Mobius Rising Chapter 15

Princess Sally's face was grim as she stood behind the makeshift podium in front of the large group of Freedom Fighters.  All members of the Freedom Fighters had assembled in the main foyer after hearing of what had occurred while they were sleeping.  Knuckles and Sonic stood on either side of Princess Sally as she spoke to the crowd.  Knuckles felt terrible.  Not only did he feel like he let Shadow down... but he had let everyone in the Freedom Fighters down as well.  

Princess Sally looks out over the crowd, "This is perhaps the most serious emergency that we have faced since we formed the Freedom Fighters so many years ago.  Until now... there was never a danger of Dr. Robotnik finding out our base's secret location," She pauses, "There is a great chance that Shadow and Rouge may not be caught by Dr. Robotnik... but in the event that they do they will no doubt be interrogated into telling all they know about our base.  Fortunately for us, Rouge was not privy to some of our more sensitive information... but now that we have found out that Shadow was using his teleportation powers to go to areas of the base that we were not aware of there is no telling what he may know."

Knuckles speaks up, "He said that he only used it to teleport from his room to the dining area... I doubt he went into any of the top secret areas of the base..."

"But do you know that for sure, Knuckles?" Princess Sally said with a frown, "Even if you are right... he probably knows a lot more about this base than he should and that alone is frightening."

Knuckles backs down.  He trusted Shadow... but after Shadow's recent behavior even he couldn't say anything for certain.

"So what are we going to do?  If they are captured and forced to give the location of the base...how are we going to defend ourselves?  Bunnie's new weapon system is online but I don't know if that would protect us from a full scale assault by Dr. Ro-Butt-nik's forces." Sonic says.

"Even if it was strong enough to protect from Dr. Robotnik's forces... I'm worried that he might turn Shadow against us again.  There's no way we can handle an attack of that magnitude..." Princess Sally says with a worried expression on her face.

Bunnie Rabbot steps forward.  Her petite face was a mask of determination, "Okay, everyone just calm down for a sec.  I think we're looking at this all wrong.  Since I just personally gave the entire weapons system a major overhaul, I know for a fact that we would stand a darned good chance at defending ourselves against Dr. Robotnik's forces... and if Sonic took Shadow down once he can do it again.  I think we need to be more worried about how we're going to get Shadow and Rouge back if they have been captured."

Vanilla the Rabbit hugs her daughter Cream close to her and frowns at Bunnie, "Maybe we shouldn't try to get them back.  That Shadow is a danger to us all... and Rouge is just a bad influence.  The Freedom Fighters might be better off without either of them"

"Vanilla, Shadow is trying to change.  If we just cast him out because he made a mistake... again... we're just encouraging him to turn evil.  Now I can't really stand up for Rouge... this whole situation is her fault and now I know just how wicked she can be.  But even though I'd rather leave her to Dr. Robotnik's tender mercies... she's still one of us.  We can't abandon anyone to that kind of fate," Bunnie says.

"We might not have a choice in the matter, Bunnie.  If we attempt to rescue either of them more of us would be captured.  They might not even be in the need of rescue... they might just show up here any minute now without a scratch on either of them," Princess Sally says.

Princess Sally falls silent as a concerned murmur begins to rise from the crowd.  After a few moments, the slender, pink Chameleon named Espio steps forward causing everyone around him to fall silent.  Espio was an on again off again member of the Freedom Fighters and at the moment he was on leave from his usual duties at the Chaotix detective agency.  Despite his size and appearance he was probably the most skilled fighter and assassin in the room.

"Well we have to do something... even if it's only to protect ourselves.  Something bad is going to happen, that's the one thing I'm certain of.  If Shadow goes evil again is there any way to keep him out of the base?" Espio asks.  

Princess Sally looks at Sonic and Knuckles, "Um... I don' t think we have anything that can block him from using his Chaos Force to teleport where he pleases... if we did we would have used it on him before."

Espio taps his chin in thought, "Maybe I can take a look at the force field surrounding the base.  In theory, Chaos Force should be able to be blocked just like any other thing... you just need to find the right frequency," he turns to Bunnie who was staring intently at the small pink chameleon, "You don't mind, do you?  I know the security protocol is kind of your thing..."

Bunnie smiles and winks, "Knock yourself out, Sugah.  If you can figure out how to block stuff from teleporting into the base then that would be awesome.   I've been meaning to ask for your help anyway."

Espio flushes a darker shade of pink at being winked at by Bunnie and then bows deeply, "It's an honor, my lady."