Soon, Knuckles and the others emerged from their hiding places and looked at each other with confusion. They didn't know exactly what had happened, all they'd seen were the two enemy soldiers shooting at something and then running off. Knuckles scanned the group, making sure everyone who was was meant to be there was there. Sonic, Manic, Silver, Shadow...Julie-Su! She was gone! That's why the two enemy soldiers had started shooting and run off! She must have jumped out when they were getting close to him, saving his life once again.
"Shadow, Silver, Manic, you go to the control deck, Sonic, you're with me." Knuckles ordered. Everyone did as they were told and split up. Soon, Knuckles spotted a small puddle of blood on the floor, as well as some drag marks too. He quietly followed the drag marks and the small splats of blood until he found a door in which the drag marks went through.
"Knuckles, there's two of us and probably loads of them, how are we go..." Sonic started, but stopped instantly when he heard the sound of electricity cracking, like it was hitting something. A grunt of pain came from inside the room, shortly followed by another crack of electricity.
"Come on." Knuckles ordered. Sonic nodded and kicked the door open, his gun raised and ready to shoot. He could see Julie-Su in the middle of the room, red burn marks where she'd been hit with an electric rod. A soldier ran towards Sonic, but, he shot them in the head before they could even think to attack. All the others frozen, none of them quite believing what they were seeing.
"Julie-Su? You alright?" Knuckles asked. She looked up at him and nodded.
"Come on, Shadow, Manic and Silver will have set the codes by now. We've got to get out of here." Sonic ordered. Julie-Su quickly got up while Knuckles and Sonic kept their guns on the enemy soldiers. Soon, the three of them were out of the room and were running back to the hatch from which they'd entered. Sirens started blaring, the missiles were heading their way.
Yuri smiled when he watched the President's daughter being forced into the room, he smiled as he saw the President's expression turn from confident to completely helpless.
"Mina!" President Mongoose gasped and tried getting out of his restraints, but, his attempts failed.
"Now, are you going to give me the codes or am I going to have to kill her?" Yuri snarled.
"Sir! Sorry to interrupt, but, you might want to take a look at this." A soldier stated and brought Yuri's attention to the television screen. On it, was footage of several submarines exploding and two boats trying to make their way through the explosions without being hit. On one boat, he could see the Guardian. A scowl crept across Yuri's face when he remembered the Echidna who shot him.
"Go and kill them, but bring that one to me alive." Yuri ordered, pointing to Knuckles. The soldier nodded and turned around, headed towards the door, but stopped when Yuri called to him.
"On second thoughts, bring me the female as well. I think our little Guardian has some feelings for her." Yuri chuckled, noticing Knuckles cleaning what looked like wounds on her stomach.
Meanwhile...
"SONIC! WOULD YOU KEEP THIS FUCKING BOAT STEADY?!" Knuckles snapped.
"I'm sorry your fucking highness! Would you like me to turn the water to silk and the explosions to fucking cool breezes?!" Sonic snapped back. Knuckles rolled his eyes and continued applying the sanitiser to Julie-Su's burns. Even though they were just burns, the skin needed cleaning otherwise it could get infected. She winced as she felt the sting penetrate her stomach and clenched her teeth.
"Sorry." Knuckles apologised and applied the last application of sanitiser. She whimpered again as the sting made it's way around her body. Suddenly, a bullet hit the boat in the side.
"Shit! Knux, we're hit!" Sonic yelled. Knuckles pulled out his gun and looked around, he could see a helicopter behind them, and it was approaching them fast. He started firing at it, but, his shots missed. Suddenly, the helicopter exploded. Knuckles turned to see Julie-Su holding a small pistol.
"How on Mobius did you do that?!" Knuckles gasped.
"Don't aim for the pilot, aim for the fuel tank." Julie-Su smiled.
