Roleplay:Secret Discord/Part1

Part 1
It had been a few days after the initial attack, and although the panic had quieted down, there was still tension in the air. Especially considering that only a few hours prior, a second attack had occurred near a train station, starting up the panic all over again. Police and federal agents were on every corner now, constantly watching, looking for some clue as to who the perpetrator was.

The Mayor's residence (or at least, what was left of it) was the most heavily guarded, however. Strangely, there were no police there, but only the suit-and-tie agents, each from different divisions and branches. Anyone coming even close would notice laser pointers pointed at them; the snipers on nearby rooftops prepared to shoot down a potential suspect.

This might have been Station Square, but it felt more like a prison. All the exits had been blocked off, and cameras where everywhere, adding to the constant surveillance. One way or another, the incident would be resolved. Most city-goers, however, were quite worried that their safety might be compromised on the way to that resolution. A thin fog had set over the bustling sidewalks and streets, and though it was crowded, most people were honestly too frightened to go anywhere fast.

Reens Maricina, on the other hand, was not like most people. She walked briskly, a few small shopping bags clutched in her right robotic hand. Her goggles were pulled down over her bright blue eyes, shielding them from the fog. Her heart sank as she surveyed the landscape, seeing people trembling in fear. Shifting the contents of her hand around a little, she only slowed down to use the crosswalk, lifting up her other hand to wipe sweat off her forehead. It's amazing how fast the entire city can shut down from the inside...

Crossing the street from the other direction was a blue echidna whose hands were stuffed into the pockets of a gray jacket, worn over a buttoned red shirt and black cargo pants. His posture was somewhat hunched over and his pace quicker than normal. With all that happened in the past few days, no one felt safe and no one wanted to stand out. The adult echidna noted the metallic arm on the pedestrian in front of him; she stood out more than anyone. Being careful not to stare as he passed, his mind drifted onto other thoughts.

Standing out isn't the problem, Smash the Echidna thought with concern. ''Whoever's responsible for these crimes is still at large, and I don't have time to sit around on my bum waiting for them to catch em. But I can't even get near any crime scenes to investigate. I've never even seen men in black before; Dealing with them might even be more dangerous than dealing with the criminal.''

Turning her head to the side, Reens shifted the contents of her hand again. ''If anyone can find out who orchestrated the whole thing, it would be the police, but as far as I know nothing's been found. Besides, with my robotic arm I stand out enough to be considered a suspect, right?'' She frowned, looking at her watch. "Darn. With how long it took me to get these parts, there's no way I can find a hotel by now."

It was easy to tell who was a common citizen, and who was a person with a purpose. And for someone like Hikari the Cat, it was a piece of cake. A somewhat imposing yellow cat, he always insisted on wearing his grey trilby, even if it wasn't part of his uniform. Most government officials would get told to live with it, but Hikari was certainly not your common or garden agent. He was a member of what was referred to as the 'Hyper Division', a secretive branch of G.U.N. dedicated to unlocking the latent potential that Mobians held. He was one of the few personally tasked with finding and eliminating the threat.

Of course, hunting down one of the most dangerous beings in the known universe is no easy task, so he had a special assignment: Searching the city for any of what they referred to as 'Heightened Mobians', those who had a higher control of their latent potential. Considering the circumstances, it would be very beneficial for them to find anyone with fighting potential, for the purpose of combating the threat they faced. Hikari pulled out his phone, looking at the faces of the passerby. "Reens Maricina, Smash Corliss... All sorts of characters have found themselves caught up in this mess, haven't they?" He muttered to himself. In a flash, he grabbed the shoulders of the two as they passed by each other. "Excuse me, a minute of your time, please."

The instant the hand touched his shoulder, Smash whirled around into a defensive stance. The man before him was no one he knew, and certainly not one he'd trust as far as he could throw him. Yet, he sensed no hostile intent from the cat, and eased up. "Can I help you?" He asked with a hint of firmness in his voice.

Enigma noticed the commotion going on with the echidna and cat. She was unsure of what exactly was going on between them, but made a mental note to keep an eye on them. Looking back down to her phone she continued to wait until the commissioner was able to call her back.

Unbeknownst to all four of them, a black hedgehog, by the name Transford, had also noticed the cat. He wore a gauntlet around one arm and a leather cast around the other, but otherwise looked like any ordinary citizen. He sat alone on a bench across the street from the trio reading the newspaper in his hands, his gaze occasionally shifted to the cat on the other side as he continued speaking with the others.

Reens flinched and stepped back, the precious bags falling from her hand as she did so. She lifted her robotic arm as it turned into a small plasma cannon and steadied it. "Look buster, I'm not in the mood for games. I've gotta find a hotel room before it gets dark, and Chaos knows if I will, so if I were you, I would leave me and this fine gentleman alone."

Whoa shoot. Smash edged a bit further away from the girl and her cannon, startled not by the fact that she was heavily armed but willing to threaten someone at a moment's notice. Though considering the dangers that now lurked in the city, he couldn't blame her.

Hikari put his hands up, unfazed by the display of weaponry. Par for the course, par for the course. "Now, now. Let's not resort to violence, shall we?" He said, though it seemed to have an air of if you think you can take me on, I have a squadron that disagrees with you. "I'm simply seeking your help." He paused a moment, pulling his wallet out of his suit's inside pocket. After quickly rummaging through the papers inside, he pulled out his identification as an agent of G.U.N. A small insignia shaped like a Wisp denoted his classification as part of the 'Hyper Division', whatever that was. "The name's Hikari. I'm the investigator assigned to this... Incident. I simply wish to ask for your help in apprehending the one who's been causing these attacks. Given your histories, I'm sure that you two will both be valuable assets in helping to track and, ah, eliminate the problem. We'll be more than willing to provide food and board for you two, given that you're from out of town."

