AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here it is! The conclusion to On The Run. So, now you can stop dangling on that cliffhanger I left you in last time. Read and Enjoy!
"SONIC!" Sonic groaned from the sharp pain in his chest. He opened his eyes and saw Tails leaning over him.
"Tails," he whispered dazedly. "Wha- What happened?"
"Jeremy shot you," said Tails quickly. He was busy trying to apply pressure to the wounds in his chest. He had a hand on two of the wounds and Lucy was taking care of the last one. Sonic craned his neck to see the damage done to his chest.
"Oh, hey, Lucy," he said quietly. "You back with us now?"
"Yeah, sorry about the arm earlier," said Lucy. "I tried to fight it, but Dragon's strong."
"And sadistic," replied Sonic. He gasped sharply out of pain. "That hurt like hell. And I was so dizzy afterwards."
"Okay, Lucy called the medics," said Tails. He looked over the wounds in the hedgehog's chest. "They should be here soon. And these wounds don't look very deep. Lucy, I'm gonna go ahead and leave him to you."
"And do what?" asked Lucy.
"Go after Dragon," said Tails as he stood up.
"But he's already escaped," said Lucy.
"No, he just moved the fight," said Tails. "He's not gonna leave now."
"How do you know that?" asked Lucy quickly.
"Because I know how he works," explained Tails. "He'll be waiting for me."
"And if you're wrong?" asked Lucy.
"Then he'll show up again and we need to be ready when he does," said Tails with a shrug. "But I want to end this now, so that's what I'm gonna try to do."
"Okay," said Lucy. She stood up in front of him, wiping the blood on her hands on the front of her shirt. She put her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eye. "Good luck." She pulled him closer and kissed him on the cheek, wrapping her arms around him. She released him and he brought her back into a hug, careful not to get any more of Sonic's blood on her shirt.
"Hey, guys?" groaned the wounded hedgehog on the floor, breaking the silence.
"Right, sorry," said Lucy quickly, ducking out of Tails' embrace and crouching next to Sonic again, putting her hands on two of the wounds again. Then the sound of trampling feet became apparent from outside the door. The medics were coming.
"I promise I'll get you a new shirt," Tails told Lucy quietly. Then he looked down at Sonic. "Good luck, big bro." The two Mobians exchanged a fist-bump and the fox started to walk away, but stopped and turned back around. "Lucy, I need you to do a couple things for me."
"What?" she asked without looking up at the fox.
"First, I need you to call Nate and Shadow, tell them to meet me for the fight," said Tails.
"Where do I tell them to meet you?" asked Lucy.
"If they can't find a giant, psychic battle raging in the middle of downtown Mobotropolis, I'll assume they've been struck blind and deaf," said Tails shortly. Lucy nodded thoughtfully. "Second, I need you to tell Elias to run an evacuation notice for Mobotropolis. I don't want bystanders. Third, I need you to tell him not to send in military or police."
"Why not?" asked Lucy.
"Because Dragon will slaughter them for fun," explained Tails coldly.
"Why won't he do the same to you, at this point?" asked Lucy, looking up at him with a challenging glance.
"Because there are always more military stooges to kill off for sport," said Tails. "But there is only one of me to toy with." Lucy shifted her glance back down to Sonic. "Can you do that for me?"
"Sure," said Lucy quietly. "Now go. He probably won't wait for long." Tails turned back to the hole in the wall that Dragon had escaped through. He looked down at his bloody, gloved hands. He removed the gloves and dropped them to the floor. "If you ask me to take those to the cleaners, I'll kill you for Dragon." Tails smirked to himself, holding back a small chuckle.
"I'll see you later," said Tails. Then he turned back around once more. "And Lucy?" She looked up at him again questioningly. "I love you." She dropped her jaw slightly, speechless, as he turned back to the hole in the wall, twisted his tails behind him, and dashed across the room and out into the sky.
The silence in the room was broken by the sound of a small army of men rushing in. Four were medics that were rolling a gurney in for Sonic. The rest were officers armed with assault rifles that were slung over their shoulders. They came to Lucy and the medics took over helping Sonic. Lucy took one of the guards aside.
"I need you to take me to the king as fast as possible," she told him urgently.
Tails flew over the skyline of Mobotropolis, looking for signs of Dragon anywhere. He knew the dog would leave him a noticeable clue as to where their battle would take place.
He landed on the roof of a skyscraper to look around. No sooner had he touched down than an explosion rocked the building from the streets below. Tails ran over the edge and drifted down the side of the building. He saw the ground coming and landed in a crouch. He stood up quickly and looked around for the dog that he was sure caused the explosion. His attention was jerked from the chaos that had ensued due to the explosion by a loud, maniacal cackle behind him. He turned to see Dragon smiling sadistically and laughing loudly, though at what, Tails couldn't tell.
