Sonic and all other various Sonic The Hedgehog characters are Copyright SEGA, Sonic Team, TMS Entertainment, and all other associations affiliated with the Sonic X anime/manga. All other characters belong to their rightful owner (me) and have no similarities with above-said characters whatsoever. Names used for other characters are random. Any people bearing the real name, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

UPDATE:

I am back everyone. Please pardon the lengthy hiatus, as things at work became absolutely nuts as we moved from a Linux based server to an IIS-based server, much to my displeasure. So, my time has been all but eaten away with managing files, changing database languages, and assisting client websites with the move.

I told you I wouldn't abandon this project, and I sincerely hope that this chapter was well worth the wait. Enjoy!

10

For hours, the X-Tornado tailed the car as it zigzagged along the winding road that snaked through the hills and plateaus. Night had begun to fail as the first signs of the coming dawn began to illuminate beyond one of the larger peaks.

"Sonic," Tails said, struggling to remain awake. "We've been behind this fool forever. Does he know we're following him and just leading us out to who knows where?"

Sonic said nothing, instead, kept his focus on the speeding car.

"Sonic! We know he's with Eggman. Why don't we just stop him and make him take us to the base?"

"He is," Sonic finally replied. "Look."

Tails sighed, expecting to see nothing as usual, and brought up a visual of the area around the car. Sure enough, nestled within a valley were outlines of several buildings, as well as a runway.

Intrigued, Tails zoomed in on the runway, noting the familiarity to Area 99's layout. As he guessed, it sported the number '53' at the end.

"It's a military base," he said with just a touch of concern. "But I don't see any lights anywhere. It looks abandoned."

Rouge, who had been keeping to herself and definitely from eyesight of the echidna perched beside her out upon the wing, heard Tails' comment about the abandoned base and decided to see what it was he was talking about.

Just as Tails had seen earlier, she, too, caught a glimpse of the white '53' at the end of the airstrip. A slight hum of interest escaped her.

Tails heard it. "Rouge?"

"You said that it looks abandoned, right?" she asked, slumping back into the co-pilot's seat. "You're right. It is. Has been for quite some time, too. That base was what you'd call the predecessor to what the humans call Area 51 now."

She looked out of the window again, toward the base, and smirked.

"It's just like Eggy to go find himself a run down base and use it as his own. That man's lost all sense of creativity anymore."

Sonic gave the former government agent a hard look.

"Rouge, what do you know about this place?" he asked.

"Only what I was told," she replied as she begun to nonchalantly look over her gloved hands. "Don't forget that those idiots didn't give me much leniency to do much of anything."

Sonic could sense she knew something and didn't want to tell, but dared not to openly ask about it.

Rouge looked right back into Sonic's eyes, reading the skepticism they contained.

"If you don't believe me, fine. It wouldn't be the first time. But during my days as an agent, I had to enter some data on fifty-three into a database that archived decommissioned base information like blueprints to the buildings, schematics to the circuitry system, boring crap like that.

"I asked one of the officers why it was decommissioned, and a senior officer immediately jumped in and let me know that that information was classified and not to be openly discussed, even in government quarters.

"So, obviously, I wasn't going to take no for an answer. I hacked my way into their archives, but found nothing but an accident report that didn't explain much other than that an experiment had gone awry, leveling the building it was being conducted in and killing several officers. That was it.

"And even that little bit of useless information got my butt in trouble. I was lucky my ass wasn't thrown in jail, or worse, had it not been for the situation we were all in with Eggman at the time."

Sonic and Tails looked at each other, undecided on whether to believe Rouge's statements or not.

"I told you that this government holds dirty little secrets, Sonic. Something happened down there and they didn't want it to go public for some reason."

Sonic began tapping his finger on his chin, pondering.

"And now this so-called energy company is housed there, asking about our chaos emeralds after Eggman goes missing for a while."

"You don't suppose it's that Craddock person, too, do you, Sonic?" Tails asked.

Sonic chuckled at how everything was becoming more and more coincidental with each passing moment.

"Wouldn't doubt it, pal."

He suddenly looked toward Rouge, apprehensive.

"I also wouldn't doubt if you're little friend is a part of this, too, Rouge."

The former agent, who had been nonchalantly filing her nails, shot up after hearing the accusation.

"Topaz? No way."

"Do you really believe that, Rouge? After all, you're the one that told us that the government has its dirty little secrets. What makes you think she's not hiding a secret from you?"

For once, Rouge could not come back with a sharp-witted reply. She knew Topaz was a friend that would never stab her in the back, and yet, the hedgehog's words sunk deep into her skull, forcing her to actually question her friend's worth and integrity.

