NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 12

“I’d love say say ‘sod it it’s Christmas,’” Speedster grumbled, “But we should at least check out the labs they’re being made in.”

“In that case, let’s go.” Mako pounded her right palm with her fist.

“When we know where, we’ll go.” Speedster nodded.

“In the mean time,” Luna sighed, “All we can do is practise and keep our skills sharp.”

“Which sucks.” Speedster complained, starting to pace again, “I hate waiting for anything.”

“Go for a run or something.” Luna shook her head in amusement, “If you take your phone, I’ll call you the moment we know anything.”

“Deal.” With that Speedster shot off, bored already by the meeting and unable to just stand still and wait. Instead she shot over to Bookworm’s flat, where the doctorate student was in fact delightedly pouring over every piece of information she could on the new ‘robosuits.’

It didn’t take her long to get the information she needed from the physiology enthusiast and she hesitated for just a moment, before shooting off to the lab in question. She hadn’t said how long she would wait when she had told Luna that she would and she didn’t plan on storming the building. She just wanted to go and have a look at it. As well as ensure she knew where it was and that the person she was looking for actually worked there.

When she actually planned on invading the labs, she would alert Luna and Mako to her plans, but for just scouting it was better she headed off alone.

The lab was a surprisingly ordinary looking building considering what was being built inside. Built on the outskirts of town, the plain, two storey concrete warehouse looking building didn’t look like the menacing headquarters of some evil villain, just a plain old storage place.

The only real outward signs that the building wasn’t just a storage facility were the official looking cars and military looking guards patrolling the parameter.

Zooming around the perimeter, which was surrounded by wire fencing with barbed wire around the top, she got a feel for the place’s defences. They didn’t look like much, a few guard dogs on chains led around by the guards, a few unconcealed weapons, plenty of security cameras and a few shed like buildings that she just knew probably housed a robot or two.

She wasn’t surprised. They weren’t expecting trouble. Not from anyone who could pass by the defences in the blink of an eye. Speedster would have thought that he would have insisted on stronger measures. She supposed that if he wasn’t in charge yet, he wouldn’t get much say in what security measures had been put in place and even if he was he wouldn’t expect his arch-nemesis to have been Fused with someone from this world too.

Still, she was wary as she slipped over the fence and examined the cameras at a much closer range, darting between their coverage at high speed and working out where she could take out the wiring if she needed to. Part of her wondered how she knew what to look for, the rest, the part that had firmly accepted the Fusion and melded with the memories and the skills that she had gained, just accepted it as something that had been necessary in their old world.

When the guards came around the corner, Speedster took that as a sign to bolt, zipping across the grounds and hopping the fence, landing on the other side easily before shooting off. She had no intention of alerting them to the fact she was watching if she could help it. The element of surprise had always been a key factor in the success of their plans and giving away her presence now would ruin it.

She shot further away from the fence, up onto the roof of a nearby building and enjoyed the sunshine until the scientists left the building for the day. There were quite a few in the building, most of whom looked pretty normal and were chatting with each other, though she couldn’t hear about what from her vantage point.

The last few to leave the building were a group of three. One military looking, armed man in a smart suit with medals pinned to it and symbols on his shoulder. One robosuited individual, whose metal plating was red, gold and black and whose body language looked completely relaxed despite the suit that they were wearing. And finally the individual she had been looking for.

He was unmistakeable. A huge, rotund, almost egg shaped man with a ridiculous moustache and a set of sunglasses that covered his eyes.

“Robotnik.” Speedster hissed, anger rising despite the fact that the man before her had done nothing to her or to her world.

The egomaniac had no idea she was watching as he walked across the carpark, talking to the two men though he took furtive glances around. He didn’t look too pleased to be pulled away from his work. Speedster on the other hand was all too pleased for any delay to his plans. Not that she knew what he was up to, but there was very little he had gotten up to in the original world that could be considered ‘good’ so she didn’t doubt that he was up to something here too.

The Robotnik fusion and the robosuited man entered one vehicle while the military man entered another. Once both cars had pulled out of the heavily guarded gates she followed the one with the Doctor and the robosuited man, wanting to know where he was going and what he was up to.

Frustration had seeped in by the time the car had stopped, as she had stuck to the roofs and tried to keep to its speed rather than risk losing it in the traffic. As she watched the pair exit the car, she paced the nearby rooftop, keeping a close eye on them as the Doctor pulled some keys out of his back pocket and let them into a house.

“That’s enough.” Juliet told herself with a huff as the car pulled away and she waited to see if anything else would happen, glancing at her watch as she did so, “It’s been an hour. Time to...”

She trailed off as the door opened again and the robotic man exited the building again, watching as he shut the door behind him and headed down the road. She followed, smiling as he popped into a shop and slipped down into an alleyway before emerging onto the street and entering the shop behind him.

As she picked out a bunch of snacks, having not eaten for a while, she listened to the conversation between the cashier and the robotic man.

“So you went through with it then?” The cashier asked a little nervously, “That thing we saw on the T.V.”

“It was worth it.” The man replied, his voice modulated slightly so it sounded less human and more robotic, “I’m finally out of that wheelchair. And it’s all thanks to Paul.”

“You two worked together on this.” The cashier reminded him with a slight smile, “Don’t put yourself down, Doc.”

“I might have been working with him on this project, but he had a break through a couple of weeks back that not only made it viable in our lifetime, but meant it could be put into effect immediately.” The Doctor replied, “It’s just a shame it’s my name that has to be used. He might have been my assistant, but he had no doctorate, so they insist it has to be my name that’s used to promote it.”

“It’s a shame, but I wouldn’t complain if I were you.” The cashier chuckled, taking the payment for his items, “Just share the profits with him.”

“Maybe one day we’ll be able to afford not to charge for the process.” Dr. Styler replied, sounding wistful, “Have a good shift, Kayley.”

“Have a good evening yourself, Doc.” Kayley waved him off before turning to Speedster who had been next in line, “Hiya, can I help?”

Once she had paid for her goods, Speedster got the hell out of there as fast as possible, so much on her mind that she wasn’t sure where to start on working through it all.

She let her feet take her where they willed as she tried to think everything through. It was Robotnik. She knew he was bad. She knew it like she knew the Earth was round and chocolate was tasty.

But ‘Paul’ had built the robosuits to help his friend and co-worker. He really had been trying to help for a change instead of creating them for evil.

She was the one in the wrong. Not him.

It was that realisation that caused her to come to a sudden stop as she lost her footing and went tumbling, crashing into a wall and coming to a sliding stop on the other side of the rubble left behind.