Categories > Games > Sonic the Hedgehog > World of Darkness
Chapter 4: Odd Alliances
0 reviewsStrangers meet in an old factory. A powerful entity is soundly defeated. A man of power looses it all, and must face his destiny.
0Unrated
-Chapter 4: Odd Alliances
-Old Factory in Station Square’s industrial area.
An old carpet mill, somewhere deep in the industrial area of Station Square, long abandoned because of a terrible accident that had killed twelve workers and the owner of the area. It was currently for sale, but no one would clam it.
It was grateful for this night though, for now it had company in the form of three strange individuals walking down its isles, once packed with machines.
Charmy, Espio, and Vector walked through the old factory quite cautiously. The entire thing could easily be a trap. Still, they kept their pace quick so as to appear trusting to whatever would greet them here.
Suddenly, the three came to a stop. Up ahead was a figure, silhouetted by a small lamp behind it. Charmy was the first to realize it was a female. He quickly bowed, very proper, and said, “Greetings ma’am. Are you the one we were supposed to meet?”
The figure turned. Sure enough, it was a woman. A tall, white bat in a black full body jump-suit. “That would be me.” she said.
Espio was the first to truly recognize her. “Rouge the Bat? The government spy?”
“One and only,” she replied with a nod.
Vector stepped forward, letting his huge form and well worked on body move in a graceful fashion. Unfortunately, his attempt to intimidate Rouge failed. She’d seen too many guys like this to be worried to much.
“So,” said Vector, “What’s the job then?”
Rouge resisted the urge to laugh at him, but simply combed her head fur back with her fingers. She then stepped over to the table that the lamp was settled on, and picked up what at first looked like a cell phone, but more flat. A large screen enveloped the top half of the device, and two buttons, one green and the other red, decorated the bottom half.
“What is that?” asked Espio.
“It’s a special communicator the boss uses when he doesn’t want to leave the office,” she said as she handed the device to Vector, “Press the little green button.”
Vector inspected the gadget a bit before complying. Making sure that, if it was a bomb, that it would probably take out Rouge too, he pressed the button lightly with his finger.
The screen started to glow a green tint. Then the face of the President himself appeared on the screen. He was a man in his late fifties, and was a renowned war hero for his considerable bravery during the Talons War not twenty years ago His long white mustache showed a man of confidence and tactical ingenuity. He was wearing the look of a professional diplomat, blank yet friendly. “Greetings Chaotix Detective Agency. I’m glad to finally greet you personally.”
“Is this a recording?” asked Charmy, flying over Vector’s shoulder to get a better view.
“Actually, it’s not,” said the President, “this is a two way communication device that I use to assign missions and directives to government sanctioned units.”
“Wait,” said Espio, “does that mean we now work directly for you, sir?”
“Indeed,” said the President, “that’s exactly correct. I wish of you to report to me on the mission’s progression every ten hours, or whenever information that requires my immediate attention is collected. If you do not report every ten hours, then I’ll send in a team to investigate why that is. It will start to vibrate lightly exactly ten minutes before the report is to be sent in. Send it during that time alone. Rouge will instruct you on how to do this.”
“But sir,” said Charmy, “what exactly is the mission we’re going to be on?”
“Glad you asked that, Charmy,” said the President, “You are to assist Rouge the Bat in the capture of the most dangerous crime syndicate ever to infest the city,” the President stated, his face turning grim from
“A crime syndicate?” asked Espio, “Why would you waste government resources against a simple gang of thugs?”
“I only wish it were that simple Espio,” the Commander and Chief said, “but all attempts by the police, G.U.N., even the United Federation Against Hostilities are incapable of finding the head of this organization.”
“But then why call us?” asked Vector.
“Because you have had past dealings with Sonic the Hedgehog, and the fact that your performance record is pretty high in the success rate.”
Vector smiled with pride, “Thank you very much sir.”
Charmy was the first to figure it out, “That, and since we’re a normal, everyday detective agency, these guys probably don’t monitor our dealings and techniques quite as thoroughly as they do the big military corporations, right?”
The President was stunned, but only for a second, “Well yes, that is another reason. But I digress. You will be paid a total of 5,000,000 dollars to be split amongst yourselves as you see fit. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for a meeting with some political sharks. Thank you three for your time.”
At that point, the line went dead. Vector dropped his arm, and nearly dropped the communicator too.
