Sorry for the lengthy delay once again. 'Tis been a very busy month or two at work, so getting time to work on this has been marginal at best. Don't let the short chapter fool you, I do promise that things will pick up in the very near future. ;)

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.

21

Chris, sitting in the co-pilot's chair, carefully eyed the speed gauge as it slowly lulled over the 200 mile per hour mark, then slowly over 250, then approached 300, its chorus of intermittent pangs and pings sending its sign that the maximum speed was rapidly being approached. He could hear the engines heaving as the needle approached the 300 mile per hour mark, but no other signals lit up indicating that there was a problem at the moment. The needle surpassed 300 and the plane shuddered momentarily before slowly silencing itself.

Relieved, he rested against the back of the seat. He smiled and looked over toward Tails to let him know that he was being paranoid over nothing; that the plane would certainly hold together.

"Guess the U.S.A. can still make a good warplane when they want to, eh, Tails?" Chris laughed as he placed his arms behind his head and reclined.

But upon hearing nothing in return--not even a snicker of even slight amusement--Chris glanced over and noticed his friend was staring down at the floor, blank, lost in his thoughts.

"Tails?"

Again, the small fox sat still, his gaze locked upon nothing. Chris started to worry.

"Hey, Tails."

Finally, he looked over with the same expressionless face as he had given the floor. He almost seemed ill.

"Are you okay?"

"Just thinking about stuff. That guard; he said that we were going to destroy the one chance this world had at world peace. He said that we were going against them if we try and stop Amy."

Chris frowned a little, unsure of what his friend was getting at.

"Chris, I'm confused. A world free of evil is everyone's wishes, even ours. But what I don't understand is why people kill in this world. Can peace not be achieved any other way?"

The question was certainly complex, and Chris' eyes darted to and fro as he stared at the floor, unable to find any answers that might best explain things in a more positive tone.

"Tails," Chris said glumly, "I really don't know how to answer that question other than to tell you that people in this world uphold their beliefs, even if means fighting to the death to preserve their faith. It's been like that for a long, long time, and nothing is about to change soon. It's just a fact of life that goes from one generation to the next."

Appalled, Tails' jaw dropped open.

"It doesn't make it right; I know that. But there are some viciously evil people out there that want nothing more than us dead and them holding the sword of power, and as long as they remain alive, there will be countless people living in fear and at risk."

"So, you're okay with killing?" Tails asked, his expression unchanged.

"No, I'm not!" Chris fired back, "I wish there were other ways to get rid of these people, but…I…"

He retreated, slumping to the back of the seat, looking away as if he realized that his definition was a little more one-sided than he had realized. "I don't know. It's so hard to know what's right and what's wrong anymore. You do what you think is right, but it ends up being all wrong from the start. The thing is, Tails, is that this sort of action has been going on for a long time. We've tried to use words to persuade the evil into dropping their intentions, but no one listens anymore, and we watch the innocent fall one by one as the transfer of power progresses. We look for every alternative method we can think of, but in the end, assassination almost always ends up as the verdict. That way, without a leader, the group loses its confidence and eventually disbands for fear of suffering the same fate. It's morbid, but killing one instead of thousands is far better, as our past wars would indicate."

Chris sighed, and then looked back over toward Tails, who was now pinching his chin in deep thought.

"I see what you're saying now," he said, continuing to rub his fingers along his chin covered in white. "You're right, it's a two-sided dilemma. On one side, you try and try to prevent anyone from coming to harm, and the other, sacrificing one for the sake of protecting thousands of others. Shadow did this, but it was on his own accord and no one else's. Still, I see what you mean."

He looked sternly toward his friend. "Craddock was actually onto something wasn't he, Chris."

Reluctantly, Chris nodded.

"But Topaz said that the plug on the project had been pulled because of the human subjects being used in its early stages."

"Tails, you should know by now that the government is never going to completely pull the plug on something they think has potential to it, no matter who makes the decision. Even we are able to stop Amy and somehow stop the chip inside her head, do you honestly think they'll stop with their progress?"

Tails smirked as if to show that he was starting to get a little tired of all the pessimism he had almost found himself wallowing in. "So what do we do, Chris? Do we just give up because we think things are going to continue to progress, or do we do what it takes to stop that progression from even happening? I don't know about you, but I vote for the second option, as would Sonic."

Chris kept his eyes glued to the floor. Tails is right. It's high time I stopped being this whiny little jackass. I got them all into this mess, so it's up to me to do something to get them out of it.

A morbid thought made him shiver.

Even if it means losing my life, so be it. I want to show them I can at least do something right.

"So what do you plan on doing?" Chris finally asked.

A small smile crept across Tails' mouth. "After we get Amy back, we figure out a way to destroy everything associated with this project. No one can continue on with it, so everything's gotta be burned."

"Even the transporter," Chris added stiffly.

Tails jerked his head back in a fit of confused shock. "Well, we don't have to go that far—"

"Yes we do, Tails. If it still exists, they'll figure out a way to get it, and then this whole process starts over again. I'm not going to let that happen."

"Are you sure about that, Chris? There's a chance we'll never be able to come back again."

Chris looked away again, determined. "I know, but to make sure nothing like this can ever happen again, I have to destroy it. I can't take any more chances just because of my greed."

Tails could see a thin layer of water build up on the young man's eyes, obvious of how difficult it was for him to come to such a decision. He choked back his own emotion, knowing that it truly was the right decision, even if every bit of it seemed incredibly unfair.

With just a nod, Tails agreed, and pushed the throttle forward so that they could descend upon Washington faster.