Back on Mobius, the Quinjet landed in front of the large white New York Avengers HQ. Inside what seemed to be a living room crossed with a study, with one bizarre feature. A large hologram, projected several nameless people with nameless high ranking jobs. The one at the head of the table was Secretary of State, General Thunderbolt Zomom.
Zomom seemed to be talking to a large, black scaled crocodile, with a large leg brace, Vector Rhodes, the war machine.
"Still no word from Jet?" Zomom said
"Satellites had lost him somewhere over Edinburgh" Vector replied
"On a stolen quinjet with 4 of the world's most wanted criminals!" Zomom nearly shouted
"You know that you are the only ones that call them criminals. Tails himself kind of admits that." Vector snapped back
"My god Vector, your talent for horseshit rival my own"
"If it weren't for those accords, Jet would be here right now."
"I remember your signature on those papers, Rhodes"
"That's right! I'm pretty sure I've paid for that!" Vector said almost loosing it pointing out to his broken leg making sure that everyone saw it."
"You have any second thoughts?" Zomom said as if talking to a child he had just yelled at
"No. What do you want? These 'fugatives' to come here no...Speak of the devil"
Knuckles Rodgers, Rouge, Mighty (who was supporting Jet), and Wave came into the room.
"Mr. Secretary" Knuckles nodded to Zomom
"You got some nerve, I'll give you that." Zomom said rudely
"You could use some of that right now." Rouge said just as rudely.
"The whole universe is on fire. And you think, all is forgiven?" Zomom snapped back
"I'm not looking for forgiveness, I am past asking for permission. Mobius has lost it's best defender. We are here to fight." Knuckles said camly. He stepped towards to hologram of Zomom. "And if you want to stand in our way… we'll fight you too."
"Arrest them." Zomom said sourly. Then the hologram went out.
"That would be a court martial." Vector said holding the remote. "It's great to see you Cap."
Knuckles gave Vector a bone crushing hug "You too, Vec"
"Well you guys look like crap. Must have been a rough couple of years."
"Yeah…" Mighty said awkwardly, the last time they met, Mighty had nearly killed Vector. "The hotels were not exactly 5 star. But we had a hand from Infinite, the Black Jackal."
"Uh...I think you look great…" A voice said.
Cap and Rouge turned to see Sonic "Uh...yeah...I'm….uh….back."
"Uh...hi Sonic." Rouge said stunned, remembering their brief relationship when Sonic's ex, Amy had lost contact with him.
"This is awkward." Mighty said
Later…
"So they will be coming back, right?" Vector said
"And they can clearly find us" Rouge retorted
"And we need all hand on deck. Where's Shadow?" Sonic said
"After the whole accords situation, he and Geoffrey took a deal. It was too tough on their families. They are in house arrest." Rouge said
"Whos Geoffrey?" Said Sonic curiously
"Ant Skunk." Knuckles said calmly
"There's an Ant Skunk and a Spider Bee? Okay, look. Thanos has the biggest army in the universe. His army took on what is essentially the Space Police with no chaos emerald, and he is not gonna stop untill he...he gets...Jet's Emerald." Sonic said
"We have to protect it" Rouge said
"No, we have to destroy it. I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also, its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something, very similar to its own signature, perhaps… Its molecular integrity could fail" Jet said calmly.
"And you, with it. We are not having this converstion." Wave said firmly.
"Eliminating the emerald is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it." Jet said camly
"That is too high a price." Wave said
Jet touches Wave's face gently "Only you have the power to do it." Wave looked horrified. "Thanos threatens ½ the universe. One life over so many lives is enough."
"No." Knuckles said firmly. "We don't trade lives."
"70 years ago, you laid down your life to save goodness knows how many millions. How is this any different?" Jet retorted "and when Tails nearly died saving New York directing the nuke through the portal? How is this any different?"
Knuckles seemed to say something, but Sonic beat him to it " Because you might have a choice. Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. J.A.R.V.I.S., Metal Sonic, Tails, me, the Emerald. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another.
"Are you saying Jet isn't just the emerald?" Rouge asked
"I'm saying that if we take out the emerald, There is still a whole lot of Jet left. Perhaps the best part."
Sonic said
"Can we do that?" Rouge said
"No. Not here." Sonic said.
"You better find someone, and somewhere fast. Zomom isn't gonna let you have your rooms back. I bet that he will be sending people here, and I only hope that Eggman Fury will hold them back." Vector said
"I know just the place" Knuckles said.
In the rural isolated country of Wakanda, Infinite, the Black Jackal was walking down a hill with his general Sticks along with 2 kings guard.
He had only been king for almost 2 years, ever since Zazz had attempted to take over Wakanda, so that they can take over the rest of the world.
It had been a violent battle, with shadow magic EMP unleashed by Shuri made ½ a ton of vibranium in the battle useless (including the super suits), and after a desperate speech by Infinite, Zazz was killed, but Infinite had learnt a thing or two from his cousin, and now Wakanda was selling vibranium like a candy next door to a primary school .
"You'll have the kings guard and the Dora Milaje have been alerted." Sticks said.
"The border tribe?" Infinite asked.
"They will send their message in less than an hour."
"Send word to the Jabari as well. M'Baku likes a good fight" Infinite said with a smile
"And what of this one?" Sticks asked looking at the direction of their guest.
"This one may be tired of war. But the Purple Wolf had rested long enough."
Espio the chameleon saw them approach. Ever since Tails found out that he killed his parents and grandparents, and when Miles Zemo had successfully used him to tear the Avengers apart, Espio had been in hiding in Wakanda. But Tails had blasted his metal arm that HYDRA gave him when he became a brainwashed soldier. Now when Infinite was holding a large case with a new vibranium right arm, he knew what was happening.
"Where's the fight? And what are the stakes?" He sounded as if he had just got out of bed, surrounded by a large party.
"On it's way, and ½ the universe."