“$5,000,000 dollars,” he said, weakly, “Are these guys that bad?”
“Apparently,” said Rouge with a shrug, “I don’t see why they need you guys for this, but that’s not my department.”
Espio and Charmy, still stunned from the proposition of having that much money, finally shook themselves awake. Espio spoke first, “Ok then, do we have any leads on these guys or are we just shooting in the dark first.”
“Push the red button on the communicator,” Rouge instructed Vector.
The crocodile, still a little stunned, managed to comply with Rouge’s request. A small map of the city appeared. On the map were small red dots. In the corner was a strange insignia that looked like some kind of cross.
“What’s all this?” asked Vector.
Rouge nodded, “This is a detailed map of the city. The red dots indicate where we believe the syndicate has been striking the most frequently. That cross is the insignia they use, but we only recently acquired it from one of their flunkies that we managed to capture. Apparently, they use small time criminals for their tiny workings, so as to cover their tracks.”
Vector smiled wide, his huge teeth showing. “Ok Rouge, we’ll catch your criminals. Where do we start?”
-The South Docks of Station Square
A fast ocean stretched across the horizon that night. The full moon gave off just enough light to bask the sea in a beautiful glow. But only one person was enjoying the view this night.
The large hulking machine that was Omega, E unit 123, strolled with huge clanking steps down the docks, having just arrived from the resting place of Final Fortress. He could have taken the train, but he decided it would not be a good idea to interact with the mainstream of the population just yet. Robot prejudice was still high, thanks to Dr. Eggman.
The area around the southern docks was quiet tonight. He only picked up a few small heat signatures, mostly birds or bats or other nocturnal animals.
But his attention was not to them, but to events prior. He scanned his memory logs, searching through all the information he had acquired from Metal Sonic.
Why hadn’t he killed Metal Sonic? He knew that, at the time, there was a reason. Was it because Metal was no longer under Eggman’s control, and as such was not a target? No, he was still built by Eggman, so that didn’t make sense. Why then, had he decided to just put Metal in a suspended state? It would have been so easy to kill him too.
He continued to ponder things in his logs. One file was quite interesting to him. It consisted of the lowest level of the Final Fortress’s body. Apparently, in the very bottom of the ship, Eggman had some sort of experiment going on. Two individual robot units were being modified. Omega’s history showed that these machines were only used once, then scrapped immediately after their failure. But, for some reason, Metal had found that these units were scheduled for upgrades. The date of the schedule suggested that it had been initiated a full week before Metal Sonic’s revival, so even he had no information on what the upgrades were, or why. There was also no way to actually access these units, as the last level had no doors or entryways leading to it.
So only the one who built it knew how to get down there. The only reason that Metal had even know about this mysterious layer was because he managed to hack into one of the cleaning unit’s history, and found that said units had been recently cleaned by the dusting machine.
Omega added this incident to the list of questions to ask Eggman, when he found him and before he killed him.
Omega’s thoughts were interrupted as he rounded a corner, and suddenly found a bullet hole in his chest. Quickly, he entered battle mode and turned to face the attacker. No one was there, but he was detecting a heat signature on the roof above. It was faint though, whoever was up there must have been wearing some kind of anti-heat emission suit of some sort. Omega was about to fly up to the roof and initiate an attack, but a flying metal claw to the back of the head stopped him in his tracks.
Omega’s main neural functions went offline.
-Station Square Prison
It was sad for Omega that he did not remain active for another ten minutes. For if he had, he may have intercepted a very important News Bulletin.
Eggman had been captured. His empire crippled, his fortune nearly tapped out, the doctor had turned himself in.
Families rested far more peacefully that night. It made him sick.
Dr Ivo Eggman Robotnik, King of Machines, Lord of the Metal, was now stuck in a high security prison, locked off from all but the most basic of human necessities. No amount of technology was allowed near him, for who knows what he could create to escape if he could get his hands on it.
In truth, their over caution was unnecessary. Robotnik was done. All he wanted for the rest of his life was some peace and quiet. Or at least that’s what he kept telling himself.
He lay back on the iron hard bed they had given him. He had to admit, he was surprised they had any prison outfits that would actually fit him. He was a very large individual. Most of the other inmates gave him a wide berth, fearing they’d take a laser to the face if they didn’t. Eggman laughed at the notion of building a laser with no equipment, but only to himself. As long as they left him alone, he’d let them wallow in their own ignorance.