"What's so funny, Dragon?" asked Tails shortly.
"This!" he said happily. "All of this!" He gestured up at the sky. "This whole situation went so much better than I had hoped!"
"How?" asked Tails slowly, trying to figure out in what way things went in Dragon's favor.
"Okay," started Dragon eagerly. "I planned to make you watch your own girlfriend kill your best friend."
"Instead, I took my girlfriend back and your only two henchmen died trying to kill my best friend," finished Tails. Then he added, "And I still saved Sonic."
"Exactly!" said Dragon, still as eager as before. "You just explained the best part. My two henchmen are dead." Tails cocked an eye brow at him in confusion. "At whose hand?" Dragon raised his eyebrows at the fox and smiled even more widely. "Yours!"
Tails' jaw dropped slightly in surprise. Dragon was right. He had killed Jeremy and Spencer. He hadn't even thought about it since he had done it. He had just shot them dead and forgot about them.
"You didn't even care, did you?" asked Dragon happily. "You just killed them in cold blood."
"They shot Sonic, I was defending my friend," said Tails quietly. "I'm not guilty of any crime. They made their choice, they took the consequences."
"Well, sure, you're not guilty as far as the legal system is concerned," said Dragon casually. "But can you live with yourself? Those two boys were your age. Their whole lives were ahead of them-"
"They threw their lives away when they decided to join your ranks," interrupted Tails firmly.
"But they wouldn't have gone to prison forever," said Dragon. "And who knows what they could have done when they got out. Oh, yeah, that's right. No one knows, thanks to you." Tails balled his hands into fists, glaring at Dragon angrily. Then Dragon took on a slightly more serious expression, but the evilly giddy glint in his eye didn't go away. "Two, misguided kids who just ran with the wrong person and you killed them." The dog clapped his hands together and his happy expression returned as he stepped towards Tails. "So, Miles Prower." He had now adopted the voice of a game show announcer. "You just killed two people! What are you gonna do now?" He raised his eyebrows and smiled. Tails narrowed his eyes and looked the dog in the eye.
"I'm gonna add a third to the list," growled the angry fox.
"That's what I like to hear," said Dragon quietly and eagerly. Tails jumped at Dragon, who grabbed him by his shoulders and pushed him aside, sending him flying by Dragon's side and to the ground. He landed on his stomach with a pained grunt. Then the air was pierced by the sound of a high-pitched siren, signaling to the citizens that they needed to evacuate the area. "You called for an evac?" Dragon looked around at the people that were now flooding out of the buildings around them. "Smart move." Then he aimed a kick at Tails' stomach that caused the fox to seize up in pain. He was getting annoyed with all the kicks to the stomach he was getting today.
"I'm gonna kill you, Dragon," Tails said hatefully. "I'm gonna beat you down and shoot you between the eyes."
"Tough talk," remarked Dragon, bending down to speak to Tails. "Angry talk. Why are you so angry with me, Miles? Because I killed your parents?" Dragon flashed a sadistic smile. "Okay, well, what if I were to give you something to remember them by? Kind of like a memento. Would that help make peace between us?"
"I guarantee that it won't," growled Tails as he tried to sit up, only to be pushed back down to the ground by Dragon.
"Well, I'll give it a try anyway," he said casually. "See, I was there in the cemetery when you were with your uncle. I heard what he said to you. And you know what? He was right. You do look a lot like your father. But the only major difference that I can see between your face and his is-" Dragon tapped the side of his head by his left eye. "-the eyepatch." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "You don't have one." He started speaking normally again. "So, what I'm gonna do is give you the ability to see his face every time you look in the mirror." Tails' eyes widened in horror as Dragon raised his index finger up and directed it towards Tails' face.
"No!" yelled Tails in fearful protest. "You insane bastard! Get away from me!" He concentrated hard, harnessing all the energy he could and releasing it out at everything around him. He saw the shockwave raise the dust on the ground around him and he heard it rip through the air, but Dragon was unfazed by it.
"Now, Tails, you should know that you can't get rid of me that easily," said Dragon calmly as he pressed his other hand down on Tails' chest. Tails suddenly felt his entire body become trapped to the ground by an invisible force. He couldn't move at all.
Then the air was pierced by Tails' loud, pained screams as he felt the skin above his eye being split open by Dragon. He sealed his eyes shut and did his best to telekinetically shield his eye, but he didn't know if it would be good enough to protect against Dragon.
