*Niloc replaced his ammo cartridge on his special D-55 rifle, but his mind can only concentrate on one thing: Sonic. He was able to track him down to a military camp at Liberty Village. He was not going to allow him to get away this time, and he was going to make sure of that. Behind him, the door to his quarters slid open.
"We're here now, what do you want?" A deep voice purred. It was a human mercenary that he had become acquainted with, named Dea Mar. He had a rough face with a scar that ran along down his left eye. Standing next to him was his good ally Tyr.
"This is going to be a difficult operation to pull. We are going into Hero territory, which means, lots of guards, security systems, and a good chance that they will call for endless backup," Niloc said behind his helmet.
"Sounds like fun, how do we do it?" Mar asked, approaching him and carefully laying his long rifle against a table. Niloc smiled and tapped a few buttons on a control console in front of him, revealing a green hologram of the entire village.
"I have a set of Hero armor that you could wear, and a Hero ID for you to use to slip past security. I smuggled this sealed package that was supposed to be delivered to that camp. You will act as a soldier delivering that package, then, enter the village and find a position where you can use a sniper," Niloc said, throwing the package into Mar's arms.
"Let's hope the armor fits," Mar jokingly said. Niloc nodded, and turned to Tyr.
"I have extra sets of armor that you and me could use. We will act as guards escorting the deliveryman here, but you will wait with the ship, so that we can prevent suspicion. I will track down that hedgehog, and Mar will help too with the sniper vision," he said.
"And if he's inside a building?" Mar asked.
"I will cross that bridge once I get there, we will keep in contact through the comlinks on the armors' wrists," Niloc replied.
"How exactly do you plan to kill the hedgehog?" Tyr asked. Niloc grinned.
"I will face him personally, I want a fight out of him," he admitted.
"But he would call for help, we would have soldiers all over us," Mar argued.
"I know Sonic, he doesn't call for help. He likes to do things alone, that's why if he does try to run or call for help, that's why you are there with a sniper to silence him once and for all if you have to."**
*"I'm impressed, Amy, you seem to be a very capable fighter," Sonic complimented as he and Amy walked through the hall of the dormitory. Amy smiled at him.
"Thanks Sonic. So, can we put the past behind us and, you know, start over?" She asked. Sonic looked at her. He wasn't quite sure what to think of this. He tried so hard to know that Amy was programmed to betray them in the first place. She had no choice in the matter. But then again, there was something she had that a lot of programmed beings didn't. Free will.
"It's definitely something to consider," Sonic replied, deciding to choose a safe answer.
"Thank you. Maybe things will get even better, once I wipe my memory of the fact that I was created by that…monster," Amy replied. Sonic nodded.
"Yeah," he said. Then, he froze in his tracks, his eyes shot up open in terrible realization.
"Wait, what?" He shrieked.
"Sonic, sir!" A voice shouted behind him. The agitated hedgehog turned around to face an armored messenger.
"The Chairman has made contact. He's asking for you, sir," the messenger explained.
"Be right there," Sonic assured. When he turned around to face Amy again, she wasn't there. His mind swam in confusion. Memory wipe? How was she going to do that? More importantly, why did she plan to do that? Sonic called Amy's name, but there was no answer. Giving up for now, but still nervous, he followed the messenger to a private booth, where a small, gray hologram of the Chairman waited for him.
"Is Amy okay?" He asked. Sonic nodded.
"Yeah, she's fine. She'll finish her time here as long as I stick around," he replied. The Chairman nodded.
"Good. Hey, something came to mind recently. When you were giving me your story about what happened in between the time you and Amy went to Chun-Nan and when you were abducted by Ivo, did you tell me the whole story?" He asked. Sonic froze in fear.
"What makes you think I left something out? You know what, it doesn't matter, because I don't think it's any of your concern," Sonic snapped, then, he cut the transmission, and the hologram of the Chairman winked out.**
*Niloc piloted the small carrier ship to Liberty Village, with Tyr and Mar in the back. On Mar's lap was the package that was supposed to be delivered. The afternoon sun shined over them as they flew over the green hills and grassy landscape that led to the small village. Moving the ship lower to finally land, Niloc saw three security guards running towards them. Finally settling the ship down, Niloc nodded to the other two, and the three of them stepped out of the ship and walked down the landing ramp. The guards approached them.
"State your business," the leader asked. Niloc smiled behind his helmet.
"Delivering a package from the Chairman himself," he informed. The three guards looked at each other.