Smash's eyes furrowed at the mention of 'histories'. He opened his mouth to speak, but another spoke first. "Excuse me," a male voice abruptly said. It belonged to a brown hedgehog with glowing orange eyes, wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans. There was something strange about him, however. The area had started becoming much warmer once he appeared, and there was a feeling of unrelenting power emanating from him. "Could you three please move somewhere else?" he asked kindly, "You're taking up most of the crosswalk."

"I agree. Let's find somewhere else to talk." Smash said, trying to keep a watchful eye on the hooded hedgehog and the armed lady beside him. "This is not the place for this."

"True," Reens agreed with a huff. She lowered her cannon just slightly. "Besides, it could get dark soon, and nobody wants to be out at that hour."

Enigma took note of the situation at hand. So the robotic one seemed to be quick to engage in violence, or was possibly on edge due to the situation. The blue echidna seemed relatively calm, but he may have noticed her. She made sure to take a note on that. "Now's not the time to sit back and take notes, Enigma." She chided herself under her breath. She quickly cleared her throat, and approached the group. "Excuse me." She said, specifically to Hikari. "I couldn't help overhearing, but could you explain what exactly is going on with all of this?"

My, my, my. What a collection of characters have accumulated here. Either way, the hedgehog was right. The information that was about to be divulged would be best spoken in a more private area. Hikari quickly pulled out his phone, glancing up at the two who had walked over. "Yes, Detective Bradway, and this one seems to have powerful ability as well..." He muttered to himself. "Perfect." Placing the phone back in his pocket, he looked up towards the four in front of him. "Anyways, we should indeed take this conversation to somewhere a little more secluded." He started towards a nearby building, simply a nondescript skyscraper, beckoning for them to follow. "Come along. I'll give you an explanation once we're inside."

Enigma followed along quickly. She looked back out to the current madness of the town, causing her stomach to do a flop. She noted that the tension in the air was thick enough that you could cut it with a knife. To be honest, even she didn't feel completely safe anymore. "It's a bit disconcerting to see Station Square like this..." Enigma noted. "Having somewhere so close to home be attacked like this is terrifying."

Smash felt his stomach flop too, but not for the same reason. Hikari's 'subtle' actions with his phone caught his attention and rose his suspicions through the roof. His eyes narrowed and brows furrowed at the agent as he began to lead them away. He hesitated to join them; something in the back of his head was telling him this was a bad idea. The scent of trouble was strong with this one, but given the circumstances, this may be his only chance to get a lead on the situation. He wordlessly followed behind the others, eyes fixed on Hikari.

Transford, who had definitely taken an interest in the small group, particularly the cat, set aside the newspaper as the four were led away by the agent-type figure. He stood up and proceeded to trail them, placing his arms behind his back as he crossed the street and merged with the crowds.

Xavis- the brown hedgehog- somewhat reluctantly followed Hikari. This was not at all how he planned to spend this evening, but if this would help resolve the city's current situation, he'd help.

However, Xavis couldn't shake the feeling that they were being followed...

Reens, reluctantly, followed behind, but still kept her plasma cannon slightly raised. Her teeth were clenched, obviously on edge and uncomfortable walking with the group. She also kept twitching her ears, making sure she didn't miss anything.

As he walked up to the door, Hikari pulled out his I.D. once more, and placed it up to a scanner, unlocking it. "Five visitors." He said, looking at the attendant at the front desk, a hazel-furred rabbit. Walking over to the elevator, he placed his finger on a print scanner. After a brief moment, a light flashed green, and the doors opened. Standing at the door, he beckoned for the others to enter. "We're just going to the meeting room for today." He said to the attendant. Hikari turned back towards the group. "Normally, I'd arrange a quick tour of the facility, and attempt to recruit you (because I'm contractually obligated). But, as you might imagine, time is of the essence!"

"Sounds serious." Smash said in a deadpan tone, his expression ever unchanging as they entered the elevator. Once they had all boarded, Smash followed with a question. "I wonder if that's the reason you've been collecting information on people like us? Is the government so shorthanded that you need to recruit civilians?" He asked with a raised brow, "Or is the 'threat' you mentioned too much for you to handle on your own?"

A drop of sweat fell down Hikari's face. "Well, it's kind of a combination of those reasons, ha ha." His chuckle was clearly forced through a great deal of stress. "If you want to know, the one behind these attacks... Ah. Used to be the strongest member of our entire division. Of course, we've always been interested in those who have control of their potential, but with a planet destroyer on the loose, we've really had to turn our efforts towards recruiting more people." It took him a moment to realize that maybe saying their opponent could destroy a planet was not a good idea. "B-but don't worry! She doesn't have as much control over her powers as she did before! We're not taking any chances, though. This is our chance to eliminate her for sure."

A sly gleam shone in Smash's eyes as he pressed the agent into spilling more information than he needed to, but the moment he heard the words 'planet destroyer', he nearly lurched back into the person behind him. "What the crap? Why the hell do you even have someone like that in here?"

A planet destroyer? Xavis thought as he stood in the corner, arms folded. Wait, why am I'' worried? I'm the ultimate weapon! This'll be easy,'' he assured himself.

"So why us?" Enigma asked. "I mean, I don't doubt the skills of... most of the people here, but wouldn't it have been easier to just go with other strong members of the division? Surely the second-best couldn't be far from the best."

"Oh sure, I bet the second best just levels whole continents instead." Smash quipped under his breath. "So you let a world nuking person of mass destruction who has decreasingly low control over her power to annihilate us, escape from your grasp and now she's on a rampage in the city." He summed up, "How do you plan to rectify this situation; preferably before it gets any worse?"

"If anything, maybe he just set the whole thing up," Reens muttered under her breath, "to keep us off the trail of the real criminals."