He felt the cut extend down his eyelid and down his face slowly, finally ending somewhere near the bottom of his cheek. He opened his eyes again and found that half his vision was being obstructed by a dark red substance. His face was burning and he could feel the hot blood flowing down his face to his neck.
"Oh, looks like you're eye made it out of that unharmed," said Dragon disappointedly. "I really wasn't hoping to have to make a second cut, but looks like we have to now." Tails gritted his teeth as he felt a second cut being made in the skin above his eye, a bit to the outer side of the first one. He felt it slowly start to make its way down to his eye. He braced himself for the loss of his left-side vision, trying his best to shield his eye again, but he didn't think it would be enough this time.
"-CONTROL!" A loud BANG rang through the air and a bright flash lit up the street around them. Tails felt the cutting stop right by his eye and the hold on his body disappeared. He sat up quickly and saw, with difficulty, Shadow standing down the street from Dragon and himself. He had a glowing blue emerald hanging from a chain that was around his neck. Antoine and Nate stood on either side of him, Antoine with his sword out, ready for a fight, and Nate with a gun in each hand.
Tails took the opportunity to throw Dragon across the street with a wave of his hand. Then he got up and ran over to the three allies that had just appeared. He covered his injured eye with his hand to staunch the bleeding.
"Shadow," he said as he approached the ebony hedgehog. "Thank you so much for coming when you did. A minute later and I would have lost my eye." He lifted his hand to show them the wound. Antoine averted his gaze after one glance, Nate whistled in slight amazement, and Shadow raised his eyebrows.
"Ouch," remarked Nate. Tails winced slightly.
"Yeah, so, someone help me with this," said Tails as he covered the wound up again.
"Okay, Nate, you help him with his eye, Antoine and I will keep Dragon busy," ordered Shadow shortly. The other two nodded and Nate grabbed Tails by the shoulders and led him over to the wall of a building while Antoine and Shadow approached Dragon, who was getting back up from the ground after landing from Tails' launch.
"Okay," said Nate as he examined the wound. "Alright, I think the best thing to do would be to get you to a hospital. I'm not an expert, but I think that'd be best if you don't wanna lose that eye."
"No," said Tails firmly, wincing slightly again as he did so. "I need to stay here and fight Dragon. I'm the only one who stands a chance against him."
"Alright, but all I can do right now is bandage it," said Nate quickly. He took out a knife and cut part of the long sleeve of his shirt off. He ripped it into a long band and started to wrap it around Tails' head. "I really think you need more than a bandage, though."
"Well, it'll have to do for now," Tails said through gritted teeth as Nate tied the bandage. He stood up after Nate was finished.
"You okay enough to fight?" asked Nate as he stood up next to him.
"As okay as I can be under the circumstances," said Tails. "That's gonna have to be good enough." He turned to look at the human. "Do you think you can provide long-range attack support?"
"Yeah, but do you know how hard it is to get an opening on Dragon?" asked Nate.
"Just get one," ordered Tails. "Preferably, as incapacitating, but nonlethal, as possible." Nate chuckled bitterly.
"Okay, would you like me to jump up and fetch you the moon while I'm at it?" he asked sarcastically.
"Well, I don't need the entire moon, but a couple rocks would be nice," said Tails in a deadpan tone. "I'll do my best to get you an opening, but I'd prefer him alive."
"I'll do my best to give you that, but I can't make any promises," said Nate. "Is that vision impairment going to affect your fighting?"
"Maybe a little, but I'll just have to make due," said Tails. "Now, find a vantage point and wait for an opportunity. I'm gonna go help Shadow and Antoine before Dragon tries to kill one of them."
"Good idea," said Nate shortly as he walked across the street and into the front door of a building.
Antoine yelled out French protests as he was held up in the air by Dragon. He could feel Dragon's telekinetic grasp closing in around his throat, making it difficult for him to breathe.
"What did you two think, coming against me head on?" asked Dragon maliciously. "Did you really think you'd win? That you'd somehow be able to survive the attempt?"
"Allez au diable," spat out Antoine hatefully.
"Ooh, not very nice," remarked Dragon amusedly. "How about I meet you there?" He snapped his fingers and Antoine gave an ear-piercing yelp as a spasm of pain shot through his body from somewhere in his chest. He felt a hot, melting sensation wash over his front and started to become lightheaded. Then he heard what sounded like two people colliding and he felt himself drop to the ground. When he looked up, he saw Dragon on the ground. He looked down at his chest and saw a red stain blossoming from under his military uniform. The stain went down from his left shoulder to his abdominals. He could see the stain getting more and more saturated as more blood leaked from the wound. He laid his head back as he started to feel dizzy and his vision started to blur. He was barely able to make out the fox figure that came up to his side.
