Spirit of the Phantom Ruby

Part 21 - Where's the Jackal?

Shadow and his teammates zoomed around the perimeter of the base, until they found a weak spot in its walls, and Omega blasted a missile launcher, blowing open a new entrance for them. Rouge brushed dust and concrete specks off her leg as she stepped in first, the guys following close behind her. The stylish bat looked around distastefully at the dust-covered counters and the cobwebs that filled the darker corners of the room, and she dragged a finger along one of the large shipping boxes, leaving a trail of smooth, clean steel. Flicking the dust bunny off her glove, Rouge quickly pulled out a small, grey hand-held device that looked similar to a walky-talky but for the small screen containing a compass-like device that flicked around when she held it a certain way.

"You're using that to find the doomsday device?" Omega stated dully, implying his disdain. "This will be faster." The mighty robot suddenly rammed his shoulder into one of the walls, blowing it out into another room that was equally as dark and dusty. Shadow and Rouge followed in his wake, Rouge pointing her scanner every which way.

"It's never failed me before!" She replied haughtily. "This thing's not just a metal detector, but also a gem finder!"

She played with its frequencies as Shadow and Omega resumed their search, breaking down doors and bursting through partitions. The dark hedgehog blinked in surprise as they burst into a large room filled with glass cylindrical chambers. He raised his head as he silently walked down the main isle, looking around. This area was fairly well-lit, as if it had recently been in use, and the glowing screen at the very back of the room showed the footage of several security cameras.

"I guess the doctor likes keeping track of things, too." Rouge commented, lowering her scanner for a moment. Shadow saw what she meant and doubled his pace, reaching the end of the room and accessing the keyboard. He clicked through the recorded files and searched for the ones in the last hour. The dark hedgehog was in luck.

He found the video in a matter of seconds showing the east and west halls of the massive facility and discovered among the numerous rectangles, footage of a large room with a singular glass cylindrical chamber in the center. An Eggman capsule suddenly dropped from the ceiling, revealing there was some opening to the outside up there, and Metal Sonic more gracefully flew down next to it, shoving it over onto its side and rolling it over to the glass chamber, which was raised a few feet above the ground. The video was completely silent. The robot then kicked the side of the capsule, and a very disoriented jackal crumpled out underneath the glass chamber, which slowly sunk to the ground and entrapped him.

"Infinite!" Rouge gasped. She reached for her earbud, but Shadow stopped her.

"This is in the past twenty minutes; he could be somewhere else now." The hedgehog fast-forwarded to the last three minutes. The Phantom Ruby sat in the chamber, the jackal nowhere to be seen, but then then the gem suddenly flew upwards into the ceiling.

Rouge pushed past Shadow and tore through the computer's data, her slim teal eyes narrowing as her gaze penetrated the screen. A new program opened, showing a diagram all the transporter tubes running all over the facility. Rouge clicked, 'most recent,' and saw the name of the room they had just been watching and the name of the location the ruby was sent to.

"The ruby was sent to the central control room down on the very bottom floor of the facility!" Shadow exclaimed into his earbud. "That's most likely where the doomsday device is!"

"We're on it!" The Chaotix and the Jackal Squad replied in unison.

"Good work, Shadow." Sonic stated. "I'll see you when this is over!"

Shadow didn't question him. He instead watched over Rouge's shoulder as she accessed the base's overall layout. The screen showed heat signatures, like where the jackals were in the vents. The she-bat thoughtfully looked at the vent layouts as the vent covering above them suddenly opened and four dark faces peered down at them.

"Mathilda," Rouge called, "We've found a layout of the ventilation system."

The she-jackal nimbly swung upside-down from the vent hole, her comrades holding her knees, and she pulled out her phone, snapping a picture of the screen.

"Thanks!" She said cheerfully as she swung back up, her white ponytail slapping her shoulders, and the vent closed.

Team Dark could hear nothing afterwards, but it was clear that they had continued on down the shaft.

"The doctor makes awfully big ventilation systems," Shadow commented, frowning.

"Weird, huh?" Rouge replied, continuing to forage through Eggman's files.

Up in the vents, the Jackal Squad continued to expertly sneak through the long corridor. They had had countless missions before the war of ambushing enemy bases and looting warehouses, so they were long past the basic skills of stealth. Mathilda peered down at her phone, tracking where they were headed, and slowed down when they arrived at a branch in the system. She made the arm signal to go right, and her group followed closely behind as they headed into the darkness. She slowed down when they reached a vent cover and got onto her knees, stopping them.

"Right here is a... let's say hundred-foot drop-down. It leads directly to the bottom of the facility, and this is where smoke is filtered out. Stay vigilant, Jackal Squad, and don't fall." She pushed open the cover, and it tilted upwards like a shutter, opening into a massive chamber that led straight down into darkness.

"Wouldn't it be easier to take an elevator?" Jay joked as they got onto the two-inch ledge beneath the vent that encircled the entire enclosure.

"Hah-hah." Mathilda replied sarcastically, dropping down onto the next ledge, five feet down. "I hope your parkour skills are up to date."

The wall which she leaned against suddenly trembled.

"They're breaking down more walls like a bunch of morons." Derek sighed, jumping down beside her.

"Are you sure that's not just the doomsday device powering up?" Jay questioned.

Mathilda scoffed, "Jeez, I hope not."

"Pick up the pace, guys. At this rate, the planet will be long gone before we ever reach the bottom!" Aaron snapped at them, and they sped up their decline.