"The delivery is overdue, we were expecting it yesterday," the lead guard explained. Niloc blinked.
"We ran into some complications on the way and had to stay in another base for the night while our ship was getting repairs," he said.
"All of you show us your IDs," the lead guard ordered. Niloc unclipped his ID from his belt. Tyr and Mar followed suit. The lead guard examined all three of them.
"Well, they check in," he turned to his two escorts, "check their weapons."
"Weapons?" Niloc asked.
"Yes, all of our equipment has our emblem, you should know that," the lead guard pointed out, suspicion sparking in his voice.
"Yes, of course," Niloc said. He handed over his rifle, which he had stolen. The others followed suit, both carrying the same rifle. The lead guard examined them until he found the emblem.
"They check in as well, we'll be taking the package then," he said. Niloc held back however.
"We were ordered to deliver this to your sergeant, then pick up a sarcophagus to deliver to the Chairman," he argued. The lead guard tilted his head as a sign of reluctance, but then finally sighed.
"Very well, but that's it, I don't want to see any stalling," he warned.
"Yes, sir," Niloc acknowledged. He turned to Tyr.
"Stay with the ship, we'll be back," he assured.**
*Inside the village, Niloc made a hidden signal to Mar that it was time for him to take his post. Mar nodded and walked over to two huts, then tapped a few buttons on his armored wrist, and he vanished, swallowed up by his cloaking device to hide himself. Niloc could see a large group of recruits taking lessons from a commander out in an open field. Good. That meant that the dormitory was probably almost completely empty. He didn't see Sonic among the recruits, so he guessed that he was hanging out inside the dormitory. Niloc carried the briefcase to the doors of the dormitory, where two armored guards stopped him.
"Your business?" One of them requested. Niloc rolled his eyes behind his helmet. Well, at least these guys took good precautions.
"I was ordered to take this and leave it at dorm number nine," he answered. The other guard unclipped a scanner from his belt and scanned the case. An approving click sounded. The two guards looked at each other, then nodded.
"Alright then, obviously security have already checked you," the other guessed, and then motioned to Niloc that he was clear. Niloc nodded patiently, and entered. Inside, it wasn't much. There were two sets of stairs that led to two different hallways with the doors of each dorm lined up on both sides. He cranked the com on his ear up.
"Mar, do you have a good sight of the dormitory?" He asked.
"Yes, I've got a good spot, I'm ready if something happens," Mar replied. Niloc nodded, and unclipped his rifle, holding it with one hand while he held the briefcase in the other.
"Unfortunately, I'm going to have to make this revenge quick or we're going to have an entire military force after us," he said.
"Well, try to have fun with the time you do have," Mar remarked.
"You better believe it," Niloc assured. Setting the briefcase down, he set the rifle so that any bullets he fired would be silent, so as to not draw attention. Deciding to start searching, he chose the first flight of stairs. He wished that he knew where Sonic would be in the building. There was only one thing he didn't know for sure, and that was the exact location. The village was so small, and the horizon so flat, that he was able to see that Sonic was not outside. This was the only place he could think of as to where Sonic would be. Carefully walking up the stairs, he began thinking about what he would say to that hedgehog once he was in his sight. Would he taunt him about the past? Would he tell him exactly how Sonic wronged him? No. Sonic knew. He didn't need to be reminded. However, Niloc quite enjoyed the way he lived now. At least it was better than being abused all the time like he was years ago. Once he reached the top of the stairs however, he found himself face-to-face with the hedgehog. The hedgehog had his face in what looked like a chili dog, and he looked just as surprised as he was running into him like this.
"Who are you?" Sonic asked, looking puzzled. Niloc was taken aback at that. How could he not remember him?
"What? Oh, the uniform," he realized aloud, removing his helmet. His newly grown hair glistened in the dim light of the hallway, and he actually felt good taking the helmet off. Sonic almost gasped, but something made him pause.
"I'm Niloc," he declared.
"You're who?"
"Yeah, this isn't coming out very well, is it?"
"Not really, but don't I know you? I think I've seen you before," Sonic said. Niloc's eyes widened in surprise.
"How could you not remember me? I can't tell you how much trouble you caused for me, and now, I am going to make sure that that doesn't happen again," Niloc claimed. It didn't take very long at all for Sonic to begin looking determined and mischievous.