"Hey! Shadow! Get Antoine taken care of, here!" Tails shouted shortly. He walked up to the unconscious coyote's side. "I'll take care of the mangy mutt." Dragon sat bolt upright and looked straight at Tails.
"Back in the game, now, are you?" asked Dragon haughtily. "What's it like fighting with half your vision gone?" He stood up and took a combative stance. Tails readied himself for a fight. Shadow came up behind Tails and grabbed onto Antoine.
"CHAOS-!" They disappeared in a bright flash. Then, no sooner than when the two Mobians disappeared, Tails and Dragon both struck at each other. Tails launched a lightning bolt at the dog while Dragon blasted out an all out shockwave, which not only redirected the lightning strike away from him, but also blew Tails off his feet and through one of the windows of the building behind him.
Tails sat up, looking out the window he had just been thrown through. He saw Dragon standing there with his arms crossed, taking an annoyingly cocky stance.
"You're fighting with one eye," stated Dragon with a chuckle. "When do you finally draw the line? When do you finally give up?"
"I don't know," said Tails shortly as he stood up, careful about the glass not the floor around him. "Never been pushed that far."
"Then I have a goal to reach, don't I?" asked Dragon smartly. Tails gave him a hateful smirk.
"You'll never push me that far," said Tails icily. Then, with a loud battle cry, he launched himself at Dragon, drawing his fist back and charging it up with enough telekinetic power to take the dog's head off, but before he could reach his target, he was stopped in midair. Not only was he stopped, he was frozen. He couldn't even move around. He looked up at Dragon, who just stared at him silently with a blank expression. Then he cracked an evil smile and waved his arm out, sending the frozen fox into a barrel roll through the air, across the room, and through another of the building's windows. Tails hit the ground with a pained grunt. He felt the broken glass dig into his back painfully. He didn't have time to worry about his back right now. He got up as quickly as he could. He looked back in through the window he had just been thrown out of and saw Dragon walking to the window, slowly and menacingly, as if to make Tails wait for him.
Tails launched a lightning bolt at Dragon. Dragon raised his hand in front of him and the lightning bolt rebounded off of an invisible shield. Tails threw everything he had at the dog. Lightning bolts, telekinetic shockwaves, slashes, punches, bullets, telepathic disruption waves; Tails tried everything, but Dragon countered it all.
Then, as Dragon stepped up to the hole where the floor-to-ceiling window that had stood where Tails had been thrown, he flicked his hand and Tails was pushed off his feet and into the wall behind him. Then, as he started to drop to his knees due to having the breath knocked out of him, he saw a black, furry hand and felt someone's fingers closing around his throat and shoving him back up against the wall. Tails gasped for air as he looked up at Dragon, who was giving him an ice cold stare.
"Okay, Tails, enough is enough," said Dragon firmly. "Look what happened to Sonic and Antoine. I know Phoenix is here somewhere and I know Shadow will come back, eventually. Do you really wanna see what I'll do to them?"
"Go to hell," whispered Tails angrily.
"Really, you, too?" asked Dragon with a cocked eyebrow. "Do you guys just get together and say 'Okay, this is what we're gonna say to the enemy today'?" Tails smiled smartly at the dog. "Okay, give up now and I won't send you home with a dead comrade and one less eye." Dragon placed the tip of his finger right next to Tails' eye threateningly.
"Not gonna happen," growled Tails defiantly. "You can kiss my-" Tails was interrupted by the sharp pain of Dragon tearing into his face with his mind. Then Tails heard a loud, zooming sound and felt the fingers around his throat release and disappear and the cutting by his eye stopped.
When he opened his un-bandaged eye, Dragon had disappeared. He looked down both sides of the alley he had been thrown into. There was no sign of the dog anywhere.
"CHAOS BLAST!" Tails heard the shout echo from a distance. The shout was followed by a loud explosion. Then he heard the loud, zipping sound again and saw a black blur speed up to him. Shadow stopped on a dime in front of him.
"Nice job," said Tails as he held the bleeding on his forehead. "It's next to impossible to get a hit on him."
"You had him distracted," said Shadow quickly.
"So, did you kill him?" asked Tails.
"No, just stunned him for a minute," said Shadow quietly. "But mostly, I think I just pissed him off. He wasn't even unconscious."
"Okay, here's the plan," started Tails. "I'll distract him while you pop in with Chaos Control and get him when he least expects it."
"Okay, but I can't keep him down long enough to do any serious damage," said Shadow shortly.
"I don't need you to," said Tails as he looked down the alley to see Dragon running full speed at the two. "I just need him distracted enough that he lets his guard down for Nate." He motioned for them to start running away. "Where is Nate, anyway?" Tails looked back to fire a bolt of lightning at Dragon to try and slow him down. Dragon blocked the lightning with the flick of his wrist.
