In Due Season
Chapter XIV
Some are Saved When Nerves are Steeled
Espio hadn't known what he expected when he hitched a ride on Omega back to G.U.N.'s base 21 alpha-quadrant—in stealth mode, of course—but it certainly wasn't what happened. Once the former Eggman robot had landed at one of the docking stations of the facility, quite a few guards rushed out from several angles. Espio had wisely decided to slink off the robot just as one of the soldiers launched a strange device at Omega's feet. The robot had been engulfed with an eerie blue, green aura as his circuitry began shorting out. Before the bot had a chance to voice any protest, he was reduced to an electrified statue, frozen in the center of the room. Espio had watched the guards take Omega away on a cart, but it appeared they hadn't noticed the chameleon at all. With that, the ninja had decided to take his leave and was now exploring the base for the reason they took the robot down.
The first thing he noted was how far this place was from civilization. Isolation was normally a key feature for military bases, but this seemed excessive. The last town he could remember passing before reaching this place was at least a good fifty miles away. So, that most likely meant it was a top secret base, not just another run of the mill headquarters. The fact it was hidden in a forest seemed to solidify that fact. This lead to the second thing on Espio's mind—the reason he came in the first place—why did they want Rouge and Omega here? Obviously, from the earlier show of aggression, it wasn't to brief them on a mission. Like Shadow, Espio too had grown weary of G.U.N. In his line of work, he would often cross paths with the organization and he didn't like the way they handled investigations or anything else, for that matter.
The chameleon turned another corner, holding his concentration on blending in with the background. Three guards were standing outside what looked to be a server room; tall computer banks lining the walls. If he could somehow access the information, maybe he could find out what's going on and relay it back to the others. He reached for his shurikens but stopped when he heard more voices coming up the hall.
"Well, Lieutenant Crevan, you're not what I expected, but, you are exactly what we needed to get the upper hand. I hope your previous alliances won't cloud your judgment," a heavy voice echoed off the walls down the corridor. Espio smiled as he noticed the soldiers trying to stand a little straighter at the sound. It must be a commanding officer coming up the hall; possibly a chance to learn what was going on too. However, the next voice the chameleon heard nearly cost him the ability to stand at all.
"It won't, General Davis. You already have the others as a sign of my integrity. And Sonic is already on your doorstep, just as promised."
It took everything Espio had to stay camouflaged when the pair rounded the corner. He couldn't believe his eyes . . . how could he? It was impossible. It had to be impossible because any other explanation would be unthinkable.
Despite his training and years of experience, he couldn't prevent a short, sharp intake of breath; the shock of what he was seeing. He certainly had to warn the others and swiftly.
He quickly backtracked out of the room and ran down to the docking station. He needed to find somewhere private so he could get in contact with Vector, Knuckles . . . anybody, but, no sooner had he reached for his phone, bright lights flooded the hanger. Blinded and disoriented by the sudden glare, Espio lost concentration and his natural ability of concealment. The purple lizard tried to move towards the exit but was cut off by several armed soldiers. The ninja threw several shurikens out as a distraction while he ran in the opposite direction. He quickly accessed the first contact in his phone and dialed.
"He's getting away! Hurry up!" he could hear one of the guards shout. The chameleon leaped up onto one of the walls and crawled towards the ceiling. He watched as the men raced by below, unaware of their quarries climbing ability.
'Come on, come on. Pick up,' he thought as the phone rang and rang. He couldn't afford delay. Snapping the phone back down from the side of his head, he began flying his nimble fingers over the keypad. A text would have to do.
We have a traitor. It's . . .
"Ahh!" Espio cried out as sharp pain arched through his body. It appeared the ninja suffered the same electoral fate as Omega had as two Taser barbs embedded into his back. He fell from the ceiling to the ground but his phone fell into the open hand of his assailant.
