Act 2: Time Lag.
Chapter 1: Memories of a Nightmare.
A few minutes later, inside the airship, everyone was in a conference room, sitting around a table. Richter was sitting on one end of the table while Nero and Tails were sitting on the other end. Silver was sitting on one side of the table, keeping an eye on Nero.
"…Why are you on edge? It's not like I'm gonna hurt you guys." Richter started.
"Okay, so why did you abduct us?" Nero retorted with a glare.
"Because, not only were we looking for that insane doctor's hidden fortune, we were looking for you."
Nero raised a brow at that statement and started to get suspicious.
"By "we" you mean who?"
"My brother and I, that's who." A new voice said.
Both Nero and Tails looked toward the door and saw another echidna. This one, unlike Richter, has a serious look about him. His fur was white, a very uncommon color for an echidna. His dreads, unlike Richter's messy style, were pulled back behind him with some hanging to the sides of his head like bangs. Upon further inspection, this echidna was wearing a closed black vest with a matching pair of cargo pants. A white belt was buckled around his waist, and an ornate, white katana was strapped to the belt. He wore a pair of gloves with white spikes protruding from his knuckles, unlike Richter, who now wore large mittens with spikes.
"Can you not pop up like that, Chrome?" Richter asked with annoyance.
"No, because it scares you when I do, and it amuses me." Chrome explained smugly.
"Umm….before we start anything, can we make a stop by my place?" Tails interrupted.
Both echidnas looked at Tails with their brows raised.
"Uhh….sure? Where do ya live?" the orange echidna responded.
"Mystic Ruins. There is a workshop in a forest clearing." Tails explained.
Chrome just rolled his eyes and pulled out a small device from his pocket. It appeared to be a small handheld computer. He pushed a few buttons on it and suddenly the airship started to fire up its engines. The ship began to change its course to Mystic Ruins.
"So, why were you two looking for me?" Nero started.
"We were hired to look for you." Chrome answered.
"Who hired you?"
"Can't tell you. Client confidentiality. Standard rules."
"And why would this person hire you to find me?"
"Can't really say. He just told me to find you."
"I really don't know why Alex wanted me to go with you two to find him." Silver finally spoke.
"Wait, did you say Alex?" Nero said as his ears perked in interest.
"Yes I did, but before I go into any more details, you need to explain something to me."
"And that would be…"
"Are you the being known as Azazel?" Silver asked accusingly.
Nero's eyes widened in shock at hearing that name. There was no way this hedgehog knew about it.
"Where did you hear about that?" Nero asked, his voice trembling.
"I'm not from around here, let alone this time. I'm from at least two hundred years into the future, give or take." Silver explained. "In the distant future, the world is ravaged by a plague that mutates its victims. The one who controls them is an entity known only as Azazel, and from the information I gathered at that time, you had something to do about it. So I suggest you explain yourself."
Nero looked down for a bit, unsure on what to do. A few moments later he came to a decision.
"Fine, I will tell you, everything, but first we need to pick up a few people." Nero finally said.
"Who are we going to pick up and why?" Richter asked.
"Well the other two know about me and it would be incredibly rude to not let them know."
A few hours later; after Tails picked up Sonic and one of his other jets, the air ship landed on a clearing on Angel Island. After a lot of explanations to a certain guardian, and drama related to Knuckles finding out that he's not the only echidna left, Nero began to explain.
"Now, where to begin?" Nero contemplated. After a moment of thought, he began.
"Okay, my name, my real name, is Damien Rosenthal Price. Since the accident that gave me my abilities, I took the name Nero because..."
At this, Kaiser separated, causing Chrome and Richter to jump in surprise. Kaiser however, didn't laugh as he normally would, but continued to explain.
"Because if he still used our real name, it would confuse us both, considering that we're the same person and would then, respond to the name Damien."
"In any case, my abilities and powers came from the crystal that, for lack of better terms, killed me." Nero continued. He activated his HADES and a hologram of a red crystal appeared. Everyone looked at the hologram with intrigue. "Back then, at the time of the accident, I was in a research facility, attending a demonstration on a new form of energy. That crystal was hooked up to a device to extract the energy that this crystal constantly produced."
Nero looked away for a second before he continued.
"When the device was activated, the crystal reacted violently, causing the device to overload and explode. The explosion turned that crystal into a projectile and…." Nero's voice started to break. Kaiser then finished what he was going to say.
"It impaled him to a wall." Kaiser said with slight seriousness.
Everyone just cringed at the thought.
"As soon as that happened, the energy started to merge with my body and it replaced what was left of my heart. From there, the energy seeped into my brain and caused my mind to split." Nero explained.
"That's when I was born!" Kaiser exclaimed.
"Dude, don't ruin the moment." Nero scolded.
"Oh come on! This story is too serious and it's killing the mood." The doppelganger whined.
"Well enough about that, we have to explain the other thing." Nero said with a sigh.
"What other thing?" Sonic asked. "What did I miss?"
"Access all files related to Exavil." Nero commanded.
