"If by 'not going well', you mean, 'in the toilet', then yeah, it's not going well," the engineer said. "It's going to take forever for any kind of accurate analysis! And I thought I'd have some assistants around!"

"Sorry about that. Most of the other engineers here are tied up with the remains from the other attacks..." She stopped when she noticed the engineer was looking her over and smiling. "Dr. Prower?"

"Please, call me Miles," the fox said, moving closer to her. "I don't believe we've met before, Miss..."

The hare stood straighter. "Lieutenant Saffron Saunders, Dr. Prower, and no, we haven't. Last time you worked for us, I didn't have the clearance to see you in action."

He pulled his goggles back down over his eyes. "Too bad. You're really pretty. It would've made the work on the countermeasures more enjoyable."

Saffron almost dropped the file. "I... I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me," Miles said. He flashed her a Sonic-like grin. "It was nice meeting you, but I really do have to work on this. Sorry, there isn't much to report beyond that there's something vaguely familiar about the recovered machinery." He then turned from her and went back to his work.

"Yes, as you were, Dr. Prower..." the hare said absently. She quietly slinked out of the area, the door closing automatically behind her. What was that about?! The commander always described him as shy! she boggled. Is this the kind of people the commander associated with?

"Met Tails, I take it," the commander called to her.

Saffron jumped, then stood up straight and saluted. "Sir! Yes, sir, I was checking on his progress, sir! I was unaware you had returned, sir!"

Sonic waved a hand at her, "At ease, Saff. Yeah, I'm back already. Things didn't go quite how I wanted in Rosetta..."

*

The dark hedgehog held the green gem against his body and glared. "Hell. No."

Sonic put his hands on his hips. "I can arrest you for refusing to surrender the Chaos Emerald, you know," he threatened.

"I'd like to see you try it," Shadow replied with a sneer.

The commander sneered right back, leaning in towards his former rival. "Don't make me get rough with you."

"I'm shaking, really," Shadow deadpanned, holding his ground.

"Should I get out the camera and the fuzzy handcuffs?" Amy cheerfully interrupted.

"AMY!" both males exclaimed.

The woman giggled weakly. "Well, you can't blame a girl for trying."

Shadow recomposed himself quickly. "Anyway, you're not getting it, you can't make me give it to you, and if you touch a hair on the head of my wife or child to try to get me to give it up, I will take. You. DOWN."

The commander folded his arms over his chest and studied the other man. "And that's how it's gonna be, huh? What a pain." He reached out for Shadow, who reflexively moved away to protect the emerald. "Oh, c'mon, don't be like that. I was just gonna say it was safe enough in your hands for the time being." The dark hedgehog relaxed slightly. "And... Hey, thanks for keepin' an eye on Elly."

Shadow shrugged. "I couldn't well leave her there; Rouge would have killed me. That the girl's your boyfriend's kid wasn't a factor."

Sonic made an unreadable face. "You're never gonna give up on your little theory, are you?"

The black hedgehog smiled. "No. No, I'm not."

*

The commander shook his head. "Stubborn jerk. Anyway, what ya got for me, Saff?"

"I have the reports on the Rosetta incident, and-" the hare began, a file folder in her hand.

Sonic cut her off with a wave of the hand. "Same kind of scenario, Saff? Property damage and troops lost, but few civilian casualties?"

Saffron nodded. "It's strange, sir. I don't quite get his M.O. I mean, there were two unsuccessful bids for local Chaos Emeralds in two of the attacks, but the other attacks..." she said, idly flipping through the report. One page caught her eye. "Unless..."

*

"He has a grudge against GUN. This much is clear," Ivo began from his desk. Heavy velvet curtains covered the large steel-framed window behind him. Not that it mattered much; it would be difficult to look in on the strange group on the top floor of the Robotnik Corp. building. Never let it be said the doctor doesn't have a fondness for the dramatic. "It also appears he doesn't want to get innocent bystanders involved. Is this information accurate, Rouge?" he continued.

"Civilian deaths are significantly lower than one would expect," the bat said with a nod, "which is an absolute miracle, no matter how well he planned the attacks."