"I knew you'd pop up somewhere. Sorry, Espio, but it has to be this way."
o
Cold, thick fear clung to his throat, choking his already oxygen-starved lungs. He had to go faster or he would be too late if he wasn't already. This all felt so familiar, like that one December night, but instead of his wife's labor and the birth of his child having him so anxious, it was the danger to said wife and child.
It had been an agonizing decision. The hedgehog either went after the call from Solana in which the island was under attack and thus his newborn daughter or, he followed up on the noises captured by Amy's cell-phone indicating her own life-threatening situation. Through the frantic convincing of his friends, he reached a verdict. Knuckles knew Angel Island better than anyone and would head there, promising to find and protect Kimi. Tails stressed that speed and a plan were best for a military base operation, so, he was currently flying towards the G.U.N. facility Rouge and Amy had left for hours ago. Tails was accompanying him as the fox had expert knowledge of security systems and infrastructure breakdowns. The hedgehog's only prayer was that they'd make it in time.
"There it is, Sonic! Dead ahead!" Tails shouted over to the hedgehog crouching on the wing of the X-Tornado which had been another factor in the decision-making process. Knuckles rode up with them to a certain elevation before jumping off. He would glide the rest of the way back to the island while they continued onward.
"I see it, buddy," Sonic stated coolly. He was much too caught up in his own private turmoil to notice the concerned look his friend was giving him.
"Sonic, I have a really bad feeling about this," the fox said as the base drew closer. The concern in Tails' voice brought the hero's gaze over.
"I know what you mean, but we have to get them out of there," Sonic said determinedly. Tails nodded.
"When I drop you off, I'll circle around and start working on the security grid. Usually, these places have a holding bunker for temporary prisoners, but we can't be sure this isn't already a prison of some kind until I breach the system and get in."
"Got it. Once you work your magic, radio me and I'll take it from there."
"Good luck, Sonic," Tails replied as the aircraft drew close to land. The blue hedgehog leaped off the wing of the plane and hit the ground running. He was immediately met with gunfire. Tails lifted the nose of the X-Tornado away from the fray as Sonic drew the gunners' attention. Without hesitation, the hero ran headlong into the shooting projectiles, dodging bullets here and laser fire there. He could tell the shooters were becoming nervous as their aim became shoddier and the firing more erratic. Finally, he was upon the two snipers, knocking the firearms out of their hands and breezing by the rest of the artillery.
Chaos reigned as he burst through the main gates. Shots were fired but they were far from reaching their target and commands to stop fell on their aim's deaf ears. Sonic was meant to be the distraction until Tails could disable all the proper security measures and locate Rouge and Amy, but the hedgehog was practically tearing the facility apart. He wanted to find Amy and he wanted to find her now.
"It's Sonic the Hedgehog, sir! He's here!"
Sonic turned in the direction of the voice, spotting a G.U.N. soldier speaking into a handheld radio. The hedgehog didn't know all the ins and outs here, but he certainly could read the trap this was. They had been expecting him. That meant a full frontal assault might not have been the best course of action. Oh, well, too late now.
"Hey, ten to one says you can't even line me up in your sights, let alone hit me," the hedgehog jeered as he launched forward in a fantastic show of speed; soldiers diving out of the way to avoid injury. Gunfire followed; bullets missing their intended mark and embedding themselves into the walls of the facility. Sonic ducked into a corridor, charging past more troops as they came to help hold the frontline. He spun dash into one of the walls, punching through. He stood in the newly made entrance and looked on into a room similar to a warehouse. It was huge, but instead holding supplies, it was filled wall to wall with iron-barred cages holding species of all kinds. All eyes turned towards him.
"Sonic?" a quiet voice rasped out.
"Sonic the Hedgehog?!" another asked loudly, desperately.
"Sonic! He's here! He can save us!"
The room erupted into a cacophony of thunderous voices, screaming and shouting for help; for release. The hero was dumbfounded, barely able to process the scene in front of him while still remembering the battle outside.
