OMFG! Locke's going to pay for that shit. No one kills my favorite character and gets away with it. At least my second favorite character is still alive. Silver, be safe.
Knuckles' funeral…
Today is a day of mourning. There isn't a cloud in the sky. Knuckles is dead. The only thing that's been going through Sonic's head since he found out is vengeance. He looked over at Rouge and Tristan. They both were crying uncontrollably as Knuckles was carried out of the church. Sonic, Shadow, and Silver were all pallbearers at Knuckles' funeral. They carried him down the steps and loaded his coffin into the hearse. Amy stood in her black suit on the right side of the hearse as Knuckles was loaded into it. She held onto Rouge's hand. As the attendants all exited the church, not a word was uttered. Only a few sniffles and light cries could be heard. Everyone was dressed in black. Most of Knuckles' crew had showed up for his service. Knuckles' mother had exited the church with the minister over her shoulder. She had a handkerchief in her hand that she had been wiping the tears away with. Sonic went over to his mother.
"Miss Echidna, I don't know what to say. I'm real sorry," said Sonic.
"I thought that everything was going to be okay when Locke came back into his life," said Knuckles' mother.
"Locke? What was he doing in Knuckles' life?" asked Sonic.
"Locke's his father," said Knuckles' mother. "You'd think he'd care enough to show up for his own son's…" Her words trailed off. She was trying to fight back the tears with little avail. "Why weren't you there for my boy, Sonic? He would have been there for you." She stormed off with the tears now flowing freely. She and Rouge stood next to the hearse with roses in their hands.
Sonic went to sit on the church steps. He put his head down. The grief was getting to him. Soon, Shadow and Silver came to join him on the steps.
"Are you alright, Sonic?" asked Silver.
"No," replied Sonic. A tear fell from his face onto the ground in front of him. "What's the word?"
"Knuckles' soldiers are fighting for power. They're not going to be any good to us when we go up against Benny," said Shadow. "Without Knuckles, my people won't budge. Hell, I can't even get the motherfuckers to return my calls, let alone combat."
"Everybody knows that Benny killed Knuckles. Maybe he didn't pull the trigger, but now he feels that we don't stand a chance now; so he didn't want to be around when Knuckles' funeral was going on," said Silver.
"Is there any talk about who did pull the trigger?" asked Sonic.
"No, but Tails did say that when they found him, there was L-O written on the wall in blood, but that could mean anything. We got to figure out what the fuck we're going to do," said Shadow.
"That ain't got nothing to do with me," said Sonic.
"Come on, Sonic. Are you just going to leave us hanging?" asked Silver.
Sonic thought for a minute.
"Did you say L-O?" asked Sonic.
"Yeah, but that could mean anything," said Shadow.
Sonic got to thinking again. He looked over at Knuckles' mother and Rouge.
"Knuckles!!" called out Rouge. Tristan started crying along with his mother and grandmother.
Soon, Sonic connected the dots and realized something.
"Oh my God," whispered Sonic.
"What?" asked Shadow.
"I know who did it," said Sonic.
"Who?" asked Shadow quickly.
"I'll tell you on the way. Come on. Let's go," said Sonic.
Silver and Shadow went over to Shadow's car. Sonic went over to Amy, who was trying to be there for Rouge.
"Amy, I got to go. I got something that I got to take care of," said Sonic.
Amy caressed his cheek. "You're going to go after him. Aren't you?" asked Amy.
"Look, I don't want you to go back to the house. I want you to go to your father's house," said Sonic.
"Why?"
"Because nobody's going to find you in Central City. Now, go," said Sonic.
"Okay," said Amy. She really didn't want to go, but she remembered what she had promised him. She looked over and saw Vector standing across the street smiling at them. Sonic followed her gaze and saw the eccentric crocodile.
"Is he here for you?" asked Sonic, angrily.
"No, Sonic. Why would you even think that?" she asked.
"Stop the games, Amy. I know that it was you. You broke my heart," said Sonic.
"Sonic, he said he wanted to help you," said Amy.
"You believed him?"
"Yes, I believed him because I wanted you out of the game so bad; so I thought I was helping."
"That's how you help? You help him put a bug in Knuckles' truck?" asked Sonic.
"What? No, I wouldn't help him do that. I wouldn't help him do something like that," said Amy.
"There's no sense in lying now," said Sonic.
"I'm not lying, Sonic. I didn't do that. I told them when Manic's barbershop got broken into. That's it," said Amy.
"What?"
"Vector and Espio came up to me a while ago and asked me if there was anything that I needed to tell them. They said to give them a call if I wanted to tell them something. I didn't tell you because I know how you feel about the police, but for some reason I thought that they could help me; so when Manic's barbershop got broken into, I gave Vector and Espio a call. I thought that they was going to help you, but all they did was harass you that day. I then thought that all they did was use me to get to you. Sonic, I swear that was all I told them. I didn't say anything else," said Amy.