"I don't know," said Shadow plainly. "Just stay out in the open. That'll probably be enough for him."
"Okay," sighed Tails. He looked back and aimed another bolt at Dragon. Still couldn't land a hit. "Let's hope he can make a good shot with two pistols, because he's only gonna have one chance." He turned around again to see that Dragon was now catching up. Fast. "Okay, get outta here. He wants you, right now." Shadow nodded.
"CHAOS-" He disappeared in a flash and Tails skidded to a halt, finding Dragon doing the same thing right behind him. He had just enough time to duck a telekinetic punch from the dog. He also took the opportunity to roundhouse kick Dragon's legs out from under him. He fell to the ground as Tails stood back up again. Tails raised his fists over his head and brought them down to slam Dragon, only to have them suddenly make impact on an invisible shield that was erected over him. Tails recoiled as pain shot through his hands and arms. The telekinetic energy around his hands had softened the impact, but his hands still felt it.
As Tails took a step back, shaking his hands to relieve himself of the stinging pain, Dragon jumped back to his feet. Tails threw a punch at the dog, only to have it swatted away. Dragon then aimed a kick at Tails, striking him in the stomach and causing him to fall backwards as the breath was knocked out of him.
"Some friend he is, that Shadow," said Dragon with an evil chuckle. "He just left you here, all alone with the big, angry dog."
"He knows I can handle you," shot Tails, gasping slightly as he regained his breath.
"Oh, Tails," said Dragon as he bent over the fox. He put his hand over Tails' chest and Tails felt an unseen force trap him to the ground. Then Dragon raised his hand and Tails followed it up, like Dragon was carrying him with his palm. The next words that came out of Dragon's mouth lacked his usual taunting, sadistic tone; qualities that were replaced by nothing but pure rage and anger. He lifted his hand up in the air and brought it down, throwing Tails down with it. "YOU-" (SLAM) "CAN'T-" (SLAM) "HANDLE-" (SLAM) "ME!" (SLAM). Tails started gasping for breath, since the slamming had knocked it out of him again. "Do you wanna know the only reason you're still alive?" Dragon let him go and aimed a boosted kick to Tails' stomach. "You're still of use to me."
"What use am I to you?" gasped Tails with a demanding tone. Dragon changed back to his taunting, sadistic attitude and bent down to Tails' face, chuckling evilly.
"You're fun to play with," he whispered sadistically. He stood back up and started laughing. "Do you really think I could have as much fun toying with the others? Shadow, maybe. Sonic, no way. That coyote? No. The princess, maybe her, too. But you? You're the funnest."
"Why am I so 'fun'?" asked Tails through gritted teeth.
"Because I hate you the most," said Dragon shortly. "You betrayed me and you stole Lucy from me. Now I'm gonna torture you by killing off every single person you care about. But first, I'm gonna bring you to the brink of death and keep you there so I can make you watch every single one of their deaths." He started to bend down to Tails again, placing his finger on Tails' chest. Then he stopped when Tails started laughing slightly. "What's so funny?"
"I knew that," stated Tails with a smile. "I knew that I was your favorite toy."
"Good, so, now that you're officially my favorite person to torture, we can get back to said torture," said Dragon.
"No, I knew I could distract you enough to make you vulnerable from behind," explained Tails, still smiling. Then he lifted his head up and yelled as loud as he could. "SHADOW! NOW!"
"-CONTROL!" Dragon whirled around and saw Shadow appear behind him. He grabbed the hedgehog around the torso and trapped Tails to the ground.
"Good job, Tails," said Dragon. "You've now managed to lure a prime target right to me. Now I can give you a taste of what's gonna happen for the next few days, which will also be the last days of your life." Dragon turned to smile at Tails before turning back to Shadow.
Nate watched as Dragon slammed Tails to the ground over and over, like dribbling a basketball really hard. He took aim and held the gun to Dragon, waiting for an opportune moment to shoot the dog. Right now wasn't a good time. He needed to wait for Dragon to split his attention more. He needed Shadow to come into the fight, and he hoped that he'd come soon. Nate didn't like trying to sneak around the streets because the fight kept moving.
"-CONTROL!" The singular, shouted word echoed down the empty streets and between the tall buildings that surrounded the battle as an ebony hedgehog appeared in a bright flash. Dragon turned to the hedgehog and Nate saw him seize up like something had his chest in its grasp. But that wasn't the only thing he saw. He also saw that Dragon had both of his hands full and his back turned directly turned to Nate's gun. Nate knew that this was about as good an opportunity as he was going to get and he seized it, concentrating, aiming carefully, and pulling the trigger.