It was surprising to him then, that on that very morning, he’d get a visitor he’d never suspect to come, or that he wished that he’d never see again.
-Old Factory in Station Square’s industrial area.
An old carpet mill, somewhere deep in the industrial area of Station Square, long abandoned because of a terrible accident that had killed twelve workers and the owner of the area. It was currently for sale, but no one would clam it.
It was grateful for this night though, for now it had company in the form of three strange individuals walking down its isles, once packed with machines.
Charmy, Espio, and Vector walked through the old factory quite cautiously. The entire thing could easily be a trap. Still, they kept their pace quick so as to appear trusting to whatever would greet them here.
Suddenly, the three came to a stop. Up ahead was a figure, silhouetted by a small lamp behind it. Charmy was the first to realize it was a female. He quickly bowed, very proper, and said, “Greetings ma’am. Are you the one we were supposed to meet?”
The figure turned. Sure enough, it was a woman. A tall, white bat in a black full body jump-suit. “That would be me.” she said.
Espio was the first to truly recognize her. “Rouge the Bat? The government spy?”
“One and only,” she replied with a nod.
Vector stepped forward, letting his huge form and well worked on body move in a graceful fashion. Unfortunately, his attempt to intimidate Rouge failed. She’d seen too many guys like this to be worried to much.
“So,” said Vector, “What’s the job then?”
Rouge resisted the urge to laugh at him, but simply combed her head fur back with her fingers. She then stepped over to the table that the lamp was settled on, and picked up what at first looked like a cell phone, but more flat. A large screen enveloped the top half of the device, and two buttons, one green and the other red, decorated the bottom half.
“What is that?” asked Espio.
“It’s a special communicator the boss uses when he doesn’t want to leave the office,” she said as she handed the device to Vector, “Press the little green button.”
Vector inspected the gadget a bit before complying. Making sure that, if it was a bomb, that it would probably take out Rouge too, he pressed the button lightly with his finger.
The screen started to glow a green tint. Then the face of the President himself appeared on the screen. He was a man in his late fifties, and was a renowned war hero for his considerable bravery during the Talons War not twenty years ago His long white mustache showed a man of confidence and tactical ingenuity. He was wearing the look of a professional diplomat, blank yet friendly. “Greetings Chaotix Detective Agency. I’m glad to finally greet you personally.”
“Is this a recording?” asked Charmy, flying over Vector’s shoulder to get a better view.
“Actually, it’s not,” said the President, “this is a two way communication device that I use to assign missions and directives to government sanctioned units.”
“Wait,” said Espio, “does that mean we now work directly for you, sir?”
“Indeed,” said the President, “that’s exactly correct. I wish of you to report to me on the mission’s progression every ten hours, or whenever information that requires my immediate attention is collected. If you do not report every ten hours, then I’ll send in a team to investigate why that is. It will start to vibrate lightly exactly ten minutes before the report is to be sent in. Send it during that time alone. Rouge will instruct you on how to do this.”
“But sir,” said Charmy, “what exactly is the mission we’re going to be on?”
“Glad you asked that, Charmy,” said the President, “You are to assist Rouge the Bat in the capture of the most dangerous crime syndicate ever to infest the city,” the President stated, his face turning grim from
“A crime syndicate?” asked Espio, “Why would you waste government resources against a simple gang of thugs?”
“I only wish it were that simple Espio,” the Commander and Chief said, “but all attempts by the police, G.U.N., even the United Federation Against Hostilities are incapable of finding the head of this organization.”
“But then why call us?” asked Vector.
“Because you have had past dealings with Sonic the Hedgehog, and the fact that your performance record is pretty high in the success rate.”
Vector smiled with pride, “Thank you very much sir.”
Charmy was the first to figure it out, “That, and since we’re a normal, everyday detective agency, these guys probably don’t monitor our dealings and techniques quite as thoroughly as they do the big military corporations, right?”
The President was stunned, but only for a second, “Well yes, that is another reason. But I digress. You will be paid a total of 5,000,000 dollars to be split amongst yourselves as you see fit. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for a meeting with some political sharks. Thank you three for your time.”
At that point, the line went dead. Vector dropped his arm, and nearly dropped the communicator too.
“$5,000,000 dollars,” he said, weakly, “Are these guys that bad?”
“Apparently,” said Rouge with a shrug, “I don’t see why they need you guys for this, but that’s not my department.”