Frustrated at the inconvenient truth, she huffed and looked back down toward the buildings, speechless.

Sonic also could not find any words that might've made things clearer. Instead, he simply pointed out a place for Tails to land as he began to wonder what it was the team had gotten themselves into.

Hidden by shadows from the failing night and the coming of dawn, the black car slithered its way toward an entrance that angled itself into an underground tunnel, its dark mouth laden with age and neglect.

Around it lay several buildings gray with age and years of enduring the blistering sun during the height of day, as well as the howling winds that often accompanied the dead of night, swirling sand to and fro as it washed over the base and through the rest of the valley Area 53 resided in.

The base was all but dead, except for the one small building with the underground entrance. A small twinkling of light perched atop the roof kept a keen eye out for anyone that might somehow stumble across what they would deem an industrial and governmental wasteland.

Below the watchful eye of the lone camera glued to the one entrance used by the shadowy man that had bought the fake emeralds off of Chris for a considerable sum, the car wound its way to a stopping point guarded by two guerrilla militants, armed with rifles.

There was a brief exchange, and one of the guards flipped a switch that resembled those used by prisoner guards when they executed criminals using electricity.

A loud pang of metal echoed through the dark corridor illuminated only by what light the guards had around the stopping point, and the two large metal bay doors slowly creaked open.

Behind the doors lay a massive laboratory filled with various types of robotic machinery and weaponry, all within a chaotic hum of activity as workers and guards moved about from station to station, resembling ants and their furious work habits in constructing their colony.

But that hum quieted as the man strode across the floor, the briefcase containing the fake emeralds chained to his wrist. Somehow, they knew what he had, but could only stare in awe as he passed by, eventually disappearing into an adjacent hallway.

Wearing no emotion whatsoever, the man made his way down the long hallway toward a lone doorway where his superiors were waiting.

No sooner did the click of the opening door alert his presence, did a portly gentleman donning a red overcoat laden with brass buttons approach him.

"Let's see them," he instructed, his glasses gleaming from the fluorescent lights above.

As instructed, the man placed the case on top of a table cluttered with various detailed schematics of robots and other assorted machines, and opened it.

"Ah, I've been searching for these elusive gems for quite some time, you know," the man in red said, plucking one of the emeralds out of its container. "Now, I've got two more thanks to Chris Thorndyke's greedy side."

He turned and faced the messenger.

"I don't understand why some people are such suckers for money when you can have power like this in your hands. Eventually, the money runs out, but this kind power lives forever."

He gently placed the emerald back into its spot, smiling all the while.

"But, that's why I'm a genius and the rest aren't. Take these and place them with the others so they can react with each other."

"Yes, sir," the man said, but before he could leave, the man sporting the pince-nez spectacles grabbed his shoulder.

"Call me doctor, boy. Doctor Eggman."

The man rolled his eyes as Eggman howled with laughter.

"Whatever, sir."

Eggman continued to laugh at his wit as the emeralds were taken into an adjacent room where a large machine hummed menacingly, the three emeralds already there pulsating with light.

Conjoined in a tangled conglomeration of wires and plastic tubing was a terrarium large enough to hold a human being, its windows tinted just enough to where the figure lying in the middle could barely be seen.

Eggman turned and looked upon the terrarium with a smile of evil confidence. It was his finest creation yet. Perhaps not as wonderful as his grandfather's masterpiece, Shadow, but right up there alongside it by his terms.

"Once I have all seven emeralds in my possession, this little miracle of mine will help me rule not only this puny little planet, but every other planet in this galaxy. Hell, this universe! Not even the mighty Metarex could do that!" he gloated, puffing his chest out.

"And Sonic," he continued. "Oh, Sonic, you're going to be in for one hell of a surprise."

"Eggman!" yelled a voice from the doorway, alarming the evil genius. "Are you dreaming out loud again?"

"No, sir," Eggman dutifully said, posing in an awkward salute as the man clad in military regalia stormed past. "Just admiring our new weapon, sir."

The man turned around, sporting a large cigar that bobbed up and down in the corner of his mouth, which was partially covered by his gray and black mustache.

"You know, Egg-O, you're a terrible liar," he continued, laughing as he plopped down onto a chair. "I could hear you all the way down the hallway. What's this bullshit about you ruling the whole universe? Are you serious?"

"Well…yeah," Eggman said in a sheepish tone. "And now I…er…I mean, we, sir, have that capability now thanks to my genius."

"Son, I've been in the military for a long time, and what you were babbling about was the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Our duty right now is for us to take this nation and make it the supreme global superpower it always should have been, and with the Onyx doing all our dirty work, that day will come soon. I like the idea of taking over the world, but let's be realistic for now."