"He's found the containment room! Blast is all! Take him down, but don't damage the merchandise," came a voice from behind him. Sonic quickly took off down the rows and rows of cages, taking in their design, locking mechanisms and the fact this was happening. He was so used to Eggman doing this sort of thing. The man had a habit of kidnapping animals to power his machines, but the hedgehog had always thought of it as just a singularity; something Egghead did, but not other humans. Now, he was having to wrap his mind around an entire government entity trapping his kind for some unknown purpose. Worst of all, Amy and Rouge might be somewhere in here.
"Don't worry. I'll get you out," Sonic stated as he passed a few more enclosures on his way up and down aisles. He brought his radio system up to his mouth.
"Tails, ya read me. We got a situation."
"Yeah, Sonic. What's wrong? Over."
"It is a prison, but not like we thought. Looks like I found what Shadow's been searching for the last two years. Over."
"Uh-oh. Not good."
"Tell me about it. It seems the locks in here are electronic; keypads and everything. If you can cut the power we may be able to bust out of here."
"Got it. Working on it now. Power outage in three, two, one. . ."
Suddenly, the room grew dark with emergency lighting along the walls being the only source of illumination. The soldiers standing at the entrance Sonic created began swearing as they turned on their rifle's scopes. Several beams of light darted around the large space trying to get a beat on a certain blue hedgehog. Sonic ignored them for now and focused his attention on the cages. The locks were still engaged.
"Shoot. Tails, they must have a backup generator."
"See it, but . . . I got company. I got to go!"
Static came in over the device and Sonic was forced to move as soldiers ran in his direction. He would have to improvise; find another way to free these guys and find his family. His mind went to a manual override key; there had to be a reboot button somewhere. With a burst of speed, he went out the way he came in, startling the few men standing by.
"He's leaving! After him!"
Sonic raced down the unfamiliar halls, doubling back from dead ends, bouncing off reinforced walls and skidding across polished concrete floors. Typically, these kinds of facilities were labeled for convenience's sake, but this place was more confusing to navigate than an international airport. He knew any kind of shutoff switch would be under lock and key, so any door he came across he forced open, leaving behind an expense trail of damage. It wasn't something his pursuers were happy about.
"Will someone get our ace in the hole before he tears the whole place up," a woman, clearly the commanding officer, yelled as more soldiers flooded the halls. Sonic pondered her directive for a moment. Anytime Eggman used a line like that, it meant he had a . . . hostage. He put on the brakes, coming to a complete stop in the middle of a brightly lit corridor. Allowing for the armed forces to encircle him, Sonic looked at the woman.
"What do you mean, ace in the hole?" he asked. She kept a somber expression. She gestured for one of the soldiers to hand the hedgehog a tablet. Sonic snatched it away and looked at the screen which was displaying an image. There, in a nondescript room, lay an unconscious Amy tied at the wrists and ankles. She looked fine, for all intents and purposes, but behind her stood two guards holding intimating looking weapons at her head. The message was clear enough; give up or she dies. Sonic's jaw shuddered from both fear and anger, but he kept his expression and demeanor calm.
"So, I surrender. Now what?"
o
Knuckles found the floating island doing exactly what its description called for. It was a good indication the Master Emerald was still in place and, thus, not his first priority. Once he landed on the southernmost tip of the hovering landmass, he ran towards the only large intact structure on the island; Tails' old workshop. It didn't take long for him to see something had gone terribly wrong. The lights were off and the door was left hanging open with a trail of debris leading out. Judging by the footprints and shuffle marks left in the sand outside, there had to have been a struggle.