"Knux! I can see the chopper!" Sonic stated. Just ahead of them, Silver, Manic and Shadow had driven their boat into a large helicopter and were waiting for them to get in. Sonic just managed to drive the boat into the chopper before it ran out of petrol. He sighed, thankful the boat hadn't sunk. The last thing he wanted was to get wet, or drown. Soon, the chopper was in the air and heading back to base, much to Sonic's relief. The further away he was from the water the better. When the chopper landed, Sonic was the first out and couldn't be more pleased to have his feet back on solid ground. He saw Sally and made his way over to her, while Manic, Silver and Shadow went to the large tent where soldiers would go to play various card games. Knuckles gently helped Julie-Su off the chopper, being mindful of her burns and led her to the medical tent. Blaze smiled when she saw them both and tended to Julie-Su's burns, though she didn't really have to do much. Knuckles had already done an excellent job in cleaning the wounds. Once Blaze had covered up the burns with bandages to prevent infection, Julie-Su left the tent and sat at the border of the camp. She pulled her knees to her chest and stared into the distance, wondering what her former allies were doing.
Scourge sighed as he sat on the boarders of his camp. His mind was filled with questions, but, the one that occurred the most was why would his best friend betray them? She was so close to becoming commander of their unit, she could have had everything, yet, she went and betrayed them and everything they had fought so hard for. What had gotten into her? He couldn't think of any reason why anyone would want to betray Dimitri. He was feared by all, and everyone knew if you betrayed him you'd live to regret it. What could have willed her to take the step others hadn't?
"Scourge? Are you alright?" A voice asked. Scourge looked behind him to see Drago Wolf, the only other person he could really call a friend besides Julie-Su. Scourge sighed sadly.
"Why do you think she did it, Drago? What's so bad about our fight that caused her to back out?" Scourge asked. Drago sat down besides him and looked in the same direction as Scourge.
"She probably betrayed us because she was a coward and didn't have the guts to fight for what we believed in." Drago shrugged. Scourge shot the wolf a shocked gaze. Out of all the people he knew, Julie-Su had the most bravery of them all, so, she was definitely not a coward.
"We both know she's braver than anyone in this whole unit." Scourge stated.
"Then, the only other reason I can think of is love." Drago shrugged. Scourge turned to the wolf again, the same expression of shock sketched across his face, but, also with a hint of confusion.
"What are you talking about?" Scourge asked Drago, his simply raised his eyebrows.
"You know how all the little fairy tales go. Guy meets girl in a war or something like that, they fall in love, one of them changes sides then they both live happily ever after. More or less." Drago shrugged. Scourge turned away from his friend and back to the place where his eyes had originally been looking. He'd known Julie-Su for the longest, except her brother and sister, and he knew she wasn't one looking for love, unless...unless love was the one that struck her.
Knuckles smiled as he watched Shadow beat Sonic at a game of poker, and how the blue hedgehog slumped sulkily in defeat. A small laugh escaped from his lips, even in times of trouble, even in the middle of a war, people could still gather around and have a good time, even if it was only for a minute or two. He then noticed there was one person missing; Julie-Su. He looked around the whole tent, but, he couldn't see her. So, while no one was watching, he stepped out of the tent and went in search of her. He soon found Julie-Su sitting on the boarder of the camp, looking out into the distance. Her knees were pulled to her chest, her posture suggested she was sad.
"It's a bit cold for star gazing isn't it?" Knuckles asked as he reached her side.
"It's not the stars I'm gazing at." She sighed, not looking at him as he sat down beside her.
"You homesick?" Knuckles asked, knowing this was most likely the case.
"No, just worried about what my family and friends think of me now." Julie-Su shrugged.
"Well, it doesn't matter what they think. The only thing that matters is what you think, it's your life after all, so you can do what you want with it. No one else has the right to control you." Knuckles stated. She turned to look at him, their eyes locked for a second, then they turned away.
"I never thanked you for saving my life, again." She smiled, still looking out into the distance.
"Hey, we look out for each other over here. You're one of us now." Knuckles smiled back.
"Still, I'm grateful. Thank you." She smiled and kissed him on the cheek, causing him to turn brighter than his own fur. She chuckled slightly, then turned her attention back to the horizon.