Two gunshots ripped through the air, followed by two dull thuds as Dragon was hit by each bullet in the back. Tails felt the hold on him release and he took the opportunity to roundhouse kick Dragon in the stomach, causing the wounded dog to collapse to his knees in an instant.
"I also knew that you'd think I was only capable of providing one distraction for you," said Tails coolly as he bent down to the dog.
"Tails, he isn't out yet," warned Shadow. "You need to kill him."
"No," said Tails firmly, not taking his eyes off of Dragon. Shadow groaned frustratedly.
"Fine, I'll do it," he said. He drew out his gun and trained it on Dragon. "I didn't think that you'd be so keen on letting the dog who killed your parents live."
"Yeah, Miles," Dragon growled as he gritted his teeth in pain. "I killed them. I took them from you. You will never see them again-"
"I'm not keeping you alive out of mercy," said Tails plainly. "I want to see you suffer."
"Ooh, that's even better," said Dragon with an evilly happy, if somewhat pained, smile. "You're gonna torture me? I have been a good influence for you."
"I'm not gonna torture you," said Tails. "Not in the way you think, anyway."
"Then what?" asked Dragon, for once in his life confused as to what Tails was talking about.
"You love those psychic abilities of yours," explained Tails quietly. "You'd die without them. Or, at least, you'd want to. So I'm gonna do what you did to me." Tails raised his visible eyebrow as a sadistic smile appeared on his face. "I'm gonna take what's most precious to you." Dragon smiled back.
"How do you think you're gonna manage that?" asked Dragon challengingly. "I don't even know how to do that."
"I have an idea," said Tails. Shadow watched as Tails grabbed Dragon's head and held on tight. Then he was thrown off his feet as Dragon let out a series of shockwaves in attempt to throw Tails off of him. Tails didn't budge. He held on to the dog's head, waging a full on war inside Dragon's mind. Shadow looked up and saw that they were both on the ground, Dragon struggling and yelling to get out of Tails' grasp while Tails did the same trying to keep a hold.
Finally, after five minutes straight of fighting, Tails let go of the dog and stood up quickly. Dragon sat up and drew a hand back, preparing to launch the fox into the air. However, when he threw his hand out at the fox, nothing happened. Tails just stood smiling at the dog as Dragon tried again and again to attack Tails telekinetically, to no avail.
"What did you do to me?" demanded Dragon angrily.
"I went inside your mind and telepathically locked your psychic abilities," explained Tails nonchalantly. "You'll never be able to use them again."
"Really?" asked Shadow as he walked over to Dragon, taking out a pair of handcuffs and pulling him up onto his feet. "Never again?"
"Well, the lock can be broken," said Tails with a shrug. "But the only people powerful enough to break it are me and Lucy. I doubt she'll be willing to do it for him."
"Nice," said Shadow as he started to put the handcuffs on Dragon. But before he could, Dragon jerked out of Shadow's grasp, elbowing him in the stomach and taking his gun out of his hand. Tails had barely enough time to register what had happened when Dragon grabbed him as he ran and turned quickly, taking Tails in his hostage hold and holding the gun to Tails' head.
"Drop it, Dragon!" shouted a voice from somewhere behind the dog and fox. Dragon turned, turning Tails with him, and came face-to-face with Nate, who had two pistols trained on the dog.
"Phoenix, you walk away now," commanded Dragon loudly. "Or I will drop one of you." He took the gun away from Tails and aimed it at Nate.
"You drop one of us and someone will drop you," argued Nate. "And I know that, right now, you just wanna make it out of this alive. You're wounded and bleeding, Dragon. You can't keep this up forever."
"Which is why I'm giving you a time limit," said Dragon warningly. He put the gun back up to Tails' head. "You both have two minutes to clear out, or I shoot. You two don't make a move at me, or I shoot." He turned his mouth to Tails' ear. "You be a good little hostage, or I shoot."
"G.U.N. will be here in less than three minutes," said Shadow. "How do you expect to escape?"
"Oh, don't worry about me, Shadow," said Dragon in a mock-reassurance tone. "I'll be long gone by the time they get here. But you two have to leave first."
"Not happening," said Nate and Shadow in unison.
"Guys, go!" yelled Tails. "I can handle him."
"Yes, leave young Miles to me," said Dragon encouragingly. "I'll take good care of him. I'll even drop him off at Sonic's place after I'm done with him. You needn't worry about him a bit."
"And let you get away?" asked Nate. "Fat chance."
"Weigh the values here, gentlemen," said Dragon. "What's more valuable to you? The life of a young, brilliant fox with such a bright future ahead of him, or seeing me get the needle?"