Great. He got the snarky ones. If there's anything that annoyed Hikari more than some of his moronic duties, it was people snarking at him about his job. Of course, despite the fact that he snarks at others about their jobs. "You've described the situation, yeah." He said, turning to Smash. "I'm taking you all to meet the rest of the team, and then, all we do is wait until we get intel on where the next attack will be. After that, we show up, and eliminate the target." His eyes were cold, and his hand was clenched. "Simple."

"Hold on- so we're gonna have a little meet & greet with your team, and then we're just gonna sit there and wait for something to happen?" Xavis asked, "Wouldn't a more immediate course of action be more efficient?"

"Perhaps," Smash said, glancing at him at the corner of his eyes, "but let's see what they have to say first before making any hasty decisions. If she's really that powerful, then we can't afford to make any mistakes."

"If we could just go to take her out right now, don't you think we would?" Hikari asked, rolling his eyes. "No, we're going to catch her in the act. Once we've located her next target, we'll wait for the attack. Once it happens, we'll trap her when she tries to escape."

"Sounds reasonable enough, but now that brings me to a more important question." Smash started, but before he could follow through with it the elevator stopped. With a ding, the doors opened to reveal their destination. "I suppose it could wait till the meeting."

Reens, who had been silently listening the whole time, sighed and lowered her plasma cannon, returning it to her regular robotic hand. I probably shouldn't have it out anyway, she reasoned to herself. She exited the elevator and looked around, her ears twitching.

Before them was a mostly empty room, a long table covered in crumbs being the only notable feature. A single person was in the room, a green fox twiddling his thumbs. Upon hearing the elevator doors, he turned in his chair to greet the group. "Oh, hey Hikari. Looks like you found quite a few HMs, huh?"

Hikari, however, was looking around in disbelief. There was supposed to be a whole team here! Where the hell were the rest of the Sensors? In fact, where even was the entire Hyper Division!? "Where the hell is everyone, Kiko!?" Hikari shouted.

The fox, apparently named 'Kiko', began to sweat. "Well, um. There was an urgent call to action, something about some escaped..." He quickly looked at the group. "Animals. Escaped animals. So, uh. Everyone's gone." It took all of his might to force a smile. "But with us two, and this group, it should be a cinch, right?"

It looked like a blood vessel was about to pop in Hikari's eye. "Well, then we need to get ready, idiot! With a small group like this, we'll have to bolt the second we locate the next target! It could pop up any minute now, so we need to be read-"

He was cut off by the sound of an alarm. It wasn't loud, but that might have been because someone had taped a pillow over the source of the sound, a strange box of some kind at the end of the table. "That's the alarm!" Hikari said, dragging Kiko out of his chair and into the elevator. "I'd love to give a tour, but this might be our best chance to end this once and for all!" Quickly pressing a button, the elevator sped back down towards the ground floor. After a moment, Hikari had collected himself. He turned to Smash. "So sorry about that. What was your question?"

Xavis quickly reached out to Reens, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her into the elevator before the doors closed. He was surprisingly strong, and his hand was hot to the touch.

"Ouch!" Reens grunted as she was pulled in, flinging her arm away from Xavis. "Dude, warn me next time before you try to burn my arm into a crisp or break it, okay?! You scared the daylights out of me." She looked her arm over for damage. "At least it's not burned..."

"Sorry," Xavis quietly and sincerely apologized, looking down to the floor.

Smash slowly slid his hand down his face, calming his clear aggravation with the situation. Now that there was officially no meeting, he had more than  one  question that needed answering. I never knew that even I could run more organized meetings than the government. He thought in exasperation. "That one can wait until we have a less urgent moment. While we still have time to chat, there's at least one thing we need to know." He flashed a firm glance Hikari's way, "Who is the girl we're after?"

"Her name is Granite, Granite the Echidna." Hikari said with a sigh. "The old head of the Hyper-Go-On research team, but that's not important. If you want to know what she looks like, all I can tell you is that she has red and blue quills. If you see someone with red and blue quills, I recommend you make chase, and attack on sight. Do not, I repeat, do not give her the chance to retaliate."

Reens' ears drooped as she looked at Xavis and mouthed the words 'No, I'm sorry' to him. "But there could be any number of people with red and blue quills," she pointed out. "We're just going to attack them with no mercy? It may be an extremely tense situation right now, but I'm not gonna bludgeon someone with no explanation."

Kiko shrugged. "I mean, if you want to risk life and limb to double-check, go ahead. But don't be surprised when Granite spreads you across the pavement like some butter on a piece of toast."

Xavis let out a brief chuckle. "I wouldn't count on that," he remarked quietly.

Transford, who stood in the very back of the elevator, rolled his eyes behind his mirror-shades as he was beginning to doubt the decision to follow this group. His arms were now folded in front of his chest, the gauntlet and cast he wore in full display,

"It would be better to check and confirm the identity of our suspect rather than to blindly attack anyone who matches that identity." Enigma noted. "We don't want to hurt anyone who is innocent. Jumping topics a little bit here, our objective is only to apprehend Granite and not to kill her, correct?" Although this was mainly to confirm things for herself, she also wanted it to be clearly said in case someone here may not understand that. She noted that some of the others seemed very dangerous.

"Apprehend? Are you kidding me?" Hikari laughed, though it was clear it was quite pained. His face darkened. "I just told you one of the most dangerous beings in the universe is weakened, running around out there. At her full power, she can reduce planets to space dust. Why? Why would we simply 'apprehend' her? So she can recuperate in a cell, and blow us all to kingdom come once she's back to full power? No, no. We are going to find her. And we are going to kill her."

"Alright, I really have to ask this now, then." Smash started, calling his previous question to attention. His expression hardened and his voice grew serious. "Agent Hikari, in what part of your 'plan' is the safety of the citizens even mentioned?"

Hikari sighed, looking somewhat defeated. "I'm afraid the safety of any people nearby is not our greatest concern. We can't try to stop the attacks before they occur, it's too risky. We might give away our location. Our only choice is to go directly for Granite as she escapes the scene of the crime, and attack her with all we've got. She's too dangerous; we can't risk letting her get away. Civilian safety matters far less than getting rid of Granite while she's weak."