"Solana! Cream!" he shouted, running into the enclosure. No one was inside. A bit of searching and he noticed the back door was wide open; boot impressions left on its threshold. Knuckles bolted out the back, enlisting his excellent tracking skills as he raced into the jungles of Angel Island. He followed the trail winding in between trees and undergrowth while calling out the names of those he was trying to locate. He knew he needed to stay on guard. There was no way of knowing how many attackers he was up against or if they were still on the island. Nonetheless, at this point, he was itching for a fight. These people had somehow invaded his sanctuary and threatened his teammates. Grant it, he didn't really like Solana very much, but he sure didn't want to see her hurt, let alone Cream and the new baby.
"Come on," he said to no one in particular as he pushed through more vines and ferns. No sooner had he stepped into a small clearing, he heard the sound of rifles cocking. He quickly retreated back into the cover of the brush as gunfire sprayed where he had been standing, except it wasn't bullets being fired. What appeared to be tranquilizer darts littered the ground, one embedding itself in a nearby tree. It appeared they weren't trying to kill him; little comfort considering he still didn't know their intentions. The echidna stealthily moved into an area of cover while making note of his hidden enemy's direction.
"Who are you and what do you want?" he demanded, cupping a hand over his mouth to throw the location of his voice. A few more darts flew in all directions, missing their mark. Knuckles growled in agitation. He punched a nearby palm tree sending it down along with some coconuts in the direction of the snipers. He was satisfied to hear a few cries of surprise as what appeared to be G.U.N. soldiers scurried out of the way of the falling timber. He sent another tree in their direction for good measure.
"I'm only gonna ask this one more time. Why are you here?"
There was silence for a moment before Knuckles heard a flurry of rustling sounds moving away from him. They were retreating; typical. The guardian knew these people were probably his best bet in finding out what happened to Cream and the others, so, he gave chase from the best vantage point available; the air. He quickly climbed one of the trees and launched off of it, using his gliding ability to soar over his quarry. It wouldn't be long until they reached the edge of the forest line. Knuckles decided cutting them off might give him the element of surprise and an edge. He dropped down and raced forward, beating the humans to their exit point. When the soldiers spotted the red monotreme, they halted in shock.
"Fire!" one of them shouted as he lifted his rifle. However, before any of them could get off a shot a high-pitched scream from above took them by surprise. Knuckles looked up at the familiar noise as he saw Charmy hurtling down towards them. He didn't know how the guy got here, but with all the soldiers' attention on the bee, the echidna took the opportunity to attack and he wasn't alone. Coming up from the side was Vector, walloping G.U.N. soldiers left and right. It wasn't long until every rifle-toting human was unconscious and disarmed.
"What's going on?" Vector asked as he looked at Knuckles, who just threw the last person aside. The guardian gave the crocodile a questioning glance.
"I was gonna ask you the same thing."
"Well, Vanilla got a call from Cream an hour ago. It sounded like she was in trouble. We thought Espio was with you guys, but he didn't respond. So, I tried reaching you up here, but no one responded either. Then, I had Charmy fly up here and he said the place was a mess and that he couldn't find anyone, so, I had him come back and get me and then we found you . . ." Vector began to rattle off in a nervous rant. Knuckles held up a hand.
"Okay, okay. I get it. I found it the same way, only, I think one of these guys can give us a better clue. Give me a hand and we'll take one of them to the . . ."
Suddenly, something small and light blue zipped in front of the Knuckles' face causing the echidna to jump back; startled. Even Charmy and Vector yelped in surprise. However, they instantly recognized the small creature hovering back and forth.
"Cheese?" Knuckles questioned.
"Chao, chao!"
"What's wrong? Where's Cream?" Vector asked as he ran forward with Charmy to crowd around the chao.
"Chao," he chirped, taking off towards the tree line.
"I guess we follow him," Charmy stated, wasting no time in going after the little chao. Vector was a close second, while Knuckles went ahead and heaved one of the soldiers over his shoulder before following. He still believed their best answer would come from one of these intruders. The group chased after the magical creature until he stopped at the bottom of a tall alpine. The trio looked around with confused glances.
