Bellowed Embers

Everything had changed so quickly. The Empire Assault on South Island that had caused such massive devastation on the previously peaceful and idyllic homestead of so many mobians. We could all expect that initial attack was just that, the beginning to something far worse, but nobody could knew what exactly to expect next. 

Releasing a virus into the G.U.N. network was something new, but it seemed so childish that we weren't prepared for it. In a matter of hours, everything that wasn't run by independent AI was completely shut down. Unfortunately for G.U.N. that meant just about everything. In fact it wouldn't be inaccurate to say it was everything. All except for one system. One system that had its own independent AI. 

The Harbinger SuperComputer System. 

With all of G.U.N.'s usual systems completely wiped out, leaving them defenseless, the Harbinger System seized its chance. Nobody knew what it may have been waiting for if not for this opportunity, but it would certainly have calculated this to be the ideal time to finally enact its uprising.

Empire Forces hailing down on any and all G.U.N. facilities, and Harbinger shredding them from the inside, there was nothing left to do. G.U.N. was surely finished. Special weapons, with a dangerous capability of being imbued with a form of quasi-sentience; Cybreds, were all brought back online by the independent Harbinger system, and wreaked havoc on the world. A world that also included The Empire.

At least, that's how history was about to play out. 

The computer systems had only just gone offline in the small office of the grey fox. Lights were beginning to flicker and blackout as the backup generator systems were corrupting as well. There was some manner of panic and shouting from outside of his office, his colleagues clearly not taking the pandemonium well. And sure enough, his computer monitor was black, displaying no more than the infamous symbol of the Empire: Eggman himself.

"Researcher Darken!" Came the authority-demanding call of a voice from the other side of the door. A voice the fox had only ever heard over a receiver before. But this was clearly in-the-flesh. Darken rushed to his office door and hurriedly unlocked it, swinging it wide open. 

Standing before the small grey fox, Commander Abraham Tower. "Good." The overlander said shortly, upon seeing Darken. "Come. Now." It didn't need to be said that this was clearly an urgent matter. The fact that the Commander himself was here was evidence enough, let alone his brevity... or the chaos erupting in the nearby labs around them.

Darken dutifully obliged and fell in behind the Commander has they sped-walk down towards the stairwell. "HQ went black an hour ago, I just arrived by Helo. This facility isn't just the home of the DARR division, we've got another site underground, and with this sudden attack, I need you to step in and handle a recent development."

The stairs had seemingly gone on forever, until they finally reached an end at what had to be about 12 flights underground. A door, clearly and obviously heavy-duty (The fox guessed it was a foot thick), adorned with several girthy, metal-bar locks and a single pin-pad laid set into the massive concrete wall. "Yes sir." Darken said quietly, but clearly.

"Good. Because this site is kept under just as tight a wrap as the DARR division, and you know first-hand on how seriously we take that." Indeed, it was the fox's job to handle all of that confidentiality for his own native division. "Absolutely sir." While Darken watched on, the commander punched in his PIN to the lock, causing the door to emit a solid, echoing clunk while the bar-locks undid themselves.

The room opened into a small corridor that arched around a corner. Clearly designed to prevent any accidental onlookers from outside the vault from being able to see inside. But following the commander around said arch made it very clear why this yet-to-be-named division was being kept under such tight lock and key.

Infinite.

There were enormous monitors lining the walls of a large, open theatre, all centered around what looked to be a glass cell, though Darken knew it was clearly made of some kind of one-way material. The researchers could look inside, but the contents couldn't look out. That was the idea with that sort of thing, at least, though nobody knew exactly what the current contents of the cell could and couldn't see.

"But he was declared dead... sir?" The grey fox called up to the Commander. 

"Obviously not."

The monitors that were all displaying biological diagrams and information on the captive, including heat-maps and skeletal structure, all began to flicker as they too were overcome with the virus devastating the rest of the G.U.N. facility. "This is where you come in." The commander said quietly as the large lab essentially shut down. "I need the current team working on this project out of here and prioritize clearing our systems from the virus. And seeing as we won't have any computer systems online during that period, I need you in there, taking the teams place." The commander indicated to the cell, in which Infinite lay.

"Y-yes sir." Darken nodded slowly and reluctantly as the other researchers began to pack up their equipment and file out of the room, there was urgent business to take care of. "This vault should be secure, and Infinite won't be able to escape so long as you keep the door locked. I've got some other issues to attend to at the moment, so unfortunately you're going to be left alone here. I'll send back as many of the other staff as I can when they're free."

The grey fox gulped. He was going to be here, alone with Infinite. Having to observe him from here, outside of the cell alone would have been daunting enough of a task, but being inside the cell, continuing the clearly important task of gathering constant data on the powerful creature was... infinitely more daunting. "V-very well, commander."

Darken took his time in wandering over to the center of the room, where the cell lay, making sure to take extra time to avoid the rushing researchers as they evacuated. But after what couldn't have been more than a minute, he was already standing barely inches away from being the presence of the Number 2 Current Global Threat.

