Ch. 38
The Unexpected
The Queen continued to beg for her life to be spared as Sonic tried to reason with Gust.
"Please! . . . Have mercy!", Regina said.
"How many people have begged for their lives to monsters like you and Eggman? Did you show Lien-da mercy when you tried to execute her?", Gust said.
"I'm weak! . . . Don't kill me!", Regina responded.
"Put it down, Gust!", Sonic said.
Gust didn't respond.
"She's an unarmed prisoner. The Iron Queen is no longer a threat.", Sally said as she too stood between Gust and the techno witch.
Sonic turned to the Iron Queen. "You said that Snively was in trouble?", He asked.
"He's likely being held prisoner by Eggman.", Regina said.
"That's not what I heard. I eavesdropped on your conversation with Dr. Eggman. You said not long ago that he was here assisting you.", Espio said.
"I know what I said! I lied to him. From the start Dr. Eggman allowed me to join his Empire after Snively broke me out of prison. His actions were considered mutiny to his Uncle, yet he still fought for me, but Dr. Eggman deceived me! He paired me up with a cheap robot replica of Snively. One day when I found out, I destroyed it, and since then, instead of helping Eggman, I was going to use him to reclaim what is mine.", Regina explained.
"Yes, we . . . all know about your . . . relationship, which makes me sick whenever I think about it.", Gust said.
"Shut up! You don't know Snively as much as I do!", Regina said.
"He's an evil conniving dwarf who tried to help you crush the Acorn Kingdom!", Gust said.
"Yeah, none of us will ever forget that! Why should we even consider helping you?", Sonic asked.
"You forget, I have the power of techo magic. It would be foolish not to consider me as an ally.", Regina said.
"After what you and your little man put us through in the past, I don't think so . . . However, if Snively is a prisoner of war, then it would be against our code as Freedom Fighters not to rescue him.", Sally said.
"In the meantime, you're going back to the Dragon Kingdom prison where you belong!", Sonic said.
Gust sighed. "Seriously? This is how it's going to be?", He asked.
"Yes, we'll deal with carrying out justice against criminals . . . The right way.", Sally said.
Gust hesitated for a moment, thinking. He then sheathed his sword. ". . . Fine! Have it your way. We're finished here.", He said, walking away.
The Iron Queen then formed a sinister smile. "Sorry, your Highness, but only I will rescue my darling, Snively. Like I said, you will die here and now!", She thought as she took out her knife again.
Sally's back was turned as Regina raised her weapon at the princess. Suddenly, in a flash, Gust unsheathed his sword, dashed past Sally, and delivered a fatal slash into the Iron Queen's torso. Regina the Iron Queen took one last breath as her lifeless body fell to the ground.
Gust sheathed his sword as Sonic and everyone else froze from the gruesome scene.
"You idiot! . . . What were you thinking!", Sonic yelled.
"How could you do this!?", Sally said.
"Well, you're welcome for saving your life, your Highness. If I hadn't stepped in, you'd have a knife in your back right now.", Gust said.
"What?", Sally said. She then, looked down, and noticed the knife in Regina's cold dead hand.
The Princess then, growled. "How dare you?", She said.
Gust gave her a confused look.
"You didn't have do that! I don't care if she tried to take my life. You could have just disarmed her. It would have been just as easy for you! Now you've given me no choice!", Sally said.
"How ridiculous! This is how you react to someone for saving your neck!?", Gust yelled.
"I don't care what you have to say. That's no excuse for your actions! You're under arrest for murder! Not just Regina, but your other victims as well! If we have to fight you to bring you to justice, then we will!", Sally yelled.
"Don't blink or you'll miss the part when we kicked your ass!", Sonic said as he was ready to attack.
It was then Espio and the rest of the Underdogs jumped in, and formed a circle around their leader. "Not so fast, Blue! If you want him, you'll have to go through us first!", Espio yelled.
Gust sighed. "Underdogs, stand down!", He ordered.
"What? What are you doing?", Espio questioned.
"Very well, I'll co-operate with you. I surrender.", Gust said.
"What!?", The other Underdogs said in Unison.