"Like we can trust you to let Tails live if we let you go," said Shadow.
"Well, you can leave and find out," suggested Dragon smartly. "Or you can wait around and kill any chance he has. Minute and a half to find out."
"Get out of here!" ordered Tails. "I can take him. Leave and give me the chance to get away." Nate and Shadow didn't move a muscle. Tails watched the two of them in silence for what felt like an hour, but Tails had no idea how long it really was. Maybe a minute? He wasn't sure, but he did know that they were running out of time. His suspicions were confirmed by Dragon's announcement that broke the silence.
"Okay, ten seconds," he announced loudly. "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!-"
"Get outta here!" commanded Tails desperately.
"Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! On-" Dragon's voice trailed off as he watched Nate lower his gun. "Good. Cutting it kinda short, but good." He turned his attention to Shadow. "Now you're gonna teleport yourself and him outta here." Shadow nodded silently and walked over to Nate, grabbing his shoulder upon arrival. "Goodbye, gentleme-" He was cut off by the sound of two loud, dull, sickeningly gushy thuds that Tails knew all too well. He felt the blood spatter on the back of his head, neck, and shoulders and the grip on him loosen as Dragon fell to the ground, limp. Everyone turned to the source of the shots and saw Lucy standing a few yards away, holding her hand up in front of her in the shape of a gun, a serious, grim expression on her face.
"You stay the hell away from my boyfriend," she said quietly, threateningly.
"Lucy!" yelled Tails in excited relief. "Oh, thank God!"
"Sorry I couldn't join the fight earlier," she replied, quickly switching back to her usual attitude. "Sonic's fine, though."
"And, thanks to you, so am I," said Tails as he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. She returned the hug and pecked him lightly on the cheek. They both released and turned to look at Shadow and Nate, who were standing over Dragon's body, staring at it silently. "He dead?" Nate turned his head and nodded at the pair silently. Tails turned to Lucy and gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry. I know he was your father and..." His voice trailed off as she stared at the corpse thoughtfully.
"He was never my father," she said quietly, shaking her head slightly. "My father died the day my mom died; the day that his sanity snapped like a twig."
"Well, still," said Tails quietly. "Thank you." Their attentions were jerked back to Nate as he walked up to them. He looked at Tails.
"Okay, now that he's dead, we need to get you to the hospital before your eye dies, too," he said firmly. "I'll call and Shadow can take you two their while I stay here and take care of the military people, okay?"
"Oh, my god," said Lucy, apparently noticing the bandage around Tails' head for the first time. "What happened?"
"You don't wanna know," said Nate quickly.
"You don't even know," argued Tails.
"And I know I don't wanna know," replied Nate. "I don't think she wants to know either."
"Do I?" Lucy asked Tails.
"I'll tell you later," he answered. "But I think we should get to the hospital." Nate nodded, pulled out his phone, and started back towards Shadow.
"Does it hurt?" asked Lucy.
"A lot more now than it did before when I was distracted by the fight," said Tails quietly. "Hopefully they can still save the eye, though. I have no idea what kind of damage it sustained, but I couldn't leave to go to the hospital during the fight. He would have killed Nate and Shadow and gotten away."
"Right," said Lucy slowly. They both turned again to see Shadow walking up to them.
"Okay, let's go," he said plainly. He held out his hand and Tails and Lucy both put their hands on his. He inhaled deeply and concentrated. "CHAOS-!" Then they disappeared in a bright flash.
Tails silently stared at himself in the mirror, examining the damage that had been dealt him by his dead archenemy. The cuts around his eye had been stitched up, all leading to a bandage-patch that covered his entire eye socket. He didn't have to wear the patch, but the doctor had said that, what with all the stitching, he wouldn't be able to see very well, so he might as well cover up the somewhat mutilated looking, yet completely healthy, eye. It turned out that he was very good at keeping his eye shielded.
His train of thought was interrupted by the sight of the reflection of a blue hedgehog walking up to his shoulder, resting a hand on it reassuringly. Sonic's upper torso was wrapped in bandaging where Jeremy had shot him. It had been over a day since the fight. Sonic had been released from the hospital that evening, around five, after having his wounds stitched up and being left to rest. The same had happened with Antoine and Tails, though Tails had been released that morning rather than at the same time as Sonic and Antoine. After they had been released, everyone had gathered at the Hedgehog apartment for a small celebration.
"He was right," said Tails thoughtfully. Sonic gave him a questioning look in the mirror. "I actually look like him with the patch."
"So, it's all over," said Sonic quietly. "Feels nice, right?"
"Yep," agreed Tails with a slight nod. He opened his mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by the arrival of Sally, who walked into the room from the kitchen, carrying an armful of soda cans with her.