Xavis put on a worried expression when he heard that.

The temperature inside the elevator began fluctuating slightly.

"And yet, you still had the time to bar off all the exits to the city." Smash stated. "I understand the danger Granite poses, but people are dying because instead of evacuating the area, you do the complete opposite and have them trapped in a cage with a psychopath. Do you know what it's like to live in fear because you could be killed at any given moment? My main question is why did you people lock us in here instead of letting us out?"

"Who are you to question me, huh!?" Hikari asked. At this point, his face had begun to turn red from anger. "I am a man in a very high position, and I am far more prepared to handle this situation than you! I don't need some stupid brawler to give me a lecture on morality, capiche? So why don't you just-"

He was cut off by Kiko, who promptly placed his hand over Hikari's mouth. "Dude, cool your jets." He sighed. Kiko turned towards Smash with an apologetic smile. "Don't mind him, I don't think he's slept in like, five days. Anyways, to answer your question, there are a few reasons. Granite would most certainly flee at the first opportunity she got, in order to regain her strength. She's a pragmatist, so it's not like she'd just stick around in one location. The city has been completely sealed off by an energy barrier, so there's no chance she'll be able to escape." Smash's eyebrows bounced up at this. There was an energy barrier? "Anyways, I've got a proposal, alright?" He turned to Hikari. "You've gotta listen too, okay?"

All Hikari did was grumble in response.

Kiko clapped. "Perfect! So, if the safety of the people is really that important to you, Hikari and I can go ahead to keep the citizens safe, while the rest of you go deal with Granite. Our powers are best suited towards crowd control, anyways. Capable fighters like you are certain to be capable of dealing with her in such a weakened state."

Hikari sighed. "I suppose that can work, yes. But you lot better attack to kill, got it? This is the best chance we've got yet to take her out, so you better not let me down."

"You do your part and we'll do ours." Smash stated. His gaze softened as he gave Kiko a nod of approval. Had he not stepped in and shut Hikari up when he did, Smash definitely would have done it first--with his fist. Few things set him off more than using power and position as a means of justification. "We're in this together."

Xavis let out a short sigh of relief.

The temperature stopped fluctuating.

Wiping the sweat from her head, Reens breathed a sigh of relief. "And if we can't kill her in time?" Even though I'm strictly on a no-kill regimen, she groaned in her head.

"Failure isn't an option." Smash declared. Though it's a high probability, he silently agreed. "If we're gonna do this then we'll have to work together. We won't have much time to strategize, so let's try to come up with a basic formation before--"

Ding! The elevator doors opened, once again interrupting Smash mid-sentence as they arrived at ground level.

"The elevator hates you," Reens quipped as she exited it. "Half and half?"

"The feeling is mutual." He muttered with a huff. "Let's try to figure this out on the way. What can you all do and how can we make the most of your abilities? I'm a close ranged fighter, so I'll have to be on the frontlines. If I can get the jump on her; if I can hit her with everything I've got, then best case scenario it'll end right there. But in case it doesn't I'll need backup. Which one of you can I count on to cover me, or block off her escape routes?"

"Well, I can generate and manipulate Chaos Energy, and I'm pyrokinetic, among other things," Xavis quickly answered, walking up next to Smash, "I'm best at close-to-mid range, so I'll probably be up front with you."

Reens tugged on her braid a little as she walked. "I have my heart powers, my robotic arm, and hydrokinesis. That's basically it besides my stamina and other stuff. I might be good at blocking off the escape routes or as extra muscles, however you need me."

(Sorry for not mentioning, but they are in a hurry so they should technically be running out the door. ~STE)

"Then you'll back me up and take the next move should my initial strike fail." Smash said to Xavis. "Blaster Girl, you'll be the zoner. Keep her away from the exits by any means possible. And you..." He paused, glancing at Enigma who had not yet said anything, "....You're with Blaster Girl. And you brooding in the back there; if you're not gonna contribute to anything now's the time to get off." He told Transford, noting how he had been wordlessly following them the whole time.

"Sure," Reens nodded, noting to correct Smash at a later date.

Transford let out a small sigh before speaking "Well, now's as good a time as any to break the silence". He sped up to be walking alongside Smash and offered his hand to anyone who would care to shake it (nobody does) before he continued "The name's Transford; former criminal, government experiment, terrorist super-weapon, survivor of 100 year cryosleep." he waited a few moments before telling the echidna what he had wanted to hear, "I'm a Pyrokinetic, Electrokinetic, expert marksman and melee combatant, and some control over Chaos and Dark energy. The two of you could wear her down and then I'll come in when she's weak and finish her."

"Always a pleasure to meet another weapon-of-mass-destruction," Xavis quipped.

"Another?" Smash felt slightly more exasperated than surprised. Teaming up with two people of mass destruction to kill an even bigger person of massive destruction. "What have I gotten myself into...?" He sighed to himself. "Alright, then. Get ready, team. We're gonna have to give it everything we've got and then some if we wanna survive this. Kiko, where's our target?"

"The bank, it's just down the street and to the left." Kiko replied. At that moment, a loud bang could be heard from a few blocks down. "What!? She shouldn't have been able to release that much energy so soon!" Kiko grabbed Hikari, and the two sped off towards the bank.

"Crap, this is bad!" Smash exclaimed, "Go, go, go!" He ushered the team as they picked up the speed, following close behind the two agents.

(I think now would be the ideal time to introduce Splice. After that, I can write up Granite's introduction, and each person can chose who they wish to follow. ~Time)

A few blocks down the opposite direction, a red-and-blue-quilled hedgehog jumped at the sound of the explosion, dropping an ice cream cone out of fright. "What was that!? Another attack!?" The hedgehog yelped. "It was close! The culprit's probably still in the area! I'll nail em for sure this time!" With that, the figure dashed towards the bank.