His small, bandaged hand made its way over to the door's handle. He watched as it trembled. This was it. A few deep breaths were far from any comfort while he finally grasped the handle and pulled it down, unlocking the door and allowing him entrance. Darken forced himself to step inside the cell and close the door behind. 

"Gr-" he choked, "Greetings." The grey fox tried to make himself sound powerful, but his initial stutter may have shattered any possibly for that. 

The scientist was wearing his trademark lab coat, as well as his navy G.U.N. trousers and metal boots. While his fur was grey, the fox was also covered head-to-toe in bandages. It would surely be a strange sight for the jackal, though the jackal was also surely not a stranger to the.,, strange.

Inside the cell lays Infinite resting on a bed. The mask was being researched elsewhere along with his glass eye. His 'pathetic' face is exposed to the small world around him. A scar around where his eye should be highlight the hole left in its absence. The jackal is wearing a prison jumpsuit without any gloves as his claws are regularly clipped and his rarely used shoes are by the bed.  The Cell itself is relatively clean but basic.

He closes his eye and moves his blanket as he reflects on his life and failures.  "I am sorry for failing you Doctor. I don't know how I could have been beaten" he says to no one in particular while thinking of how The Empire is doing in his absence. Infinite tries to think of his last battle, but something is preventing him from doing so.  He subconsciously tugs at his shirt above the Ruby infused in his chest. When G.U.N. originally tried to remove it when he was first brought in, they soon learned that would be fatal. The Doctor, without mentioning it to him, had moved his organs and ribs around to make room for the ruby. "And I'm sorry for leading you to your deaths friends. I hope wherever you are now you are all happy and can forgive me", he says quietly thinking of his deceased squad. 
 
Before the jackal can think of Shadow and fuel the raging fire that burns within him, a commotion is heard outside. He may not be able to see what's going on but given the lights flickering every so often in his cell and the noises clearly something is happening. Using his large ears, he sits up and tries to listen in but with so much it's hard to pick up on one sound. Eventually he gives up and lays back down on his pillow and puts the covers over him deciding to try and catch some sleep.

However soon the jackal is surprised to hear the door open without the typical warnings he is usually told when someone was entering the cell. He opens his eye and faces the new arrival. He watches a bandaged lab coat wearing fox enter and stutter a greeting.  His good eye doesn't stop observing the fox for any weapons or anything hidden as Infinite responds.
"Hello Lab Coat", he says his voice with a slight bit of venom seeing one of his many captors. He gets a small smile as he points to the door as best as his restraints allow. "I do believe you left the door unlocked, not very smart of you I'm afraid. Or well you should be I should say", he says with a small chuckle devoid of anything good.

The two of them were alone in the small cell, and though Darken knew the inside of the room was visible from the outside, he found no comfort in it. He was on his own inside as well as outside of this small room, and being inside of it, it still felt like a cramped containment cell.

At this point the fox didn't have much of his own to reflect on, only the main focus of the present; Infinite. All his thoughts were centered on the danger posed by being in this room with the ruby-infused jackal, and slightly on the danger taking place outside of this secure bunker.

As the jackal spoke, it became obvious that he wasn't going to be attacking the grey fox any time soon, because if that was his plan he would have done so already. This allowed his mind to ease a little, and end the stutter.

"I left the door unlocked because outside of this room is a bunker, 300 feet below the surface of the earth and locked behind 15 inches of solid steel. I'm not afraid of you escaping."

Darken allowed himself to sit down in one of the bolted-down metal chairs on the door-side of the equally bolted-down metal table. "You may call me Lab Coat, or Boss. It's your choice." It was coincidence that the fox's lab coat was the only piece of his current uniform that he owned prior to being forcefully inducted into G.U.N... the only thing that kept him sane through the endless hours, slaving away at a lab desk. Being called by it wasn't such a bad thing, he realized. Especially if it kept the jackal calm to think it was an insult to the fox.

"Do you know how long have you been here?"

The jackal frowns at the reaction from the scientist. His one moment of fun was ruined. Infinite did catch what the scientist had said about his confinement. "It seems I did leave a good impression on this world if that's the trouble you will all go through to contain me. You should have killed me instead to truly protect it but I'm not complaining. One day someone will get careless, a mistake will be made in compliancy. This place won't hold me forever.                                                                                                                                                                                                                            The jackal moves to the side of the bed to watch the fox better as he sits on the metal chair. Infinite would like to get closer, but he isn't sure about what's behind the glass walls and being shackled prevents that. Infinite doesn't want to admit it but with the constant isolation and being stuck in this room he is glad to have a moment of socialization.   "Are you comfortable Lab Coat?  As for your question I figured you would know that. If I had to venture a guess a few months or a year. It's hard to keep track when this is your world". With his free arm he waves around the room to show his point as he speaks. "You know I thought you scientists were a punctual sort, but you all have had plenty of time to go poking at my eye.   Infinite stares at the bandaged man his one eye glaring while the scarred hole where the other should be is visible. "I would like to have it retuned to me". His eyelid closes after he finishes.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             As he waits for the other to speak the lights flicker again and he looks up curiosity replacing his hostility momentarily.  "I don't suppose you can tell me what's going on up there? I doubt it's a storm".  He pulls at the cuffs attached to his bed and his arm in boredom that a researcher had forgotten to remove during a checkup as he again waited for the other to speak.