"I don't get it. There's nothing here," Vector stated, scratching his head as he continued to look around the base of the tree before ordering, "Hey, Charmy, why don't you fly up and see if there's anything there."
"Aye, aye, caption," the bee smiled as he buzzed upward.
"Chao!" Cheese squeaked happily as he went up with Charmy. Vector and Knuckles watched as the two flyers disappeared in the leaves. There was a moment of quiet.
"What do you see, Charmy?" Vector called up. There was another pause before they heard a small cry that didn't belong to Charmy or Cheese. The bee finally descended, carrying something wrapped in Cream's scarf down in his arms. When he reached the bottom he presented the pair a tiny, shivering bundle of violet quills.
"Kimi?" Knuckles breathed as he unceremoniously dropped the soldier to the ground and reached out for the frightened baby hedgehog. Charmy happily passed the little one off as he rubbed his punctured hands.
"What was she doing up there? And isn't that Cream's?" Vector asked as he leaned in to see the child. Knuckles shrugged as he cooed at the baby like he'd seen Amy do. Eventually, Kimi peeked out from under her spines at the soothing sound.
"There you go, sweetheart," he said kindly.
"You're really good with kids there, Knuckles," the crocodile voiced.
"Yeah, well, it doesn't help us figure out what's going on. Let's wake that guy up and ask," the echidna stated, gesturing to the soldier at his feet. Vector picked the human off the ground and shook him a bit.
"Hey! Wake up already!"
Kimi startled and curled up again. Knuckles scowled.
"Not so close to the kid, man. Take him over there."
"Sorry," Vector apologized as he moved a few steps back and proceeded to shake the soldier again. The man finally slipped back into consciousness, groaning as he tried to figure out why he was swaying three feet off the ground. He looked up, coming nose to snout with the crocodile.
"Ahh! Put me down! Don't eat me!" he screamed in terror. Vector dropped the guy in disgust.
"Eat you? I barely know you."
"Get back!" the man continued to shout as he pushed away from the reptile on his backside. Kimi started crying again. Knuckles was done. He stomped over, baby bawling in one hand while grabbing the G.U.N. soldier by the collar in the other.
"Tell me what you and your team were doing on my island and where Cream and Solana are."
"I . . . I don't know," the man sputtered. Knuckles tightened his grip on the man's collar, emphasizing how easy it would be for the echidna to strangle him.
"There are over two-hundred ways you could die on this island and I don't need a single one of them to end you. Tell me where you guys took the dhole and rabbit, now."
The soldier looked absolutely terrified but remained silent. Vector could spot a good cop/bad cop scenario when he saw one and decided to play off the old routine in order to persuade their captive.
"I would start talking if I were you. I've seen him do worse things on a good day and this isn't a good day," the crocodile said in all seriousness. The man gulped.
"There was just the rabbit. The other one got away. Uh, we found the rabbit around here," he paused, until Knuckles tightened again, "They took her back to base twenty-one and told us to hold position here in case more of you came back. That's all I know. I swear!"
"Wouldn't happen to be alpha-quadrant would it?" Knuckles asked.
"Yes, but how could you possibly know. . ."
"Shut it," the echidna barked as he shoved the soldier aside before turning to Vector and Charmy, "that's where Sonic was headed. Call Tails and let him know."
"Hey, I have a message from Espio," Charmy piped up as he pulled out his cell, "Must have had it on vibrate," he said as he brought the device to his ear. Vector rolled his eyes as he pulled out his own phone to call Tails. Knuckles tapped a foot while glaring the soldier into submission and rocking the baby hedgehog back into a soothed silence.
"Knuckles, I can't get a hold of . . ." Vector began until he noticed Charmy's panicked expression, "What is it?"
Charmy held up his phone.
We have a traitor. It's Solana.
Author's note: Alright, I realize four years is a long time between chapters, but it is what it is. I was looking at my older stories just for fun and noticed I didn't finish this one. Decided to fix that, so enjoy and my apologies for the wait.