On the other side of the street, a red-and-blue-quilled echidna was walking. She wore a purple shirt with a yin-yang on it, along with some grey sweatpants. Her name, of course, was Granite the Echidna. Well, that's what she thought it was, at least. You can never be too sure with amnesia. She was being hunted. Day and night, people were searching for her. That's why she stuck around the crime scenes. She needed to find the culprit, or else she'd shoulder the blame! On most days, she'd run straight to the scene, but upon seeing the agents, she quietly yelped and darted down a nearby corridor.

Kiko's eyes widened upon seeing the two red and blue Mobians. "Two of em!?" He shouted, his head cocked to the side. "Great, just great! You'll have to split up."

Meanwhile, on a nearby rooftop, a black and green mockingbird wearing a black and green fedora, and black and green shoes along with white gloves with silver accents was looking over the streets below. His solid white eyes, giving him an almost alien like look, scanned the passing people. Ever since the first bombing, he's been stuck in the city. Not that it was too bad, as there was still plenty to do. Though, there would be even more to do if he wasn't trying to be a 'good guy'. Stealing was in his blood, and his fingers almost twitched involuntarily, as he needed something to steal. It didn't matter what it was, as long as he could pull it off without getting caught. The thrill of the heist is what motivated the bird more than anything else.

As he pondered what he'd be doing that night, an explosion from a couple blocks rattled his eardrums. He turned towards the sound of the explosion. "Was that an explosion?" he asked outloud, though he was all alone. Well, that wasn't necessarily true.

"Well duh, obviously. What else could it have been, Mimic?" a voice said in his head. "Guess that's our cue make our enterence." the mocking bird said before hopping across the roof tops, heading towards the scene of the incident.

"Oh boy, we haven't been in a roleplay in. . . well, forever!" a second voice said in the bird's head, this one having a higher pitch than the first voice. Mimic liked refering to this voice as 'Jerry'. The name just sounded right. '"Hopefully this one won't stall like the others." 'the first one, Tom, quipped. "Well, only one way to find out." the mockingbird answered.

Following Granite
(For those who want a fight)

Xavis had seen where Granite ran off to, and quickly followed her without saying a word to the others.

Not hearing what Kiko said from his distance, Smash's eyes were fixated on the echidna fleeing the scene. "This way!" He commanded, charging towards the alleyway. It wasn't until he and Xavis reached the alleyway when he realized his team was cut short. "Wait, where'd the others go?" He asked in a hushed tone.

Transford stopped right beside Xavis and reached into his pockets, pulling out two revolvers before checking them to make sure they were loaded. He responded to Smash's question in an equally hushed, but also slightly concerned voice, "They were chasing after somebody else who matched Hikari's description."

"What the crap, seriously? I didn't see the other one." Smash responded. "So there's two of them, now? Just great."

"With any luck, we're chasing after the right guy and we'll have this taken care of before the others realize..."

Smash stroked his chin, "That's assuming our target is a guy. I'm pretty sure Hikari referred to her as female..."

Upon hearing the sounds of people following close behind, Granite immediately spun around, and got into a defensive position. "I haven't seen you people before... Just how many people are after me!?"

Xavis slowly began to approach Granite. "Whoa. Hey, calm down, okay?" He said, trying to sooth her, "We're here to help you." He glanced back at Smash and Transford. "I am, at least," he muttered.

Now that it came to this, Smash knew better than to jump in fists flying. If she had begun to talk, then maybe she would be willing to listen to reason? He couldn't afford to let his guard down, but maybe... "Smash the Echidna. That's my name." He spoke up, taking a less hostile stance. "We're trying to catch whoever is behind this string of chaos around this city. Since our lives depend on our success, I hope you'll understand me asking you this: Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Her eyes narrowed. Nobody had tried this approach before. All the others had simply attacked on sight. But these people were new, which could only mean... They must be higher-ups. Granite scoffed. "After all the crap I've been put through, now you want to talk!? I'm not falling for any of your stupid tricks! I'm no schmuck!"

"This isn't a trick," Xavis said, steadily drawing closer to the echidna.

"It's no trick," Smash said in unison, though holding an arm out to stop Xavis' approach. "It's true the government is desperate. They've got only two clues on what the culprit looks like: A female Mobian with red and blue quills. They're attacking anyone who even resembles that description on sight." He furrowed his brow at her, "But just because we wanna talk doesn't mean we wanna be friends. I'll be frank; you're a suspect. We're not going to back down until we get some answers, whether you're guilty or innocent."

Granite crossed her arms. She wasn't expecting them to be so willing to talk. But despite their surprising friendliness, she was still on her guard. "I don't know why you're trying to pull this on me. I know full well that I'm the one they're looking for." She shrugged. "I'm Granite the Echidna. And if you think I'm just going to follow you guys to who knows where, never to be seen again, you're wrong."

"Well, it's true that you're the one we're after," Xavis said, putting his hands in his hoodie pockets, "But who says we have to go anywhere right now? We could talk right here." He sat down on the pavement, legs crossed. "Besides, we only know one side of the story. Once we hear yours, I'm sure we'll make the right decision as of what to do."

"Hmph. Fair enough." Granite sat down. "I'll answer your questions, or whatever. But if you try and take me by surprise..." She glared at the group, and for a moment, it seemed like her red-and-blue eyes flashed purple. "I'm not going to hesitate in fighting back."

Xavis gave Granite a quick, daring glare- as if he was saying  ' Try me '  -before asking, "Why have you been attacking the city?"

Granite paused for a moment, before she quietly laughed. "Who are you suckers? You just believed that I'd be the one causing all this nonsense going on?" She tilted her head to the side. "If I'm this big, scary, criminal, wandering around Mobius, riddle me this: Why would I constantly broadcast my location to everyone?"