"Okay, I ordered a couple pizzas and I have some drinks here for everyone," she announced shortly, setting the sodas down on the coffee table. Sonic left Tails side and walked to the coffee table to retrieve a beverage, only to stop at the sight of the soda cans on the table.
"Yo, Sal, don't we have anything stronger than soda?" he asked, looking up at the squirrel with a cocked eyebrow.
"Not for you," said Sally, folding her arms across her chest. "You're on heavy pain killers and the doctor said not to drink any alcohol with them."
"What about us?" Sally flicked her attention to Nate, who was standing by Shadow on the other side of the coffee table. "We're not on pain killers."
"Sure, there are a couple beers in the fridge," replied Sally.
"Haha!" cackled Nate, mockingly pointing at Sonic, who returned the finger with an ice cold stare.
"You want one, Bunnie?" Sally turned to the half-metal rabbit who was sitting in the lounge chair by the door; Antoine sitting next to her, smiling happily despite the pain caused him by the stitches in his chest.
"Naw, thanks, Sally girl, I'll just get mahself a can o' soda," replied Bunnie happily.
"Oh, let me, ma chérie," offered Antoine politely, stopping her from getting up by laying his hand on her shoulder. She sat back down by the coyote and he reached a hand out, concentrating on the cans that sat on the table. As he did so, two slowly rose up into the air, levitating above the table. After a few seconds of hovering shakily in midair, they both slowly started to make their way towards the couple in the chair. Bunnie reached out and caught them both, handing one to Antoine with a chuckle.
"Good job, Sugah-'Twan," she said, pecking him on the cheek.
"Thank you," he said.
Shadow and Nate returned, each holding a bottle of beer in their hands. Tails was sitting on the couch next to Sonic, Lucy sitting in his lap, all three with a can of soda in their hands. Sally joined Sonic on the couch as Tails raised his can above his head, a wide smile on his face.
"To the death of Dragon," he announced loudly. "Never again will he plague the innocent with his murder and bloodlust."
"Good riddance to the sadistic bastard," added Sonic in agreement, raising his own can above his head. Everyone else raised their drinks and murmured statements of agreement.
A few minutes later, the pizzas arrived and everyone took a slice or two for themselves. For the next few hours, everyone just hung out. They ate pizza, talked with each other, and watched the HV together. Then, at around midnight, Tails announced that he was going to retire for the night and headed for his room. Lucy followed him after a few minutes, walking in to find him sitting on the side of his bed, looking at the picture his mother had left for him before she died. Lucy sat down beside him and put her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.
"So, you never told me about that picture," she said, breaking the somewhat awkward silence that had settled in the room. Tails looked up at her and a smile flashed across his face for a second. Then he looked back at the picture as he put it back on the nightstand. He sighed lightly and looked back up at Lucy.
"It was my sixteenth birthday party," he said quietly. "My dad took me out for the day and we went flying in my plane. While we were gone, my mom put together the surprise party she had been planning. When we came back, everyone was there waiting." He chuckled lightly as he looked down at his shoes. "Scared the crap outta me." He looked back up at Lucy and smiled again. "Definitely one of the best days of my life."
"You're parents sound like they were cool," said Lucy quietly. "I wish I had gotten the chance to get to know them more." Tails' smile disappeared and he sighed heavily, looking back down at his shoes. "You want me to leave you alone to sleep?" Tails was silent for a few moments before he responded.
"No, I don't," he replied quietly. "I would really like it if you stayed."
"Then stay I shall," she said quietly. "Oh, yeah, one more thing. About what you said to me in the factory before you left." She turned his head towards her and smiled softly. "I love you, too." Then she pressed her lips to his and hugged him tightly. He returned the embrace and the kiss happily. They continued to kiss for a few minutes, only to be stopped when Tails decided to lay back on the bed, disengaging his lips from hers and looking up at her.
"Hold on," he said softly. "We're forgetting something." He turned his head away and Lucy followed his gaze. He watched the door intently for a moment, reaching his hand out at it. Then he snapped his fingers and the lock on the doorknob turned in the blink of an eye, locking the two foxes away from the outside world as they resumed their romantic embrace.
THE END
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so was that a good ending? I thought so. Anyway, I'm kinda sad it's over. I liked writing this story. So, I wanna thank all my readers for, well, reading the story. I'd also like to thank the people who bothered to review, like Ghostkid33, Metalshadow1909, jakeroo123, and all the other reviewers who thought that my story was worthy of public review, so, thanks! So, same drill as always, review, favorite, tell friends, and never accept fruit from strange clowns. Thanks again and seeya!