Suddenly the system pulled up many files from building schematics, employee logs, scientific notes, and project information. Nero walked around the room and tapped a file labeled "The Twilight Stone". The system pulled up a picture of a stone, a meteorite to be exact.
"What you see right now is the Twilight Stone." Nero began. "This is the main project within the underground research center named Exavil."
HADES pulled up more files regarding the Twilight Stone. Tails looked at the many reports filed by many other scientists…until he spotted one in particular.
"Nero….is that your dad?" Tails asked as he pointed to the file.
Nero's ears perked at the question and then looked to where Tails was pointing. He sighed and then pulled the file up.
"Yes, my dad worked there as the lead scientist. He was the one that started the project. He was the one that actually designed Exavil." Nero explained as he opened up the folder and displayed a log entry.
"Meteor Discovery. July 24th
It's been five weeks since the discovery of the meteorite. Under initial study the meteorite seems to give off a strange radioactive signature. Further study on the cause is required."
"Meteor Study. August 10th
The cause for the radiation emission is still unknown. After taking precautions, we were able to transport the meteorite to Exavil. A special containment chamber has been prepared for it."
"Twilight Stone Project. August 28th
My colleagues and I have agreed to name the meteorite the Twilight Stone for the faint yellow light it emits in the dark. Other than the glow it emits under low light conditions, no answers have come to surface, only more questions. Before the transport, the Twilight Stone didn't glow in the dark until it was confined in a closed space. Drilling into it has become risky; the radiation is strong enough to penetrate the highest level of radiation protection suits. Some of my colleagues have grown sick due to the radiation. We may have to use robotic means to study it."
"Twilight Stone Project. October 29th
Almost two months and still no answers. The radiation the stone emits is becoming more and more intense. I have deduced that the stone is producing the radiation and the confined space is concentrating it. I have confidence though that the containment chamber will hold it. On a side note, I shall bring my son, Damien, to Exavil for a little father-son bonding. Since the accident with the energy crystal, he hasn't been himself. Hopefully this will have him open up more."
-End of Logs-
Everyone was silent for a while after they finished reading all the logs. It was at that point that most of them started to realize something.
"Your father worked there?" Knuckles asked with interest.
"Yeah, he was the lead scientist there that studied that thing." Nero responded with sadness in his voice.
"Wait, he "was"? Sonic spoke up after a moment of thought.
Nero just looked away, having difficulty with what he was about to say.
"There was a reason that there are no more logs on this subject." Nero began. "When I went to Exavil, my father and I were in one of the lowest levels of the facility. It was at that point when the nightmare began."
"Ooh! Ghost story! But wait, we need a camp fire, and marshmallows, and chocolate, and graham crackers! Mmmm…..s'mores…." Richter randomly blurted.
Everyone just looked at him in annoyance, especially Nero. Actually, Nero was about a few seconds from strangling the echidna with his bare hands. Said echidna just looked at everyone in confusion.
"What? Every ghost story demands s'mores…it's part of the natural order." Richter said as he crossed his arms.
"Can you be serious for one second?" Chrome scolded.
"Well I can't help it!" Richter exclaimed and then pointed to Nero. "And can you not be such a drag when you tell stories? I'll be your best friend if you do!"
"Does anyone like getting a root canal?" Nero retorted.
"You're not nice!"
"So I've been told."
As the two were quarreling, Silver was beginning to lose his patience. He was about to suspend the both of them in midair until a loud beeping interrupted him. Everyone stopped and looked towards the beeping, which happened to be coming from Tails' HADES. Without even accessing it, Tails looked out into the ocean, a look of seriousness in his eyes.
"Yo Tails, what's going on?" Sonic finally spoke.
"A large number of Eggman's robotic forces and his massive aerial fortress are on their way here." Tails said without moving.
Everyone gasped and looked in the same direction Tails was looking in. Sure enough, out in the distance they saw a large army of flying Halberds and Bucklers. A few groups of the assassination robots, named Phantoms, were mixed in. Behind them, a large scale aerial battle station, an Egg Carrier, was flying towards Angel Island. Sonic began to smirk as well as Richter.
"Finally some fun!" Richter yelled, voicing Sonic's thoughts while picking up his hammer.
Knuckles growled and cracked his namesakes. "I don't want any of them on my island!"
"Don't worry…" Tails started.
Knuckles turned toward Tails, who was standing next to his jet, his hand placed on it and glowing blue.
"Not a single one will come near the island." Suddenly, Tails' Kojimic aura spread throughout the jet, and dismantled it, the parts transforming and attaching to Tails' body. Like the last time, his jet became an armored suit, but this time with some major differences. Instead of an energy shield and an energy blade, Tails was holding sniper rifles in each hand. On the left side of his back was a large, shoulder mounted long range cannon, on his right, a missile pod. The most striking difference however was the suit itself. The arms were slightly bulkier, the shoulders were slightly larger than it was before, and the legs, instead of the normal biped style, was a quadruped set up. (Four legs, spider style).
"Cyber Vanguard: Tornado Sniper" Tails' now synthesized voice said. The armored suit came to life as all of Tails' and Jericho's systems came online.
"Main System, Engaging Combat mode." Tails declared as he raised both rifles.