The missiles were too fast and going to impact. Then the projectiles veered off, some going the completely wrong direction. They all shared a moment of confused what-just-happened and relieved we're-still-in-one-piece silence.
"That wasn't me." Silver felt the urge to clarify, even though the lack of a cyan aura around the missiles must have made it obvious he wasn't responsible anyways. He barely had time to grasp that missiles were bad and get over the momentary cold realization that they were in danger when the missiles...missed.
"Huh. Then those guys have really bad aim." Sonic squinted, trying to see the jets better.
"We got lucky." Tails corrected, a grim look on his face. He was not going to be caught off guard again. "It's not like they're shooting in random directions."
The communicator ear-piece in every pilot's helmet crackled as the Lieutenant barked from the base. "Remember your training! Shoot in random directions, eventually one of us is going to hit the intruder." He thought about it, and added. "And someone get me a visual!"
"Sir, yes sir!" The pilots said in perfect military unison. They fired again.
A sharp shrill whistle was the telling sign more missiles were coming.
"Keep it steady Tails! Hey Silver, think you can grab some of them?"
Silver was more used to unmoving things like barrels. Or much larger things like the rocks Iblis would throw at him. Missiles were fast and small, the complete opposite of how he usually operated. But the last time he used his telekinesis was when he fought Solaris…
He gave a single nod. "Yeah."
…and missiles were no god of sun.
From an old storage closet turned makeshift office, since apparently the budget was too tight to get him an actual office, the Lieutenant informed the Commander via walkie-talkie. "Sir, the intruder is fighting back."
"YES!" The Commander exclaimed with too much enthusiasm. If the Lieutenant didn't know better, he'd say the Commander wanted the intruder to fight back. "You know what they say Lieutenant, nothing better justifies us blowing something up than an unprovoked act of violence."
"Sir." The Lieutenant flatly pointed out. "We attacked first."
"UNPROVOKED!"
When it came down to it, they could really work together. Sonic was going with his Homing Attack, Tails used the Tornado's own weaponry, and Silver relied on his powers. It was all going good when more missiles came. Many, many more. Sonic would destroy one, only for three to replace it. Tails gave up shooting, having to do tighter and tighter maneuvers. Silver did what he could, but it was impossible to catch every missile.
The wing, the one he was standing on, disappeared in a flare of white. Silver saw himself, falling away from the Tornado. His heart thumped. He could barely hear it over the sharp ringing. Silver reached out, barely catching the very end of the Tornado. The left wing had been blown clean off, and what was left was on fire. There wasn't even time to shout a warning or share a horrified look before the Tornado spiraled into a free-fall.
The Lieutenant didn't want to do it, but knew he didn't have a choice. This is definitely coming out of my paycheck. He grabbed the walkie-talkie. "Sir, we have confirmed the identity of two of the three intruders as Sonic and Tails."
"Sweet Uncle Sam, cease firing immediately!" The Commander barked.
"They have already been successfully shot down. Per your orders, sir." He couldn't help but remind the Commander that this was all his fault.
"Let's not get into details of who ordered what Lieutenant. The important thing is that this is precisely why our policy is to always attempt communications first."
That wasn't the policy five minutes ago! "Sir, that's what I-"
"Should've done instead of shooting like a madman, that's right Lieutenant." The Commander finished off. There was no point in protesting. In GUN, when things didn't go right and the Commander didn't want the media to find out, it was the Lieutenant's job to deal with the paperwork and make it all disappear.
"Say, who's the third intruder?" The Commander inquired.
"Unknown sir. Appears to be a white hedgehog, but our databanks provide no matches to his identity."
Tails was up to his elbows in the Tornado's engine. "Good news is, we're not that far from Eggman's lair."
"Awesome! Just what I like to hear buddy." Sonic grinned.
Silver knew next to nothing about planes, but he was pretty sure the big piece that fell off with a clang was important, judging by how Tails' winced.
"Bad news is, it's going to take some time before I can get the Tornado up and running again." The fox patted the side of the plane.
"Not awesome." His smile dropped. "How much time are we talking about?"
"A few hours I think." He wandered off to the other side of the Tornado where the wing was blown off.
"You've got to be kidding me." Sonic groaned, his sneaker starting to tap incessantly.
Tails briefly tinkered, before frowning, as if something wasn't right with whatever he was working on. "Hmm. Silver, can you come look at this?"
"Uh…sure." Silver barely made it around when Tails yanked him down.
"Keep Sonic distracted until I fix the Tornado. Please." He quietly pleaded, looking so desperate Silver knew he couldn't say no, though he didn't have a clue how he was supposed to distract Sonic.
"I-I'll do what I can." Silver said, getting up and heading back around where Sonic was. It hadn't been a minute yet, and the blue hedgehog was already pacing.