The messenger appeared from the other room.

"Emeralds are placed in their appropriate chambers, General Craddock, but nothing's happening," he reported with a stiff salute.

"Really?" Craddock said, casting a stern and confused glance toward his partner.

"It takes time for chaos emeralds to adapt to each other's presence, General," Eggman warned with a smile, "If you try to force them, bad things tend to happen."

Craddock raised an eyebrow of both wonder and suspicion, but heeded the scientist's warning.

"Very well. We'll check on them tomorrow. Go get the girl and take her to the top. We don't need her anymore."

With a nod and another salute, the messenger disappeared.

"I'm not sure taking Thorndyke's girl was a good idea," Eggman stated, gingerly sitting on a corner of the table.

"It got us the emeralds, didn't it?" the general huffed, blowing a cloud of smoke from the other side of his mouth. "He wilted like an old flower when we notified him of his little girlfriend being taken hostage. He told us everything, and even got that Sonic fellow to even come out here."

Eggman's forehead wrinkled with displeasure. He knew things went haywire anytime that hedgehog got involved somehow, and now his superior actually wanted him out at the base.

"General, sir," Eggman said, shuffling his hands, "Are you sure it's a good idea to bring that pest out here? I mean, he has a way of ruining things before they ever take root. He could really throw a wrench into our works."

Craddock chuckled with confidence.

"You needn't worry yourself about this little Sonic problem. I know all about the little bastard and all he did to you when he was here last time. He may have slipped past your clunky robots and terrible aiming skills, but he won't get past my men. I can guarantee you that."

"He won't be alone."

"He can bring an Goddamn army, for all I care. My men are trained specialists in their fields of combat. It's just crappy that we have to waste him. He really could've been our best tool."

He looked over toward the terrarium.

"But what we've got works just as good, if you ask me."

"General, I don't think you understand how Sonic works at—"

Craddock had finally had it with Eggman's pessimistic attitude, and immediately bolted from his chair, getting right into the evil scientist's face.

"You listen to me, and you listen well! I don't want to hear another word about how Sonic is going to wreck this, and how Sonic is going to ruin that. I've heard about enough of it.

"I so much as hear a peep out of you that contains anything resembling that hedgehog, you're out! Understood?"

Eggman now knew why he hated working with anyone, let alone under an overconfident person who really thought could destroy Sonic as easily as he thought it would be.

He'd been there before. He'd had the same overconfidence, only to watch it go up in flames along with his robotic minions. Eventually, it got the best of him. Direct conflict was not going to work. It never would, which was why he secluded himself in a run-down base he had hastily constructed and began researching ways of storing power generated by the chaos emeralds into one containment unit, hoping there was a way so that he could end his feud with the blue hedgehog and his pals once and for all.

However, research only went so far before experiments based on his calculations and research would ultimately let him if he was correct or not with his guesses. He needed chaos emeralds, but he also knew that getting them would be tough as Knuckles hardly ever let his guard down.

He'd have to face him.

However, as sheer luck would have it, Rouge happened to show up at his doorstep one day, as he was agonizing on what to do about obtaining the emeralds he so desperately sought.

At first, he figured she would try and lure him into some sort of scheme, but as he looked down upon her, he noticed something on her face that he thought he'd never see: fear and uncertainty.

He kept a watchful eye on her as she explained her predicament, waiting for her to pull the trigger on her scheme. Instead, she pulled out two emeralds from a small satchel she had draped over her shoulder, instructing him that if he wanted them, he'd have to pay up.

Eggman knew it was too good to be true, and was reluctant to jump in, as she was never one to part with any jewels whatsoever, let alone chaos emeralds, which he knew were real because they glowed as she held them side by side in her hands.

He knew he'd have to drain everything he kept back after he had suckered literally everyone within Station Square with his artificial sunlight systems that eventually backfired because of Sonic, but to obtain two chaos emeralds as his own, it was worth every penny he had.

Five million dollars later, as well as a promise to never let anyone know of her whereabouts, the emeralds were his.

It wasn't long afterwards, did his world go topsy-turvy until he would awaken under Craddock's watchful eye and atrocious cigar that would leave a horrible taste in his mouth without so much as taking one puff.

The emeralds were now property of the U.S. government, as well as under the watchful eye of G.U.N., the very organization that murdered his grandfather and tried to close down ARK and eliminate Shadow.

However, things were different under Craddock. Unlike the other idiots that pretended to be smart, Louis Craddock's theories of energy storage and manipulation seemed to be on-target with most of Eggman's.

