Anti-Freedom Fighter's HQ
Thrax opened the door to Fiona's apartment to find three Mobians in bed together. "Here you three are," she said, waking the three up with groans. "Get up and get dressed. It's Fiona's turn for some action."
"Yay," Fiona yawned as she lazily punched the air with her right fist.
Once the three were awake and dressed, the made their way outside, down the stairs to the sidewalk, and headed into the bar. Since it was early, the bar was relatively slow. They headed to the back door and went downstairs to their meeting room. Fiona went over to the table and sat down, kicking her feet up and leaning back.
"So, I've been keeping an eye on these Freedom Fighters," Fiona said once Sam and Myst joined them. "They've got some good fighters but some rely on powers instead of abilities. The silver hedgehog, for example, uses telekinesis. But I bet his hand-to-hand sucks."
"What if he grabs hold of you?" Viper asked.
"It's directional-based. He has to aim, so as long as I keep moving, I'll be fine."
"How do you intend to start?" Thrax asked.
"Simple. When they leave the tower, I pick a solo target. Get them all riled up. Then, I go in for the main attack."
"You wanna let them know you're coming?"
"Them being on edge while I'm calm and focused could give me the advantage."
"Could?" Nic asked. "You're risking your life on could?"
"Where's the fun in knowing you're gonna win?" Fiona asked as she crossed her legs. "Besides, I can take 'em. I've been fighting longer than they have."
Thrax nodded. "Do you intend to kill them?"
Fiona sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Maybe the human. The others? You can only kill someone once. But beating the hell out of them? That, you can do, over and over."
**********
Freedom Fighter's HQ
Jason sat down at the kitchen table on the first floor of their tower. He glanced over at the living room area where Honey was watching a news story about an upcoming concert from Mobian pop star Mina Mongoose. Blaze and Sally sat down across from him, the chipmunk setting down her handheld computer device on the table.
"So, yesterday," Nicole began. "Let's discuss."
"Right," Jason sighed. "So, she was a brown Mobian wolf with some impressive skills and weapons with no apparent affiliation with the subway hijackers. At least, that's what I told the police when I followed up with them about the car explosion."
"Think we'll see her again?"
"Definitely," Blaze said surely. "And we need to be careful. She seems to like stealth, which means we could be attacked at anytime, anywhere."
"So, we should go look for her, then?" Jason asked. "How many are we? Ten? How much ground can we cover?"
"Well, Sonic can cover quite a bit," Nicole pointed out. "Tails can observe from the sky. Knuckles can take the rooftops. You two have your E-Gears. The rest of us can ask around?"
Jason nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Grab the walkies."
**********
Fiona let out a chuckle as she kicked a soccer ball. Two human kids tried to stop it, but the ball still rolled into a net they had set up in Central Park. "Score!" She cheered, raising her hands.
"You're amazing," one of the kids said as they fetched the ball.
Fiona smiled and glanced over at the Freedom Fighters' tower, seeing her targets all heading out on patrol. "Sorry to bail, kiddies, but I got work to do."
The children waved her good-bye before she ran off to go stalk her prey. "Come back soon!" One called after her.
"Not a damn chance," she muttered to herself.
After she crossed the road and made it to the sidewalk, she saw her target walking among the crowd. The yellow cat wasn't looking for her, so she didn't feel the need to be stealthy. She simply followed behind, hoping the cat would go somewhere more private. After a bit of walking, they took a left down Park Avenue and passed by the Urban Garden Center.
As they turned right down East 112th St., Fiona looked around for Sonic and looked up for Tails, Jason, or Blaze. Looking to her right, she saw an alley coming up that looked like it led into a small parking area behind a large building. Perfect for what she wanted. She quickly moved forward until she was directly behind the yellow cat.
She then delivered a quick blow to her lower back, making the cat gasp in pain. In her daze, Fiona grabbed her and forced her into the alley, out of view of pedestrians. She then threw her into a trash can. The cat hit it with a yelp and a crash as both she and the trash can fell over.
"Honey, is it?" Fiona asked, punching her left palm.
Honey looked up at her with a groan. "Who are you?"
"Fiona."
Honey placed her hand on the tipped trash can for support as she got to her feet. "You with the ones who hit the subway?"
The fox shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not," she said as she made her advance. "But that's the least of your worries right now."
Honey sighed and grabbed the trash can lid before throwing it at her opponent. Fiona rolled out of the way as Honey ran up the wall and kicked off into a gliding kick. Fiona grabbed her foot and threw her into a car. Honey hit it hard and slid to the side as Fiona missed and punched out a window. Honey delivered to blows to the fox's chest and then an uppercut, knocking her away.