"Alright. Alright. I believe you," said Sonic.
Amy came closer to him and put her head on his chest. He caressed the back of her head. "I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't set Knuckles up. I swear it."
Sonic could tell that Amy was just as bothered by this whole thing as he was. That was why he wouldn't let her go home. He had to finish some business and knew that Amy wouldn't be safe until he was done.
"I got to go now. Remember: No questions asked," said Sonic before Amy could object. "I'll see you later."
Sonic left his wife and ran over to Shadow's car. He got into the passenger's seat. Then, Shadow drove off.
"Alright. So who did it, Sonic?" asked Silver.
"Locke," he replied.
"Locke? Why the fuck would Locke want to kill Knuckles?" asked Shadow.
"Benny sent him. He knew that Locke could get close to him," said Sonic.
"How the hell did he know that?" asked Silver.
"Locke was Knuckles' father," said Sonic.
"Damn!" said Silver.
"That's what that L-O stands for," said Shadow. "Son of a bitch!"
"Yep. Knuckles was trying to let us know who murdered him," said Sonic.
Shadow stopped his Parisienne at a stop sign. He, Sonic, and Shadow were all getting their pistols ready. They didn't see a car pull up right behind them. A falcon got out of the car. He had a 12 gauge shotgun in his hand. He shot at Shadow's car, breaking the back window. Silver ducked. The shell barely missed him. There was another bird, a peacock, sitting in the driver's seat. He had a shotgun as well. He put a hole in Shadow's trunk. After that shot, Shadow tucked and rolled from his seat in the car and began to fire back with his pistol. Two more birds with pistols got out of the back door and began shooting at them. Silver stuck his gun through the broken glass of the back window and shot off some rounds. Sonic then got out on the passenger's side and shot at the assailants. Then, Silver jumped out of the back seat. They stood next to each other, firing their guns with pinpoint accuracy. The falcon was the first one to fall. He fell on the driver's door. Then, the peacock with the shotgun was killed. Silver put two bullet wounds in his chest, which caused him to drop. All three of them shot the robin who was foolish enough to face them head on. They each shot him. The power behind the bullets knocked him off his feet and onto the hood of the car. A golden eagle tried to sneak around the side of the car with a pistol. Shadow was happy to make him drop on the sidewalk. One bird was left. Sonic took the honors of sending him to hell with a bullet between the eyes. He fell down behind the car he drove in. There was one guy still alive on the ground. Sonic walked up to him and shot him in the chest, killing him instantly. Then, Sonic kicked the dead corpse a few times, letting out his fury over losing Knuckles.
One string is pulled as the quilt begins to unravel
And Knuckles is dead, six feet under, covered by dirt and gravel
Now, your travels have led you astray
As you stand at the pitchfork of life, deciding which way
The four, slain down to three
For more, not knowing left from right as tear-filled eyes become query.
Now see your determination,
It over exceeded your high education
And instead you became a street scholar
You bet, broke bread, as you knew the other 3 would follow
But now you're mind, your aura: melancholy
Your reign over Station Square begins
Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, and Silver
After killing all of the assailants, Sonic, Shadow, and Silver got into the car and drove off, leaving broken glass and blood behind them.
Shadow pulled into an alley. Sirens could be heard in the distance. There wasn't any doubt that someone had just uncovered the massacre. They all looked back. One police car rode past them, but it didn't look like it saw them. Once they felt safe, they turned back around.
"I'm going to ask y'all one fucking question, and I need to know the straight-up truth," said Sonic. "Did either one of you let that cop, Vector, put a bug in Knuckles' car the night we left Benny's safehouse?"
"Hell no," said Silver.
"Fuck no," said Shadow.
"He came to see me a couple of days after that, and he had a…" said Sonic.
"A tape," finished Shadow. "It had us on it talking about Benny. Espio came at me with that same bullshit."
"They came at me with that same thing," said Silver.
"They must have gone to Knuckles', too. They came to all of us, hoping that one of us would dime the other three out," said Sonic.
"It almost worked," said Silver.
"I need to hear this from y'all right from your mouths so that we're real clear, and we don't have any problems," said Sonic.
"I didn't have anything to do with no bugs," said Silver.
They both turned to Shadow.
"I wouldn't snitch on my friends, Sonic," said Shadow.
Sonic nodded his approval. Then, there was an awkward silence between them.
"I can't believe he's dead," said Sonic, ending the silent moment "I can't believe they killed my friend."
"All we have is each other now, Sonic," said Shadow. "We need you back with us."
"This shit out here is real. This ain't no motherfucking joke," said Silver.
"I'm with you. Don't worry about that," said Sonic. "Let's get this over with."