Right. Distract. I can do that. How hard can it be? I just need to talk to Sonic. Yeah, nothing like a good long conversation. He's an easy-going guy, he'll be talking in no time.
"Hey Sonic. You were pretty good back there with the missiles." There was really nothing like praise to get someone bragging.
"Guess I was." He shrugged.
Silver waited, but when it was clear Sonic wasn't going to say anything else, he blurted. "I bet you go on adventures all the time."
Very interesting, dangerous, and long adventures that Silver would genuinely like to hear. Except all Sonic said was "I do, yeah."
Silver had run out of things to say, and Sonic's attention was waning by the second. The nearly white hedgehog looked around the GUN base, hoping something would give him an idea. Hold on. The GUN base. GUN. That's it!
"If GUN is supposed to stop threats like Dr. Eggman, why don't they ever do that?"
The blue speedster didn't have the chance to reply, because someone else beat him to it.
"Because it's my sworn duty as Commander to not do anything." The Commander said as he marched towards them. There was something about him that said very loudly he was an important person and it made Silver stand up a little straighter.
"If we actually did our job, we'd avert several catastrophes." He continued. "Games would be over before they even began, and then where would we all be? No, for the future of the franchise, we must not take action."
Silver honestly tried to pay attention, but as the guy kept on talking about duty and honor, he couldn't help but notice the Commander had his back towards him.
It's probably to look more dramatic, Silver supposed. I…I feel like its rude, but what do I know? Maybe that's just how people of the past talk to someone. So does that mean I've been offending everyone I've talked to in the past?
"-with all the collateral damage, we can raise taxes as much as we want. Gives us funds on the important things, like building nukes."
"That…surprisingly makes a lot of sense. In a counterintuitive way." Tails popped out from under the Tornado and immediately banged his head. He looked up in confusion. The wing was magically reset in its place thanks to cartoon logic. "How did that… wait, did you say nukes?"
"But that's not why I'm here." The Commander turned around. "Sonic, I'd like to apologize on behalf of the Lieutenant. As he also did with Metal Sonic and Shadow in the previous games, the Lieutenant resorted to a drastic call of action over a simple case of mistaken identity."
Sonic cleared his throat. "I'm over here."
The high chain-link fence was the first defense a typical GUN base had. There would be a couple heavily guarded entrances determining who got to pass through. The fence was topped with barbed wire and was patrolled 24/7. Even if someone got past the fence, there were sentry towers located everywhere, sharp eyes and bright spotlights on the lookout for intruders.
Something was off. They had waited a long time, hiding behind trees, yet no one showed up patrolling the fence. Still, Espio wasn't letting his guard down.
"I do not think this is a good idea."
"You're right. It's a great idea! We'll get to Dr. Eggman way faster. Then all we have to do is catch the Sandwich Thief, get rich and famous, and go on a date with Miss Vanilla!" Vector paused. "Uh. You didn't hear that last part."
"The sign says we'll be shot on sight." Espio pointed out.
"Sign? What sign? Charmy, do you see a sign?" He quickly asked, undeniably trying to change the subject.
"I can't read."
"See? The kid gets it. It'll be fine." Vector assured as he confidently strolled to the fence and ripped a large enough opening for him to pass through. Nothing. No GUN soldiers, no gunfire. Absolutely nothing happened when he made it to the other side.
Seeing there was no way to change Vector's mind, Espio vanished without a sound. Between Charmy's buzzing and Vector's horrible attempt of not stomping, it was a mystery they hadn't been spotted yet. Then the mystery started to unravel as the further they went in. Pieces of trees scattered about, followed by entire trees snapped in half, then a deep gouge in the ground. Smoke billowed out, the base and a few sentry towers partially destroyed where the gouge ended. It almost looked like-
"Wow, this place is a dump." Charmy bluntly said.
"Charmy!" Espio whispered with a frown. He hoped there wasn't a GUN soldier around, though it seemed most personnel were occupied dealing with the destruction.
You'd think he wouldn't be all that concerned with getting caught, since the Chaotix were on relatively good terms with GUN. But taking into account how many times GUN would try to shoot or arrest Sonic of all people when they had the slightest suspicion...
GUN didn't think of them of enemies, but that could change very fast. Either they'd be shot, or at least, be sent for a life sentence on Prison Island.
Vector, if we die out here because of a sandwich, I'm blaming you.
"It's true! What do you think happened here?" He gasped, before whispering. "Was it the Sandwich Thief?" Charmy shot wide-eyed glances around, like he was expecting the mysterious criminal to pop out of nowhere.
Vector shook his head. "Nah, M.O isn't the same. Perp usually does way worse sandwich-related crimes than this. Besides, if he was responsible, I'd know. Nothing gets over me."
He, like Espio and Charmy, was completely oblivious that the Tornado was flying high up in the sky going right over him.