"Thank whatever gods exist for small favors," the doctor said. "Hopefully this means he isn't completely lost to us. Do you have the newest report, Gordon?"

An older man with mismatched eyes rose and held out a disc. "Just sent earlier today. You had better be right about this, Ivo. If my source had been caught sending this out, she'dve been court-martialed."

Ivo took the disc from him. "I know, Gordon. I don't like this any more than you do, but every piece of information is worth the risk." He put the disc in his computer's drive and opened one of the smaller files. He scanned the words on the monitor for anything that could be important, until... "Does any of this seem familiar to anyone else?"

The bat and the ex-commander peered at the screen. The former's eyes opened wide. The latter scowled at a name in the file and balled up his fists. "That's..."

*

"... a name of a former GUN soldier. Possibly the last living member of the ARK raid," Saffron said.

"He isn't anymore," Sonic corrected with a barely-contained snicker.

The lieutenant pushed up her glasses. "It's not funny, sir. I've been looking over the reports, and he's not the first retired soldier St. Jimmy has killed. It's been overlooked because usually other people have died in the same place with them, but..."

Sonic shifted slightly. "You think he's targeting old soldiers?"

The hare shook her head. "No, sir. The totals of injuries and deaths show one clear target in all this." She lifted her head, causing her glasses to flash. "I think he's targeting all of us. He's after GUN itself."

*

"Good riddance," Gordon growled at the report.

The doctor turned to the withdrawing ex-commander. "Gordon?!"

"I remember that name from the files on the ARK incident I... acquired years back," Rouge interjected. "It's hard to forget a name like 'Humphrey Reinbach III'."

A soft grumble from the ex-commander could be heard. "Bastard killed Maria..."

Ivo took off his glasses and wiped them with a cloth. "I see..."

The bat looked up at the doctor. "You don't think he..."

*

"...wants revenge for some slight in the past?" Sonic offered. "I mean, there's been a lot of GUN fuck-ups in the past..."

"But who would have the resources for something like this?" Saffron asked. "Few could even afford robots of this complexity, let alone design them."

Sonic smiled slightly. "Maybe it's not one person, Saff. Or maybe..."

*

Dr. Robotnik paused for a moment before replacing his glasses. "How odd... Did anyone else just feel a deep sense of foreboding?" The other two shook their heads. "Hm, just me then."

Gordon looked back at the doctor from the corner the ex-commander was sulking in. "Ivo, is there anything you're not telling us? Any reason why you don't come out and put an end to 'St. Jimmy'?" The doctor opened his mouth, but Gordon cut him off. "And I don't want any philosophical crap; I've heard it all too many times already."

"It's metaphysical crap, actually," Ivo corrected. He sank into his chair. "It's because... If I did it now, there's a very good chance I would be arrested, nothing would be changed, and this entire affair would continue to escalate unchecked until either GUN was destroyed, he was, or both. Does that answer your question, Gordon?"

The ex-commander came back to the desk and stared down at his seated friend. "Partly, but now I have new questions. Why would you be arrested?"

Silence fell upon the room. Gordon attempted to bore holes in the doctor's defenses with his eyes. The doctor tried to ignore him by focusing on the files on the computer. The bat did her best not to be noticed; after all, what's a secret worth if you're told to leave before it's told? And it had to be a big one, she figured from all the quiet. A sudden buzz from the intercom device and the secretary voice saying, "Sir, Mr. Rose and his son are here to see you," finally broke the tension in the room.

Ivo reached over and pressed a button on said device. "Tell him it will just be a minute, Dorothy." Without looking up, he released the button. "Gordon, Rouge, I believe our little meeting has come to an end. Family must come first, after all. If any new information comes up, notify me immediately."

Rouge frowned for a second, then saluted and winked at the doctor. "Sure thing, Egg-baby."

Gordon continued to stare him down. "We'll discuss this later, Ivo."

"Of course, Snugglemuffin," Ivo replied, barely containing a grin. The ex-commander looked as though he had been sucking on an especially sour lemon at this. He then finally broke off his gaze and started for the door.