Locke was in bed with one of his hos.
"Mirabelle, I still can't calm down," said Locke, shakily smoking a cigarette.
"Well, if you'd tell me, maybe I could help you," said Mirabelle. She was a sexy brunette hedgehog.
"No," said Locke.
Mirabelle was about to get out of the bed, but Locke grabbed her arm.
"Where are you going?" asked Locke.
"I'm going to make the money. Where do you think I'm going?" asked Mirabelle.
"Get me a beer before you leave," said Locke.
Mirabelle got up out of the bed and walked into the kitchen. She closed the door behind her. Locke got out of the bed. He was putting his pants back on when the phone rang.
"What's up?" asked Locke.
"Lay low for a little while," said Benny from the other end of the phone.
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" asked Locke.
"We missed," said Benny.
"Motherfucker, I told you," said Locke.
"I'll get him. Chill," said Benny. Then, Benny hung up the phone. The dial tone rang on Locke's end.
"Shit! Mirabelle, what's the fuck is taking you so long?" yelled Locke as he put on his shirt.
Back in the kitchen, Mirabelle had just found the last beer in the back of the refrigerator. When she was about to head back to Locke, Silver grabbed her. He covered her mouth with one hand and gestured for her to remain quiet with the other one.
Sonic and Shadow were creeping through the house at a slow pace, careful not to make any noise. They had checked every room in the house but the master bedroom. Sonic raised his finger to his lips.
"Mirabelle!" called Locke one more time.
Outside the door, Sonic and Shadow had raised their guns up at the door. Inside, Locke suspected something was wrong when Mirabelle didn't answer the second time. He grabbed his gun off the table, cocked it, and shot at the door. After six shots, his gun was empty. Sonic and Shadow then entered the room and spreaded shots around. Locke ducked beside the bed to avoid the shots. When Sonic and Shadow stopped shooting, he emerged again from the side of the bed with a gold Lugar. Before he could shoot, Silver came in to help his friends. He shot Locke in the shoulder, making him drop the gun and fall onto the floor. Sonic walked over and put his foot to Locke's throat. Then, he pointed his gun at Locke. Silver and Shadow came beside him and joined him.
"Motherfucker, you had to know that I was coming for your ass," said Sonic.
"I knew. I knew," said Locke.
"Answer one question before you die. How can you kill your own flesh? Your own blood?" asked Sonic.
Mirabelle had come and stood in the door.
"Sonic, please don't," she said.
"Answer me, motherfucker, or you die slow," said Sonic.
"Sonic, don't!!" cried out Mirabelle.
Locke knew that his end had cone. He was willing to accept it.
"He didn't look nothing like me," said Locke.
Sonic, Shadow, and Silver unloaded their full clips into his body. Together, they shot him fourteen times. Mirabelle cried in terror as she watched him die. Sonic looked in a drawer and found a tape recorder. He put it in his pocket. Then, he, Silver, and Shadow all left out of the room. They walked right past Mirabelle without even looking her way. Broken, she crawled over to Locke. His eyes were still open, but there was no life in them. Mirabelle closed his eyes for him. She was now without a pimp.
(These are the days of our lives that we're living. We're living the days of our deadliest sins.)
Sonic, Shadow, and Silver all gathered around a payphone booth. Sonic went inside while Shadow and Silver stood outside. Shadow had grabbed himself a bag of chips from a convenience store after taking care of Locke. He ate them as Sonic made a phone call.
(Ring)
"Yeah?" said the voice on the other end.
"This is Sonic. Are you looking for me?" asked Sonic.
"I don't believe it. She came through," said the voice. It was Jack.
"Say what you got to say," said Sonic.
"I don't do business over the phone," said Jack.
"If you do business with us, you do business over the phone," said Sonic.
"Yeah? Well, how does fifteen keys at sixteen grand a key sound?" asked Jack.
"That's a lot of weight to traffic all the way across Station Square," said Sonic.
"Well, I'm looking for a new market, and I heard that you could take the weight," said Jack.
"I can only do thirteen grand," said Sonic.
"I can only do fifteen," said Jack.
"We got a deal at fourteen," said Sonic.
"Make it fourteen five then," said Jack.
"I test at random," said Sonic.
"I thought you might try something like that," said Jack.
"Where?" asked Sonic.
"Warehouse 59 on the pier in two hours. After a minute past that, we're ghosts," said Jack.
"We?"
"Yeah. There's four of us," said Jack.
"Alright. I'm three deep," said Sonic.
"Don't keep me waiting," said Jack.
(Click)
Sonic hung up the phone and stepped out of the phone booth.
"They say that they're at a warehouse by the pier. I'm going to get a room at the hotel across the street so that we can keep an eye on them," said Sonic. "I'm not trying to get set up here."