The sleek white tower that was Dr. Eggman's lair was a stark contrast to the jagged black island. Glowing red lava poured out into veins all throughout the island until hitting the ocean, producing a constant hiss. In the time Silver spent in the past, he had seen a lot of different places. This was the first place that reminded him of Crisis City, with the volcano and the lava. It was uncomfortable to realize that even in the past, without Iblis, there could be somewhere that was like his apocalyptic future.
Silver was shaken from his thoughts at the sound of explosions. Tails pushed some buttons, and fired again at the lair, creating a large hole. He got out of his seat. "I've set the Tornado on auto-pilot! Come on!"
They jumped off the plane, falling through the ceiling. Sonic landed first, in a classic super-hero pose and declared. "Eggman! We're here to stop you!"
Dr. Eggman was in a fuzzy pink onesie on the couch, surrounded by bowls of food, and watching a giant screen. He looked up at the hole in the ceiling. "I'm not even going to bother fixing that. You'll just break it again."
Silver spotted two robots nearby Eggman and instinctively caught them with his psychokinesis.
"Wait Silver! That's Orbot and Cubot!"
"So? They're Eggman's robots!" Silver honestly couldn't figure out why Tails didn't want him to destroy those two robots.
"True, but they've been personified to the point that destroying them would be as traumatizing as when Princess Elise brought Sonic back to life with a-" He slapped a hand over his mouth, eyes wide.
"Wait, what did she do?" Bewildered, Sonic looked over his shoulder at the fox.
"Nothing. Anyways, you should let them go before they fry."
"Alright." Silver dropped the two robots, leaving them sizzling and smoking.
"Howdy! It'd be smelling like robo-barbeque up in here!"
"Oh dear, I think you'll need to replace your voice-chip Cubot."
"Can you keep it down? I'm trying to watch the season finale." Eggman grumbled, grabbing a handful of triangles covered in yellow-orange goo. Some spilled on his outfit, but he didn't seem to care.
"Geez, what's with Egghead?" Sonic thumbed over his shoulder.
"Well, after Dr. Eggman's latest plan fails, he goes through the five stages of grief." Orbot informed. "Currently, he's in depression."
"You mean he's just been binge-watching TV, in his pajamas, not planning anything evil?" Tails asked.
"I'm right here you know, but I guess my existence is so meaningless I'm not even noticed." He sank into the couch. "I could disappear right now and no one would care."
"…I believe that is a sufficient answer." Orbot simply said.
"Listen. Dr. Eggman, I have to get back to my time." Silver pulled out his blue Chaos Emerald, interesting the villain enough to look at him and not the TV. "But I need a second Chaos Emerald. I was hoping you'd have it." He almost wanted to say that he'd be willing to take it by force if necessary, but Dr. Eggman looked too miserable to put up a fight.
Charmy collapsed face first on the shore with a muffled "Ow."
Taking a deep breath, Vector squared his shoulders and grinned. "Alright, we're here!"
"Yes," Espio agreed, "and we are not doing that again."
It'd been a nightmare having to hope Charmy wouldn't accidently drop them in the middle of the ocean. Not to mention, the physical exertion of having to hang on to the bee with Vector holding on to him. It was only his dignity that kept him standing. The ninja eyed the black lava rock. It does look very comfortable…
"C'mon boys, look alive." Vector clapped twice, like that was supposed to revitalize them. "We've got a doctor to talk to and a thief to catch!"
A groan was Charmy's response.
Espio glared. It was downright insulting how happy and energetic Vector was. The least he could do is be a little tired, the chameleon thought sourly.
The Chaotix leader caught sight of the Tornado, innocuously parked right outside the lair.
"Well, well, well. Looks like someone else got here first."
"I don't have one. Check through my lair if you don't believe me, I don't care. Just let me binge-watch my show in peace." With that, Dr. Eggman had another huge spoonful of ice-cream.
Silver was speechless. He was absolutely convinced there would be another Chaos Emerald at Dr. Eggman's lair it never occurred to him of the possibility it wouldn't be here. Sonic and Tails were talking to him, probably asking if he was okay. Silver didn't hear them. Wasn't it enough he helped save the world? Wasn't it enough Blaze had to sacrifice herself?
I just want to go home…
"Watch out!" Sonic warned, before he shoved Tails and Silver out of the way right as three individuals jumped from the hole in the ceiling.
"Oh great. More visitors." Dr. Eggman groaned. No one paid him any attention.
"Vector, what are you doing here?" Sonic asked.
Silver didn't have a clue who they were, but if Sonic recognized them and wasn't fighting, then these strangers couldn't be enemies…right?
Vector narrowed his eyes. "I outta ask you the same thing Sonic, or should I say, TRAITOR!"
I'm excited to announce that this is the second to last chapter. Unless Chapter 5 gets so long I have to split it, but I'm pretty sure that won't happen. Probably.