Smash, having folded his arms while Xavis took over the conversation, shook his head with a "tsk". He knew from the beginning that it couldn't have been this simple, but he played it all by ear until he had the chance to see things for himself. "A better question would be this: If you were really the big scary criminal that G.U.N. is so terrified of, why are we still alive? According to them, you would have killed us without a second thought." Though he was talking to Granite, he had his eye on Xavis. "There's one answer to both: You aren't the one we're looking for." With that, he unfolded his arms and took one step forward, "But that gives us more questions to answer: If it wasn't you, Granite, then who was it? And why do they suspect you?"

"What's with the look?" the hedgehog very quietly muttered beneath his breath.

She threw up her arms in exasperation. "I don't know why they think it's me! Well, actually, that's a lie. They think I'm a 'liability', and this is a convenient excuse for them to take me out. The real culprit's out there, and I'm sure they know that." Granite stood back up. "That's why I've been snooping about. If I can find the real person behind the attacks, maybe they'll get out of my hair long enough for me to hightail it out of here."

"A 'liability', huh? Then is it true that you were once involved with the Hyper Division unit?" Smash interrogated further.

Xavis started to become tense with anger upon hearing what Granite said. Not anger towards her, but anger towards G.U.N.- more specifically Hikari.

The area around them started to be come much warmer.

"Well, you see. The thing is, er." Granite grinned sheepishly. "I don't actually know. About two months ago, I woke up in Station Square with a nasty injury on my head. I can barely remember anything that happened before that, only bits and pieces at times. I'm afraid I'm just in the dark as you guys are."

This was not what Smash expected to hear. "Amnesia, then?" He asked in surprise. "That opens up any number of possibilities, now." With a huff, he took a few steps to the left and leaned against the brick wall of the nearest building. "Now, I suppose it's our turn to do the talking. You still don't trust us, do you? Can't blame you. Truth is, G.U.N, specifically the Hyper Division, came to us for help. They're so desperate to catch you that they're recruiting citizens to fill their ranks."

Xavis took a long, deep breath. He couldn't afford to be angry right now.

Granite felt as if she could trust them at this point, but still was a little wary. She could understand a lot about a person by looking at how they looked at her. They didn't look at her the way that all the other agents had, a mixture of fear and greed. No, they were looking at her with curiosity. Perhaps these people would be able to help her put this problem to rest. "So, you're just citizens, then? That's a relief." Granite sighed. She kicked around a few rocks lying on the ground. "So, what now? I imagine whoever recruited you is close by somewhere; they'll probably be coming back this way any moment."

Smash nodded, "You're right. I managed to convince them to help other citizens get to safety, which bought us some time. But there were two red and blue quilled people in this area." His expression hardened, "If they catch us talking here, there's gonna be some trouble. You'll have to get outta here. Meet me at the old vacant manor up in the north residential area. Big place, blue rooftop, you can't miss it. We're going after our second lead, so I'll be late." He turned around and nodded as his companions.

Xavis sighed. "I'll go too, just in case," he said, standing up from the pavement and following behind Smash. The air became cold as he departed.

Transford holstered one of his revolvers, but kept the other at the ready as he followed the group out of the alley. "Once we meet up with the others, I'll stick with them for now." He says as he hands Smash a small piece of paper with a phone number scratched onto it, "If you find out anything that we should know than call me here."

Smash accepted the scrap paper and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. "Gotcha. I never caught your names, though." He said in a questioning tone. "I'm Smash, as you probably heard."

Following Splice
(For those who want to investigate)

Max saw Splice head towards the bank, the place he was stationed. Upon seeing him, he yelled "Halt!" and put his palm forward. He slowly began to walk over to him.

Reens was torn, trying to decide what to do. Eventually she face-palmed and ran over to the bank, stepping in front of Splice. "Okay, listen up. You have ten seconds to tell us who the heck you are and what you're doing here, or we're not going to be very good friends," she barked, turning her arm into a plasma cannon again. "Then again, I could skip the talk and blast you," she continued with a tilt of her head.

Splice had completely ignored the man walking towards him, figuring he was talking about someone else. But the moment Reens blocked his way, he nearly leaped out of his skin. "Whoa, shoot! Wait WAIT I MEAN DON'T SHOOT! CRAP!" He cried out in a panic.

Max faced Reens and rolled his eyes. "Robo, who are you? This is authorized business."

"I don't have any business with you, authorized or not!" The hedgehog flailed his arms around impatiently. Just then they heard even more commotion coming from the bank. Another loud bang went off, and the sounds of innocent bystanders screaming inside filled the air.'' I don't have time to waste here! I gotta do something, quick!'' With that thought in mind, Splice suddenly charged towards them and made an impressive leap over their heads. "Rocket jump!" As he sprung from the ground, a burst of fire ignited from the soles of his shoes, giving him a burst of speed and airtime. The moment he landed, he made a break for the bank doors.

Max scratched his forehead. "What the- WAIT!" Max dashed after Splice, and fired a storm of Chaos Spears at him. Splice was fortunately quick enough to evade them, and kept on course to the building.

Growling in frustration, Reens followed, trying to keep Max from attacking. "Dude, give it a rest! That's not Granite!" She aimed a few plasma blasts at Max, trying to slow him down. "If it were, he'd have squished us already! Plus, I'm pretty sure the target's a female?"

Max created a force field of Chaos Energy around him, reflecting the plasma shots. "Stop it! I was given orders to follow! Attacking me makes you an enemy, cyborg!"

Reens ducked and dodged, skidding as she went. "I was given orders too, but I'm not following those right now! Make me your enemy if you want; I just wanna get to the bottom of this whole hellhole so the whole city doesn't die!" She growled and unsheathed her sword, starting to hack away at Max's force-field.

Max let the force field go and ran behind Reens. "You just don't get it, do you girlie?" His eye glows as he says this. He grabbed her tail and tried to throw her. "Unless you work with GUN, leave this to me!" Max escorted a few Mobians away from the bank's front as he faced Reens. "Don't get - in my - WAY!" He threw two pieces of rubble at Reens.