"I agree with you on that," said Silver. "That should be enough for us to get set up somewhere else. I hear that we can relocate real well in Metal City."
"I'm not leaving Station Square," said Sonic.
"I understand what you're feeling, but without Knuckles, we ain't got a choice. We can't win against Benny," said Shadow.
"I'll take my chances," said Sonic.
"Are you still going to go with us to the pier?" asked Shadow.
Sonic's P.O.V
Something in the pit told me not to go, and I really meant to say no. I'm going home, but what came out was: "Yeah! I'll go."
"Cool. I'll meet you there. I got to go handle something," said Shadow.
"Don't be bullshitting us," said Silver.
"I'm coming, Silver. Don't worry," said Shadow.
"Alright," I said.
With that said, Silver and I headed towards the pier, and Shadow headed wherever he had to go. Friends. Sometimes I think that word is going to kill me.
Shadow's place half an hour later…
Normal P.O.V.
Shadow was leaving his house with Blaze. They had a few bags packed up to take with them. As Shadow and Blaze headed down the steps, they saw the last two faces they needed to see.
"Aww! Isn't that sweet," mocked Vector. He and Espio were leaning on their detective car. When Shadow and Blaze were down the steps, they got off their car and walked over to them. "Are you going on a little trip?"
"Man, what the fuck do you want?" asked Shadow.
Vector punched Shadow in the stomach, which caused him to kneel over. Then, Vector lifted him up and held him by his collar on his trench coat.
"Where's Sonic?" asked Vector.
"I don't really know," said Shadow.
"Why is it that I think you're lying?" asked Vector.
"Fuck you, Vector," said Shadow.
Vector let go of Shadow and Espio grabbed him.
"Fuck you! You're done. You're history," said Espio. "We know that you're still doing business on Emerald Avenue. Your buddy, Knuckles, got killed behind that shit. Did you know that?" Espio was loving every moment of this. "You brought down your whole fucking crew with that shit, but we can help you get away without a trace."
Espio let go of Shadow and Vector grabbed him again.
"We know that you have an outside contact with that new heavy hitter in town and that you're doing a little bit of business down at the pier today. What's his name? Jack? Am I right?" asked Vector.
Shadow remained silent. This earned a smile from Vector.
"I'm right, aren't I?" he said.
"I'm listening, motherfucker," said Shadow.
Blaze was quietly listening in on the whole thing.
"Whatever you make from that deal is yours. You just make sure that Sonic is there when it all goes down and at least one of those Cuban motherfuckers winds up dead so that we can pin it on Sonic. You call us when it happens and hold him there until we arrive. You do that and you can walk away with whatever you're holding a free hedgehog," said Vector.
"Why do you want Sonic so bad?" asked Shadow.
"Knuckles' the muscle and Sonic's the brains. Without him, you wouldn't have made it past sixteen without a rap sheet as long as your arm," said Espio. "He's going down, and we're the ones bringing him down. You and Silver are just excess baggage. We don't give a shit about you. Knuckles is already dead. We want Sonic. Besides, it was Sonic who planted that bug in Knuckles' car that night," said Espio.
"Man, that's bullshit," said Shadow.
"Why? Because he said so? What the fuck else do you think he's going to say? It was him," said Vector. "He knew that you couldn't win a war against Benny. He's just doing what he always does, covering his ass."
"Well, maybe I'll take my chances of getting out of here without you," said Shadow.
"Why? So you can split the take with Sonic and Silver? There ain't going to be much left for your little honeymoon over here with Miss Bim from Bo," said Vector. "Can you live with that?"
"You see, our way allows you to take all the money and the drugs for that matter. I don't care. You slip out of town, nice and easy, we get Sonic, and we leave Silver to deal with Benny. Everyone goes away happy," said Espio.
"We're going to need the money, Shadow," said Blaze.
This earned a smirk from Vector.
"What's it going to be, Shadow?" he asked.
"You'll know when I call," said Shadow. "IF I call."
"That's not good enough. We need to know now," said Espio.
"Look, we do it my way or we don't do it at all," said Shadow.
"Alright," said Vector.
Shadow turned to walk off. Blaze tried to follow him, but Espio grabbed her arm.
"Hold on, there. I'll just hang onto this as an incentive for you to do the right thing," said Espio. "Come here, baby."
Shadow walked over to Blaze and gave her a kiss. "It'll be alright," Shadow reassured her.
Shadow walked off. He had a lot to consider. Espio nudged Blaze over to the detective car and placed her on the back seat.
"Do the right thing, Shadow!" yelled Vector over to Shadow.
Shadow looked back one last time at them before he was finally out of sight.
What will Shadow do? Wait until my next update to see. The more reviews I get, the faster the update.
ICY KNUCKLES