Rouge eyed the doctor suspiciously. "And what's all this about?"

"Private joke," Ivo replied.

*

Eleven PM that day, behind the capital building in Central City...

Rouge the Bat looked around, then loosened her tie and undid a couple buttons. The dress code needs a few revisions, she thought. The Secret Service was a little safer, but as a spy she at least got to pick her own clothes.

Someone whistled. "Unbutton some more!"

The bat sighed and rolled her eyes. "What did I tell you about visiting me while I'm at work, Jet?"

The green hawk put an arm around her. "Not to do it, but I missed you. What did Eggbutt want so bad you had to break our date for?"

Rouge walked her index and middle fingers up Jet's beak. "It's. A. Se. Cret, pretty bird," she said, ending the sentence by flicking the bird lightly between the eyes.

Jet frowned. "Aw, don't be that way, Bats. It's about that 'St. Jimmy' wacko and I know it! I can help!"

The bat nearly jumped at that remark. She straightened her tie and said, "Mm-hm, and just where are you getting this information from?"

"I'm a descendant of Babylon. Sneaking in where I'm not supposed to be and taking things is what I'm good at," he said, smoothing back his head feathers. "You need evidence, or at least a better idea of his plans, right? I can get it for you!"

Rouge went practically nose-to-beak to him. "Uh-huh, and what's in it for you, Tweety?"

"Would you believe it's to prove my undying love for you?" he asked nervously. The bat didn't budge. "... all right, true story then," he said. He backed away a couple steps, turned around, and looked up at the sky. "GUN helped me save my friends during the Doom's Evangelists mess, so it's only fair I help save them, OK? I don't like being in debt to Big Brother."

"Funny, considering you help 'Big Brother' in a way, Mr. Security Analysist," Rouge said with a giggle.

Jet poofed out his feathers. "Not funny."

She laughed more. "No, but looking like a big green feather duster is." Her face grew serious. "So, just what are you planning, Jet?"

The hawk unruffled himself, then ran a gloved finger along the top of her wing, causing her to shudder. "That is my secret, Bats." He fell quiet for a moment, then hugged her. "You be careful. Trust me, this kinda thing is dangerous to get mixed up in."

Rouge hugged back. "As long as you take your own advice, pretty bird. He's a dangerous man."

Jet pulled away and gave her a thumbs down. "Ha, I can take him!" He smiled softly. "Hope you have a quiet night. Gotta enjoy the peace where we can, y'know."

She watched the hawk retreat. "Yeah, hope you have one too, pretty bird."

*

Same time, east Central City...

A strange little man walked the corridors of the abandoned base. Above ground, it appeared to be a small church, crumbling from disrepair and several stained glass windows broken by careless vandals. Behind the altar, however, was a trap door that led to a high-tech base, filled with mechanisms bravely fighting time and continuing to function. The strange little man thanked their creator for a job well done and lightly touched one of the garish painted-on symbols put there by the man who built the place. He smiled. The creator would take the blame if this place was ever exposed, and the strange little man would still have the chance to take his revenge against those who hurt him, hurt them. No one hurts them, he thought.

Not even me, his conscience pointed out.

He proceeded to the assembly line to make sure he didn't need to "collect" more materials for the oddly-rounded robots. St. Jimmy was going to have to step things up if he ever wanted to accomplish his goals, and better sooner than later...

*
End Chapter 2

Chibi's notes:

Stained glass pretty.

The backstory I made for the FUTURE!!! seems to be becoming more important to the plot than I originally imagined. Not to mention the Babylon Rogues. I didn't even get Sonic Riders until after I started the fic, but already Jet's part of the plot. And just who were the Doom's Evangelists? If I don't get into them too much in the fic, I'll explain it in notes somewhere eventually. They were a wee bit important to Cmdr. Sonic's career...

And as always, thanks to Typical for (now former) GUN Commander Gordon Ansem's unofficial name.

Sonic et. al. are owned by Sega. I'm just borrowing them.