"Hey! That tail of mine is sensitive," Reens yelled back, raising her hands and sweeping the rubble out of her way with a few swipes of water. "And who gives two cents about G.U.N. anymore?" She skidded backwards, gently pushing a few more Mobians out of the way from the street with a small wave of water. "You're just distracting yourself anyway! Your real 'target' is probably miles away by now and you're stuck here fighting me!" She took her hands and clasped them together, palms facing out, shooting water orbs. "I don't think 'G.U.N.' takes distractions lightly!"

Max rolled his eyes. "You're right. I'm done with you." After waving her off, he went to go find Splice through all the rubble.

Reens scoffed at him. She turned the other direction and searched through another pile of rubble. ''Why did they pick me, anyway? I'm no better at saving the world than taking care of my family,'' she thought as she pulled away a huge chunk. ''G.U.N. must think pretty highly of me to smack me down into a random group of people. Heck, to be honest...'' She paused and sighed, running her right hand through her hair. "Why did they want me, anyway? I'm the worst possible choice..." She shook her head and kept pulling out pieces of rubble, looking for Splice {or anyone at that matter).

Meanwhile, inside the burning remains of the bank was a large, shadowy bubble which encased a small group of people from debris. At the bubble's center stood a brown-feathered female bird with upward arching light-brown hair, wearing a white hoodie with black accents and blue jeans. She had one arm raised with dark energy emanating from it, while her other arm clutched her abdomen with a blood-soaked sleeve. Her face was clearly one of pain.

With a crash, Splice burst through the broken glass doors of the bank, tiny shards hitting the floor around him. He ran deeper inside, covering his mouth from the smoke, and quickly noticed the dark barrier deeper in the main lobby. "The hell is that!? Whoa, there are people inside!?" He quickly approached them, their safety being his first concern.

Hearing Splice's voice, Max blasted his way through the dust and obstacles into the bank. He then saw Splice trying to... dash over to someone? "I WON'T LET YOU TOUCH HER, CRIMINAL!" He bolted to Splice and tried to fire a blast of Chaos Energy. Splice gasped, whirling around to see the young man out for his head. With a startled cry, Splice immediately leaned backwards into a limbo position. Time seemed to slow down for him as he narrowly dodged the Chaos Spear, though it actually happened nearly instantaneously. When his mind caught up to what just happened, he lost his balance and fell on his back.

"Stay back, psycho!" He yelled in protest, thrusting his hands upward. Suddenly a large wall of ice rose from the ground between him and Max, buying Splice enough time to get up and rush back over to the strange energy sphere. Once he saw that the sphere of darkness was being held up by someone inside of it, he realized that it wasn't some devious trap but a desperate attempt to survive! If he could clear the rubble off of them, they could have a chance to escape. "Hold on, I'll save you!" He declared before attempting to clear the debris.

The avian looked up through her shield upon hearing Splice's voice, and it could be seen that her eyes were completely black. Her balance had begun to stagger, however, and the shadows protecting her and the others were slowly becoming unstable.

Perking up her ears at the crash, Reens left the pile of rubble she was sifting through and looked through the shattered bank doors. She could see the female avian struggling to keep the barrier and Splice chucking rocks and rubble off of her, as well as Max breaking through the ice. "Give it a rest, dude! He's just trying to help us!" She then narrowly avoided pieces of debris and ran over to the avian. "It's okay, you can put your hand down!" She gestured to herself. "I'll make a stronger barrier while you guys get out!"

Splice stopped and looked at her, realizing that she was here to help and not to blast his face off. "What about you? Will you be able to get out in time!? This place ain't gonna hold much longer!"

The bird- whose name is Melissa- couldn't take it anymore, collapsing from exhaustion and pain. The shield she had made dissipated instantaneously, leaving her and the few she had kept safe without protection.

Reens immediately took over, forming a harder force-field using her heart energy. She looked over at the Mobians she was protecting. "Make sure the avian's head stays up so she can keep breathing, okay? I'm gonna get you all outta here once the bank stops shaking."

"I don't think sticking around here is such a good idea!" Splice exclaimed, "The fires are spreading and that smoke is getting thick. We gotta get her outta here!"

"Don't worry about the fires!" Reens replied. "I've got aquakinesis so if I get stuck I should be able to put them out! You just worry about getting everyone else out for right now!" With that said, she lowered the force-field a bit so Splice could get through. "Are you sure you can grab the bird lady?"

Max sighed. It looked like he would have to get the weapon later. He pointed at Splice, his gaze haunting and fierce. "You," he began with a threatening tone. "...I'll deal with you later." He slid by Reens and used Chaos Shield to put an additional force field layer over Reens'. "...You two need to save those innocent civilians. The force field is mine. Got it?" Max grunted. The Chaos Energy he was using was paining him.

Splice, more than startled by his accusing pointer finger, followed through with the plan while grumbling "Why the heck do I always attract people that wanna kill me...?" He then knelt beside the unconscious bird and lifted her up bridal style. The rest of them seemed to be able to move on their own, to which he called out "Follow me!" He glanced over at Reens, "I'm counting on you to lead the way!"

"X...Xav..." Melissa moaned while in Splice's arms. He might notice there was a sizable, bleeding gash in her side where she had previously been holding.

Reens nodded. "Okay, but just be careful!" She started to lead the way, carefully avoiding debris and dousing any small fires she came across.

Shown by Max putting his right hand out, he was keeping the force field up as he carefully followed Reens. He ducked over rubble, and jumped over debris. When they finally got out of the danger zone, Max put his right hand to his side, and it all came down. He then fell onto his knees. "Curse it all to hell..." he muttered as he looked at Splice through his peripheral vision. "Put the avian down... so I can finish you off." He slowly got onto his feet.