Fiona blocked a few more blows before she swung her foot at the cat's legs. Honey jumped over the attack and kneed the enemy in the stomach. Fiona grunted and threw a punch, which Honey blocked. Fiona quickly grabbed her arm and flung her against the brick wall of a nearby building. She then quickly closed the gap and punched the cat twice in the chest before once across the face. Honey stumbled and dropped to her knees, coughing a little. She reached up to feel her nose. When she pulled her hand away, she saw blood.
"Come on," Fiona sighed as she took a couple steps back. "Don't tell me you're scared of a little blood."
Honey got to one foot before she forced herself to her feet. Fiona smiled and raised her fists.
**********
Tails flew around a little more and pulled out his radio. "Anyone see anything?"
Sonic zipped through traffic all over the city as he pulled out his radio. "Nothing here, little buddy."
Knuckles landed on a rooftop and answered, "Nothing."
Silver left a restaurant and sighed. "No one's seen her."
Sally sat down on a bench with a sigh. "I've checked various shops. I don't think she gets around."
"She probably stays in one spot," Blaze replied. "A house. A hideout. A hotel."
"That could be anywhere," Jason said as he scanned the roads. "There's a ton of hotels in New York City. And if it's a hideout, we'll never find her."
"We can't give up," Jet said as he landed on a rooftop and held his Gear with his free hand. "She could hit us at any moment, right?"
Bunnie left an alley and held up her radio. "I'm gettin' the feelin' like this is pointless. The city's big."
Jason nodded. "There's gotta be a better way."
Blaze hesitated for a moment before she raised her radio. "Honey?" She asked. "You there?"
Jason gasped. "Honey?"
Bunnie looked around. "Anyone see where she went?"
"We all split up," Jet said before he hopped on his Gear and took off.
"Alright, new mission," Jason announced. "Find Honey."
**********
Fiona kicked Honey hard enough to slam her against a dumpster. The cat gasped and went to throw a punch, which Fiona caught. The fox then delivered a blow to Honey's stomach, making the cat bend over and cough. Fiona smirked and stood beside her before she reached down, grabbed the cat by the throat, and slammed her up against the dumpster again. She took a step back and backhanded the cat across the face, hard. Honey yelped in pain before Fiona grabbed her and threw her down on the hard pavement. By this point, Honey had bruises all over and blood trickling from her head, nose, and lip. Fiona circled around her, watching the cat do her best to try and stand up.
"This is just sad," Fiona chuckled. "You'd be so easy to kill right now."
Honey gasped and quickly swiped her leg at Fiona's, knocking the fox on her back. She then leaped atop the fox and began to punch her repeatedly across the face. By the time she managed to draw blood from Fiona's nose and mouth, the fox regained her composure and punched Honey in the side where she knew a bruise was. Honey yelled in pain before Fiona threw her off. The fox easily stood up and spit out some blood.
"Not a bad hit," she said, before she walked over and kicked Honey in the side, hard, making her roll onto her back.
Honey just let out groans of pain as tears ran down her face. "Just... stop. Y-you win."
"I know," Fiona said before she kicked the cat in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her target.
Honey gasped for air before she was dragged backwards and forcefully set against a brick wall. Fiona then straddled her lap and gripped her throat with her left hand, choking her. Honey could barely lift her hands due to the amount of pain she was in. She simple sat there and cried, expecting the fox to finish her off.
"Honey?" Fiona heard a faint voice ask. She looked at Honey's waist to see a radio.
"A communication device? Good." Just when Honey thought she'd finally suffocate, Fiona let go and grabbed her radio. "Now you can call for help." She walked away a few feet and gently set the radio down on the pavement. "Come get it, Kitty," she cooed, before she waved good-bye and started walking away.
Honey watched her leave the alley before she threw herself onto her stomach with a pained yell. Grunting wildly as she pushed through the pain, she dragged herself across the ground over to her radio. With shaky fingers, she was just barely able to grab it. She had trouble holding down the button so she held it against the pavement.
"S-Someone, help!" She choked out between tears.
"Honey, where are you?!" Blaze yelled.
"B-Behind... Mosaic P-Prep Academy... o-on East... 112th street. Hurry." She then let go of the radio and just lay there, crying in pain.
**********
When Honey regained consciousness, she found herself in a hospital bed with bandages over her bruises and cuts. She saw Jason and Blaze sitting in chairs beside her bed. They both smiled when they saw her eyes open.
"Hey," Jason said. "How you feeling?"
"Like I was... hit by a train," Honey wheezed.
"Who did this to you?" Blaze asked. "Was it the wolf?"
Honey shook her head. "It was... a red fox named... Fiona. She seemed to like... wearing black leather."
"Fiona," Jason repeated, before he looked at Blaze. "Go inform the others. I'll stay here with Honey."