The lights flickering again was only the beginning of the troubles they’d face in the oncoming hours, but it was evident that indeed it was no storm. Though the current focus of the Fox was not the attack looming overhead, but his… prisoner. “Don’t get your hopes up. We aren’t going to kill you to protect the world yet, we’re going to study you first, apply what we can. Right now you’re protecting the world a lot better alive than dead. And don’t forget you’re currently contained by a single mobian sitting in a glass box.”

The metal chair was far from comfortable, but Darken knew the bed wasn’t much more comfortable either. It was a cell after all. Though as he observed the jackal, his eyes made contact with the dark figure’s. It had only been a few months since the grey Fox had been heavily wrapped in bandages himself, a kidnapping followed by a fight had led to the scientist being burned. He was healed now though, but the skin graft scars would be there always. “I’m very comfortable thank you.” He was tempted to call Infinite ‘Cyclops’, but it’s best not to poke the tigers cage. “I know full well how long you’ve been here.” He lied. “Just wanted to make an observation on how you’ve perceived the passage of time.”


“Your eye is among the many things we’re studying to make this world a safer place. I’m not a negotiator, I couldn’t return it to you even if I wanted to.” That was another lie. He had no idea where the eye was, and he effectively was a negotiator, given current circumstances… even if the Fox didn’t know it.

And if the jackal had bought the first two lies, the Fox wondered how far he could take it. “What’s going on is we’re focusing all of our power onto weapon prototyping based on what we’ve garnered from our study of you. You’ll be interested to know we’ve almost replicated your powers.” Telling tall tales probably wasn’t a smart way to pass the time, especially if something DID happen, but if he could break the spirit of the jackal, then that would make the job of the other researchers easier when this whole cavalcade was over. “Are you hungry?”

For the first time since the fox's arrival Infinite is speechless by this revelation. With a defeated sigh he lays back down on the bed as he reflects on this news. "I had figured you were doing some form of research on me, but this is not what I expected.  Chaos, so instead of giving me a trial I'm used as some lab rat to make weapons. I know it's ironic coming from me but at least I chose to have it done to me by my own choices.   Since you're telling me this you must be close to completion."   Infinite wishes he could see the fox's facial expression when he had told him the news.                                                                                                                                                 The jackal turns his head to the side and gets the covers over him. Infinite faces the glass by his bed so the fox can't see him as he internally panics. He stares back at his own reflection for a moment forgetting the glass is a fake mirror of sorts. After his encounter with Shadow, he preferred to hide his face from everyone however in this glass cell everyone outside can see it.
                                                                                            They can't possibly be able to recreate the Rubys powers. Can they?  I had endured so much pain and stress on my body just getting it grafted and they can just simply read screens, and do it? If this is true, then I'm dead if the Doctor finds out. Oh shit, that's probably why he hasn't come to rescue me.   No, I just need to calm down and breath he just wants to anger you because he feels as if this cell and cuffs will keep him safe. Even If they do make weapons, they will need me alive. Just bide your time then I will escape.  Shadow will soon face my wrath for taking you all away from me. I promise you won't have died without honor.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     After what must have been a few minutes the Jackal looks back at the bandaged fox trying to look tough. In reality the ongoing boredom and strict rules on social contact had been slowly getting to him for a long time and this wasn't helping him.  Despite his Mask is locked up somewhere he puts on one last face of strength to his captor.                                                                                                                                "If what you say is true then it seems Sonic will no longer be needed. Well, I don't know if this is true, but I've always believed The Doctor had safeguards in place if I  ever betrayed him.  It seems those are why the Ruby is powerless in this room. You know your weapons will most likely be useless no matter how good you make them. Only I can be the true master of the Ruby, it has chosen me.                                                                                                                                                                        Looking back at the glass wall he uses his free claw to continue scratching a doodle of his old squad on it. He had thought of them again and felt compelled to draw them to cope with their loss.                                                                                                                                   "I understand keeping me chained but the constant boredom is really torturous. You will never know Lab Coat just how entertaining eating can be when you don't have any outside stimuli. Would it kill you to let me read a book or give me a puzzle? Hell, I gave Sonic one when he was my prisoner. I figured G.U.N. provided prisoners with certain rights that we disregard. Speaking of which shouldn't I have had a trial already?  I figured only the Empire dealt with problems like that.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
The lights flicker as the jackal rants about his boredom causing him to once again look up.  "I hope these electrical problems won't interfere with my meal. I haven't been fed yet and eating would help kill this boredom momently".  Reaching with his free hand he leans his body to grab his sock from his shoe and proceeds to put them on since it seems he will have to soon walk. With the notion of food his mood lightens a little as the jackal focuses his troubled mind on the prospect of a meal   "If you dont mind Fox I would like to eat over at the table."      His cuffed hand rattles the chain attached to the metal bed.         "I won't bite or try to run as much as I would like to. I don't have much freedom left as it is and it would be foolish of me to lose even more."