One of which, was the discovery of an onyx gemstone that could hold what seemed to be an unlimited supply of power from external sources using a magnetic field that was nothing more than a reactant to the incoming alien energy flows.

He had asked where they had dug up such a thing that could sustain such a tremendous amount of energy, but was answered only in recited phrases.

However, the only drawback was that mechanical fabrications could not withstand the transferal of energy from the onyx to the machine's auxiliary port and release mechanisms, which were nothing more than enlarged gun barrels. Every machine would explode from the sheer intensity of the transferal.

It was when Craddock turned toward mammalian subjects to test the intensity of the energy transferal, did the government step in again, requesting that such tests be stopped immediately.

Craddock obliged, but quickly returned to the tests, noting that before the subjects literally exploded from the release of energy through embedded release points in their head, the containment seemed stable.

Eggman pinpointed that perhaps the brainwaves the mammal produced actually surrounded the energy flow much like the magnetic wave within the onyx, keeping it subdued until it was released, thus, creating a microchip that could be surgically injected into the subject's head that would meld brainwaves and magnetic waves into one, creating a more robust containment and release.

However, Craddock insisted that in order for the energy to be released in a controlled manner, that a human be used, much to Eggman's interest.

Without a hint of uncertainty and remorse, Craddock moved forward with the test. The test was a success, as the human was able to control the release of the energy beams from his hands, but as predicted, the stress from the release of that energy caused his brain to shut down, killing him instantly.

Thus, the decision to make Amy Rose their next subject was made, despite her vocal disapproval.

However, word had gotten out about their tests on humans, resulting in an immediate order from the president himself that operations cease immediately, that the base be decommissioned, and that the managing general be arraigned for a court martial.

Determined to not convince the president that he was on the verge of a monumental discovery which would all but make the U.S. a military superpower capable of bringing any militant nation to its knees, Craddock continued on with the experiments that ultimately took the lives of several more men and women.

Mortified beyond belief after reports from spies placed in strategic, unnoticeable points around the base that the experiments continued, the president ordered an immediate infiltration of the base after ceasing all G.U.N. operations, instructing that all inhabitants of the base be arraigned on charges of various scales that ranged from treason to conduct unbecoming the U.S. government.

The invasion was led by the F.B.I., involving many former G.U.N. agents since the organization no longer existed, and took Craddock by total surprise.

But being a veteran of the Marines and of a world war meant never giving up, and he wasn't about to desert what he felt was his greatest achievement, despite Eggman's attempts at explaining the overwhelming odds stacked against them in terms of manpower.

With a single order, the guns began to fire, and men trained to protect their country were now falling dead protecting their leader.

And when Craddock, Eggman, and a few remaining soldiers had retreated to an inner chamber, sensing the inevitable, the general decided to pull his trump card: a series of bombs that would level the building and prevent anyone from completing his dream.

Eggman shook free from his stupor when he heard the bombs go off around him.

"Hey!" Craddock yelled inches from his face. "I asked if you understood me!"

Reluctantly, the evil scientists nodded.

The smile returned to the general's face, and he patted Eggman's shoulders.

"I figured you would. Now, we've some business to tend to."

Eggman sighed, took one last look toward the terrarium, and followed Craddock toward an inner office where a large screen awaited them, filled with a face covered with shadows.

"Pardon the interruption, sir," Craddock said, sitting in front of the screen and firmly jabbing his fingers into his chin, "But we just received our shipment from that Thorndyke kid."

"Excellent work, general," the face said, wearing zero emotion, "We of the I.A.P. (International Army of Peace) are most impressed with your handling of that dictator O'Langley using the Onyx. We've spread the word to our operatives, and we're now getting requests from all over."

Craddock smiled.

"So price won't be an issue?"

"For what the Onyx will be used for, and how accurate everything was during the plan, price will certainly not be an issue to us. We'll be contacting you again soon."

As soon as the image faded, a voice crackled over a speaker mounted on the desk Craddock sat at.

"Sir, we've picked up tow outside signals. One from the air and another through our server."

Again, Craddock smiled.

"The server is our beloved friends at the FBI trying to hack us again. Block it quickly and reset the server with a new address."

He slyly looked up at Eggman.

"As for the other, get an assortment of snipers out to meet our guests…and take the girl with you."

"Yes, sir!" the speaker crackled again.

"Ease up, Eggy. After this little annoyance is taken care of, there'll be nothing from stopping you of ruling your world, as I will rule mine."

Though troubled by his superior's overconfidence, the mere sound of the word 'ruler' couldn't help but bring a smile to his face.

Chapter 12 should be one of the better ones, as a big secret is unveiled...but I'm not telling!