Blaze nodded and got out of her chair. She went over to gently rub Honey's cheek. "Rest up. We'll take care of this."
Honey gave her a smile before Blaze left the room.
**********
Blaze entered the tower to find all the others pacing back and forth, waiting for the news. "Honey's awake," Blaze announced. "She said it was a red fox named Fiona. Not our wolf."
"Fiona?" Jet asked. "Anything else?"
"She was wearing black leather. So, most likely, a fox dressed like a punk. A really strong punk."
"So, what's the plan?" Asked Bunnie. "What do we do with her?"
Sally thought for a moment before she sighed. "I'm still against killing, but... maybe we can send her to the hospital."
Blaze nodded. "I like that idea."
Tails thought he saw something and walked over to a window near the front door. "What did you say she looked like?"
"Red fox," Blaze answered. "Wearing black leather."
"Ah. Because there's one of those out there right now."
"What?!"
"Yeah, she's just... doing stretches on the sidewalk, staring at our building."
Blaze and Sally ran to the window and looked out. "Oh, that looks like it could be her," Blaze said.
Sally nodded. "That's definitely her."
"What do we do?" Asked Tails.
"We kick the shit outta her," Blaze growled, about to head to the door when Sally held out an arm to stop her.
"Hold up. Everyone knows about us and who's on our team. Yet, she's just challenging us?"
"So?"
"I don't think we can underestimate her."
Blaze began to walk in place, clearly eager for some payback. She then stopped with an angry sigh. "Then, what?"
**********
Fiona stretched to the side as she saw the front door of the tower open, the entire remaining eight Freedom Fighters exiting to stand in front of it. Sally took a few more steps forward.
"Are you Fiona?!" Sally called out.
Fiona raised her arms above her head. "Mmmm. And you must be Sally!"
"You hurt Honey! Badly!"
Fiona chuckled. "She should've put up a better fight!"
"Please, let me kill her," Blaze muttered furiously.
"No," Sally said quickly. "You let her live?!"
"Death is too permanent!" Fiona called out. "This way I can wait for her to recover... before sending her right back!"
Blaze growled and pushed past Sally. "That's it," she said as she lit up her hands.
"Watch the fire!" Sally blurted out. "There's innocent people everywhere!"
Blaze sighed and extinguished her flames. "Don't need it."
Fiona smirked as she watched the purple cat approach her. Without hesitation, Blaze began to throw punches. Fiona successfully blocked each one. Fiona went to stomp on Blaze's left foot, but Blaze countered by bringing her left knee up into the fox's stomach. Fiona grunted and stumbled before Blaze punched her across the face. When Blaze went in for a second hit, Fiona grabbed her arm with her right hand and then quickly grabbed her throat with her left.
Blaze gasped and used her right hand to grab the fox's wrist. When she went to knee the fox, the fox blocked with her leg. Fiona then wrapped her leg around Blaze's, causing her to fall over. Fiona stayed atop her, choking her. Blaze choked for air before she created a quick burst of flame. Fiona quickly rolled off to avoid catching on fire.
As Fiona stood up, Blaze gasped for air. "You're worse than Honey," Fiona sighed before she kicked Blaze hard in the side. "At least she put up a fight."
When she went in for another kick, a blue blur shot past her. She followed it until it stopped. The blue hedgehog then curled up into a ball and shot at her. Fiona dove to the side to avoid the attack. She clenched her fist tightly and prepared. Sure enough, Sonic rolled up into a ball again and zipped at her. Reacting quickly, she punched him as hard as she could. The feeling was like punching a brick wall. Which was used to. Sonic uncurled and fell to the ground. Before he could recover, Fiona slammed her foot down on his ankle, making him scream in pain.
She glanced at the others just in time to see a trash can flying at her. She raised her arms and was able to deflect it before her eyes fell on Silver. She then saw Bunnie raise her robotic hand, which had a hole in the palm.
"Ranged attacks?" Fiona asked. "Cowards."
She jumped back as Knuckles dropped from the sky and punched the ground where she was just standing. He then punched his fists together before he threw a few punches, bur Fiona easily danced around him. He might be strong, but agile he was not. She quickly swiped at his legs, knocking him over, before she kicked him across the face. He grunted in pain and held his face. Fiona smiled and reached down, grabbing his tight wrist with her hands and pressing her with her thumbs until there was a sickening pop. The echidna let out a pained scream before Fiona kicked him in the side.
"Don't worry," she cooed. "It's just dislocated."