Espio and Charmy, still stunned from the proposition of having that much money, finally shook themselves awake. Espio spoke first, “Ok then, do we have any leads on these guys or are we just shooting in the dark first.”
“Push the red button on the communicator,” Rouge instructed Vector.
The crocodile, still a little stunned, managed to comply with Rouge’s request. A small map of the city appeared. On the map were small red dots. In the corner was a strange insignia that looked like some kind of cross.
“What’s all this?” asked Vector.
Rouge nodded, “This is a detailed map of the city. The red dots indicate where we believe the syndicate has been striking the most frequently. That cross is the insignia they use, but we only recently acquired it from one of their flunkies that we managed to capture. Apparently, they use small time criminals for their tiny workings, so as to cover their tracks.”
Vector smiled wide, his huge teeth showing. “Ok Rouge, we’ll catch your criminals. Where do we start?”
-The South Docks of Station Square
A fast ocean stretched across the horizon that night. The full moon gave off just enough light to bask the sea in a beautiful glow. But only one person was enjoying the view this night.
The large hulking machine that was Omega, E unit 123, strolled with huge clanking steps down the docks, having just arrived from the resting place of Final Fortress. He could have taken the train, but he decided it would not be a good idea to interact with the mainstream of the population just yet. Robot prejudice was still high, thanks to Dr. Eggman.
The area around the southern docks was quiet tonight. He only picked up a few small heat signatures, mostly birds or bats or other nocturnal animals.
But his attention was not to them, but to events prior. He scanned his memory logs, searching through all the information he had acquired from Metal Sonic.
Why hadn’t he killed Metal Sonic? He knew that, at the time, there was a reason. Was it because Metal was no longer under Eggman’s control, and as such was not a target? No, he was still built by Eggman, so that didn’t make sense. Why then, had he decided to just put Metal in a suspended state? It would have been so easy to kill him too.
He continued to ponder things in his logs. One file was quite interesting to him. It consisted of the lowest level of the Final Fortress’s body. Apparently, in the very bottom of the ship, Eggman had some sort of experiment going on. Two individual robot units were being modified. Omega’s history showed that these machines were only used once, then scrapped immediately after their failure. But, for some reason, Metal had found that these units were scheduled for upgrades. The date of the schedule suggested that it had been initiated a full week before Metal Sonic’s revival, so even he had no information on what the upgrades were, or why. There was also no way to actually access these units, as the last level had no doors or entryways leading to it.
So only the one who built it knew how to get down there. The only reason that Metal had even know about this mysterious layer was because he managed to hack into one of the cleaning unit’s history, and found that said units had been recently cleaned by the dusting machine.
Omega added this incident to the list of questions to ask Eggman, when he found him and before he killed him.
Omega’s thoughts were interrupted as he rounded a corner, and suddenly found a bullet hole in his chest. Quickly, he entered battle mode and turned to face the attacker. No one was there, but he was detecting a heat signature on the roof above. It was faint though, whoever was up there must have been wearing some kind of anti-heat emission suit of some sort. Omega was about to fly up to the roof and initiate an attack, but a flying metal claw to the back of the head stopped him in his tracks.
Omega’s main neural functions went offline.
-Station Square Prison
It was sad for Omega that he did not remain active for another ten minutes. For if he had, he may have intercepted a very important News Bulletin.
Eggman had been captured. His empire crippled, his fortune nearly tapped out, the doctor had turned himself in.
Families rested far more peacefully that night. It made him sick.
Dr Ivo Eggman Robotnik, King of Machines, Lord of the Metal, was now stuck in a high security prison, locked off from all but the most basic of human necessities. No amount of technology was allowed near him, for who knows what he could create to escape if he could get his hands on it.
In truth, their over caution was unnecessary. Robotnik was done. All he wanted for the rest of his life was some peace and quiet. Or at least that’s what he kept telling himself.
He lay back on the iron hard bed they had given him. He had to admit, he was surprised they had any prison outfits that would actually fit him. He was a very large individual. Most of the other inmates gave him a wide berth, fearing they’d take a laser to the face if they didn’t. Eggman laughed at the notion of building a laser with no equipment, but only to himself. As long as they left him alone, he’d let them wallow in their own ignorance.
It was surprising to him then, that on that very morning, he’d get a visitor he’d never suspect to come, or that he wished that he’d never see again.
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