"Oh yeah? Time to juice!" He muttered, and he flung his chili dog at Niloc, which caught him directly in the face. By the time he wiped the chili off his face, Sonic was gone. Niloc laughed. He realized that he could have a little fun with this. How could Sonic not remember him? Was there anything else that he couldn't remember about his past? There was so much that the hedgehog had held dear, but was that all erased from his mind now?
"Here hedgehog, come on out hedgehog," Niloc mocked as he slowly walked through the hall like a predator moving towards his prey. There was no possible way that the hedgehog could hide. There was a corner that made a turn that Sonic could've taken, or he had gone to alert the authorities, but that seemed very unlikely. He remembered that Sonic was always the one to do things personally, unless he had become a coward in the past six years since the last time he saw him.
"So this is how it's going to be, hedgehog?" He demanded. Quickly, he became tired of shouting out to make him come out. Before he could make another sound, he felt a bash to the face, sending him staggering backward. Staying onto his feet, he looked ahead to see the hedgehog, posed for action. Niloc laughed again.
"So, you've finally decided to accept the challenge? I will enjoy destroying you slowly," he said. He aimed his rifle and fired off another round, which Sonic immediately dodged. The hedgehog's memory may be messed up, but his speed was definitely still intact. Before he could fire off another round, Niloc felt a crash to the face again, sending him flying across the hall and down the stairs where the abandoned package was waiting. Quickly, he tapped the comlink on his wrist to contact Mar.
"The hedgehog has fought his way to the entrance, I'll see if I could get him outside," he whispered.
"Got it," Mar replied. Niloc looked up to see Sonic arrive at the top of the stairs.
"It would've been nice to do a little catching up to see what you've been up to for the last couple years, but I'm kind of anxious to just take you down and run," Niloc mocked. Reaching for his hidden sheath, he pulled out a long rapier and leveled it at Sonic's head. When the hedgehog jumped for him, the bounty hunter was surprised to see a sword in his hand.**
*Sonic had no idea how the sword got there in his hand, but he realized that it looked exactly like the Sword that he tried to pull out in Chun-Nan. Caliburn. What could this mean? Did this mean…?
Caliburn clashed against Niloc's rapier, with a loud sound that rang and echoed through the small room with the two sets of stairs that led to different dorms. He saw the bounty hunter smile, as if he was playing a game that he was winning at.
"Six years ago, I defeated your friend Sally just when you fell off that cliff and into the water below! How do you think of that as a hero?" He mocked. Sonic finally got used to his grip with the Sword, and began swinging it at Niloc, wanting desperately for him to stop taunting him. He remembered the name Sally, but he still didn't have an image of her. He could only remember the name. But as he continued lashing out at the bounty hunter, he could remember something new. A brief, blurry image of him falling towards the lake below him. He thought he could hear the name of Sally being shouted out. He must've shown his feelings about this, because Niloc's smile was getting wider now.
"I don't remember Sally, who was she? How did you have anything to do with my past?" Sonic demanded. Immediately, Niloc frowned.
"Fool! You don't remember?" He roared. But before he could say something else, the door behind him slid open, revealing the two guards that watched the building.
"What's going…what?" The two guards aimed their laser rifles at Niloc when they saw what was going on. It was right at that moment when Sonic noticed Caliburn change, as if his vision of the Sword was blurring, but everything else looked clear. Finally, he saw that he was no longer holding it. The Sword was gone. Turning his attention back to Niloc, he saw two sniper shots come from behind and strike the two guards. Several shots tried to catch Sonic, but Sonic leaped from all of them and rolled out of range.
"See you around, hedgehog! Don't think I'm finished with you!" Niloc shouted, then, tapping a few buttons on his wrist, he vanished, engulfed in a cloaking device.**
*It wasn't that hard to escape the village. Mar and Niloc were both cloaked, and Tyr, cloaked as well, had already abandoned their ship, and joined them to flee out of the village and run through the green, hilly fields outside.
"What do we do now?" Tyr asked, once they were far enough. The village was buzzing with activity now. The whole village now knew about the intrusions. They had to get far enough so that they didn't have to face the response team. Niloc thought hard over this. The hedgehog had obviously been purged of his past memories. That could somewhat work to his advantage.
"It was fun encountering the hedgehog again, but I think I will wait, until the time is right."**
F: Niloc is a mysterious character that was a lot of fun to write because I knew immediately what his story was all about. There will of course be more of him, and he's not all he seems to be. Also, just because Caliburn showed up in Sonic's hands doesn't mean he's the One in the prophecy. It is only a small clue for something in future stories.