She returned her attention to the ranged attackers and pulled out a small dagger, one for each hand, before she ran at them. Silver grabbed some rocks and threw them at her while Bunnie fired off some lasers, careful not to hit any innocent onlookers. When she was close enough, Fiona threw both daggers. It was small enough that Silver didn't see it in time, until it struck him in the leg. Bunnie also let out a pained gasp when she, too, felt a dagger stab her shoulder. Fiona leaped forward, pushed off the ground with her hand, and kicked the bunny in the face as hard as she could. When she landed, she grabbed the rabbit's hand and threw her into the silver hedgehog. Their heads smacked together before they collapsed to the ground.
Tails let out a gasp when he saw the fox turn her attention to Sally. Without thinking, her flew full speed at her. But he was no match. Fiona grabbed him by the tails and slammed him into the ground.
"Stay down," Fiona sighed, before she looked at Sally, who stumbled backwards and fell on her butt.
Jet suddenly tackled the fox and punched her in the face. Fiona spit out blood before she grabbed his next attack and threw him off. He landed on his back beside her before she karate-chopped his neck. He gasped for air before Fiona elbowed him hard in the ribs. As Fiona got up, she looked over at the chipmunk.
"That just leaves you."
Sally looked around at her fallen team. Even Blaze was having trouble getting up. Determination filled her face as her hands clenched into fists. Before she could start to get up, Fiona was already standing right in front of her, fist out near her face.
"Do you really wanna do that?"
Sally glared up at her before she let out a saddened sigh and sniffled. "N-No..." she whimpered.
"Good." Fiona's fist then opened up as she held out her hand.
Sally stared at her, confused by the fox's gesture. She cautiously, and shakily, reached up to accept the hand. Fiona pulled her to her feet before holding her shoulders.
"Look around," Fiona cooed. "Let this be a taste of things to come. If you continue to side with the humans, expect more of this. And, maybe next time I won't stop at just hurting them. Maybe next time I'll take one from you."
Sally gasped and shuddered, before Fiona let go and backed up. The fox gave her an evil smirk before she casually walked off, leaving Sally alone with her thoughts.
**********
Jason helped Honey through the front door of the tower, only to see his entire team beaten and bruised. Sonic and Knuckles were on the couch, the hedgehog had ice on his ankle while the echidna had ice on his wrist. Blaze, Jet, and Tails were at the table, looking like it hurt to move. Silver had his leg bandaged, Bunnie had her shoulder bandaged, and Sally paced back and forth. She stopped when she saw Jason and Honey.
"What happened?" Jason asked.
"That fox that attacked Honey," Sally said quickly. "She came for us."
"Lemme get Honey to bed. Then, we'll talk."
Sally nodded before Jason helped Honey over to the elevators. They rode it up to the third floor where Honey's room was. Once in her room, he brought her over to the bed where she sat down with a wince of pain.
"Do you... need help?" He asked.
The cat tried to start to remove her dress but squeaked in pain. "Mm-hmm," she whimpered.
Jason sighed and undid the zipper on her back between the wings. Honey then weakly raised her arms with pained gasps so the man could pull her dress off. Before he could see anything, Honey brought her left arm across her bare chest. Jason set the dress aside before kneeling down to help her out of her boots. Setting them aside, he helped her under the covers. When she was comfortable enough, she pulled her gloves before handing them over. Jason took them and the dress and brought them over to her make-up table. He returned to the bed and knelt down beside it.
"You gonna be okay?" He asked. Honey nodded weakly. "You must've been so scared."
"I thought I was going to die."
Jason leaned in and kissed her forehead. "Rest up. We'll figure out something."
With that, he left to return to the downstairs lobby and quickly made his way over to where Blaze was. The purple cat held out her hand before they hugged gently.
"How is she?" Blaze asked.
"Banged up pretty badly, but she'll recover. Now, hoe did this happen? It was eight against one."
"She was skilled."
"And strong," Sonic added.
Blaze sighed. "That's why she sent Honey to the hospital."
"What do you mean?" Asked Sally.
"While we were all filled with anger at what she did, and attacking her without thinking, she simply danced around us."
"That true?" Sally asked, looking around.
"True for me."
"Me, too," Knuckles confirmed.
Sonic raised his hand. "Same."
"By the time she got to us, I was just frazzled," Bunnie admitted.
"She could've killed all of us," Silver pointed out. "Her alone. After everything we've been through."
Jason nodded. "Focus, is key. We can't let her get under our skin again. No matter who she attacks. No matter who she k... We can't let our guard down."
**********
Fiona entered the bar when everyone looked over at her. She then looked up at the TV and saw that there had been live news coverage of her attack. "Not bad, right?" She asked as she made her way through the bar. She noticed the nervous stares. "Don't worry, you're all safe," she reassured them.
Fiona headed down into the basement and stretched. "That was a fun workout."
"You're lucky the Mobians upstairs are on our side," Thrax pointed out.
"I know." Fiona took her seat at the table and looked at the weasel. "Your turn, Nic."
The weasel smirked. "Can't wait."