Splice stopped, and glared daggers at him. His grip on Melissa tightened a bit, "What is your problem!? Can't you see we've got bigger problems to deal with than fighting!?" He yelled. "She's hurt! We gotta find a doctor, or someone!"

"Icy dude's right," Reens agreed as she looked over at him. "I'm not exactly a doctor, but I can heal her. Anybody else need a checkup?" she quipped, looking over at the rest of the group.

Max glared back. "Robo over there can find a doctor. No way in hell am I letting you go 'save' someone. Now, I'm going to give you five seconds before I take her away from you... forcefully." Max put his left hand up to his chest, all fingers out. "Five." His pinky went down.

Splice's face darkened. There was no reasoning with this guy, was there? "Hey," he said to Reens, "I don't know your name, but take her. Thanks for the help." He carefully set the woman down in front of her, before turning back to Max. "Alright, you. If you want a fight so badly..." ''Fwooshiing! ''Splice quickly drew two knives from his belt, assuming a fighting stance right after. "Then I'll give you one! But just remember, you asked for it!"

Weird... they never said anything about the weapon using daggers... Max sighed as he slowly started to walk towards Splice in a calm, but serious manner.

Reens grunted and bent down, focusing her lifeforce on the avian's side. "Don't worry, it won't hurt much. You may feel a slight tingle." ''If these guys don't quit with the arguing, I'm gonna lose my mind! I already tried explaining to the human, but humans are so stubborn...''

Melissa grumbled incoherently as her wounds slowly began to heal.

Splice began to circle around him, distancing himself from the two girls. The last thing he wanted was to get them caught in the crossfire. He idly twirled his daggers as he waited for Max to make a move.

"I'm sorry if I'm hurting you, but you'll be all healed up in no time," Reens reassured Melissa. She looked over at Max and Splice in her peripheral vision, then moved a little closer to Melissa, trying to reassure herself as much as she was reassuring the avian.

Melissa's eyes opened slightly, before closing again. It seemed she was returning to consciousness, but wasn't there yet. The gash in her side was healing quite nicely.

Max simply charged a yellow Chaos Spear in his palm and threw/fired it at Splice. Splice easily sidestepped the projectile, and countered by shooting an icy spike out of his fingertips back at him. Max jumped into the air to dodge them before falling down on his button. "Oof. Why don't you just come with me? That would make it a lot easier."

"Gimme one good reason why I should listen to anything you say." Splice demanded, "And make it snappy; you've already wasted too much of my time!"

"I dunno, because I'm working for the government? Just come and I'll plead with them to show you mercy."

Reens paused, her quills flaring up in irritation. "Sorry, ma'am..." she apologized to Melissa, returning to her position. ''As far as I know, they're both wasting time. That blue echidna and the others went to find the culprit, but we're stuck here fighting a losing battle!''

Melissa's side was almost completely healed, and it seemed she had finally woken up. "Wh... where...? Uhhg..." she groaned drowsily.

"You're gonna be just fine, miss," Reens whispered, helping her sit up a little. "I'm almost done healing you." She was getting tired from healing, and her left hand drooped by Melissa's side. "You're out of the bank, miss. I didn't carry you out though; the guy with the red and blue quills did. You had a nasty gash there."

"Wha...? Oh... thanks," the avian said, sitting up on her own. She looked over to Splice and Max. "Wait... why are they fighting?" she asked. Her voice was somewhat quiet, evidently she was pretty tired.

(Fighting? Only 3 attacks have been made.)

(I envision it as a much grander battle than it actually is. I apologize. -Xoph-)

Reens huffed. "It would take way too long for me to explain everything, but icy guy over there is one of the suspects for the crap that's been happening in the city lately, while human dude over there supposedly works for G.U.N. and is trying to arrest him. Thing is, their whole spat is a waste of time." She slumped down slightly. "I've been over here healing you, and I think I'm finished now."

"The government? Mercy!? You're kidding!" Splice exclaimed in disbelief, "Why me of all people!? Shouldn't you be chasing after the one who blew up the bank here!?" He kept his two fingers pointed at him, with an icy aura on his fingertips at the ready.

Max rolled his eyes. "I'm not an idiot, weapon. Second I turn my back, my head'l be on that building over there." He put his palms out, and by focusing Chaos Energy in them, they became blades. "You are royally annoying me. You don't have a good reason why I should trust you other than 'I saved people,' which alone isn't a good reason, do you?" He glared at him. "Now, do want this to end with your guts intact, or spilled on the ground?"

"Your head's fixing to be on that wall no matter where yer lookin'!" He retorted. "You got more than a few screws loose if you're calling me a weapon, bucko!" Splice fired three more ice spikes preemptively, "I'm a hedgehog! And I'd like to see you try to take me out!"

Max dodged the attack by quickly stepping to the side. "Oh, well - fresh outta mercy for you!" He dashed at Splice and tried to stab his lungs.

Reacting quickly, Splice used the dagger in his left hand to deflect Max's weapon, and countered with a horizontal slash with his right.

(Just you know, I'm planning for Max to lose.)

Melissa held her forehead. She was getting a headache from them shouting at each other.

(Well, I'm planning on Melissa loosing her cool and forcing the two apart with her umbrakinesis. But whatever happens happens, I guess. -Xoph-)

From a rooftop next door, Mimic watches on as Splice and Max have at it. He then looks over towards Reens and Melissa. Seeing as they were distracted, Mimic notices that he could virtually enter the bank unhindered. Well, except for the fire and falling debris. Mimic pushes the thought out of his mind; now was not the time for a quick score. He then jumps down off the roof, landing not too far from Reens and Melissa. "Yeesh, a couple bombings and this city turns into a madhouse, huh?" he comments.

"You could say that again," Reens agreed as she finished healing Melissa. She stretched out and flopped over on the ground. "I just wish they could stop squabbling long enough so we can meet up with everybody else. Besides, I'm really tired ... and hungry ..."