"Why? Why are you giving up?", Hope asked.
"Relax, I know what I'm doing.", Gust whispered to her.
Sally was puzzled. "What's going on? He's giving up even without a fight? What's the meaning of this?", She thought.
"If you believe that your decision to arrest me is just, then I'll hand myself over to you and the authorities. First things first, though. We need to regroup with the Brotherhood and transport everyone back to Angel Island. Shadow do you have the emerald?", Gust asked.
"Yes, I have it, but what exactly are you doing? Why are you giving yourself up?", Shadow asked.
"Don't question me, just do as I say! Warp everyone back to the Brotherhood's hideout, then we'll drop off the Echidnas at Angel Island, and get everything else over with.", Gust said.
Shadow stood silent for a moment. "Alright.", He said.
Sally gave Sonic handcuffs. "Give us your weapon, please.", She said.
"Actually this sword was given to me by the Bride of Constant Virgil herself. It doesn't just belong to me; it belongs to the Shinobi Clan. So, I'll give it to Espio.", Gust said.
"Fine. I understand.", Sally said in a rude tone.
"Hold on to this Espio. Please, don't lose it.", Gust said as he handed is sword to him.
"Who do you think you're talking to? I would never do something that careless. I can't blame you for being concerned though. I'm more concerned about you though and your decision.", Espio said.
"Espio, remember what our master taught us about what is most important?", Gust asked.
Espio's eyes widened as he clichéd his sword. "Yes, I do . . . we'll do as you command.", He said.
Gust smiled. "Good. Thank you, we had a good run, didn't we?", He asked.
"Yes, we did.", Espio responded as he smiled back.
Sonic walked forward, and placed the handcuffs on Gust's wrists. "I don't care how much Espio and the others like you. I don't . . . and I never will.", He said.
"That's too bad, because I like you, Sonic.", Gust said.
Sonic stopped as his body twitched from his feeling of confusion. "Really? Is that really so? You had a funny way of showing that when you kicked me in the face a while back.", He said.
"Yeah, I know. I've just been mad at you; that's all. I heard great stories about you from Espio, and I wanted to be like you, but . . . that changed when I heard about when you allowed Dr. Eggman to live. I still can't figure out why you did that.", Gust said.
"The old man was broken at the time. He had a mental breakdown after I defeated him. He couldn't even defend himself. How would I look to everyone else if they knew that their hero took the life of a helpless old man?", Sonic said.
"I see . . . It seems I was wrong about you then.", Gust said.
"Whatever, that doesn't matter anymore. You turned our friends against us, and hurt the princess. Your going away for a very long time, and with any luck we'll never have to see your face again!", Sonic said.
"I second that. I couldn't have said that any better myself.", Sally said.
The princess then, looked at the rest of the Underdogs. "The rest of you are coming with us as well.", She said.
"What!?", Hope yelled.
"Do as she says!", Gust said.
"But . . ."
"Don't argue with him, Hope. He's made up his mind.", Espio interrupted.
Gust watched as the other members of his team were also put in handcuffs. All of them except for Espio seemed to know what was going on inside the Overlander's head.
Suddenly, Sonic remembered something, and mentally kicked himself for almost forgetting. "Wait! We need to find Amy, everyone!", He yelled.
"Oh my goodness, that's right! You heard the hedgehog! Let's hurry!", Sally yelled.
At first the Freedom Fighters searched the entire Legion base, but they found no sign of Amy, so Sonic and Tails left to find her while Sally and the other Freedom Fighters remained behind in case they would find their pink hedgehog friend, and to guard Gust and the Underdogs.
Fearing that their friend was lost, the blue hedgehog and young fox began to wonder if they would ever find Amy until . . .
"Amy! Are you here! Where are you!?", Sonic yelled.
"Amy!", Tails called.
". . . Help! . . . Sonic!", A voice screamed.
As soon as they heard the voice of their pink hedgehog friend, Sonic and Tails rushed over and finally found Amy who wasn't in any serious danger, but rather in a pickled predicament. The duo somewhat giggled when they saw Amy hanging upside down from a seemingly lifeless tree.
"Uh . . .you okay Amy?", Sonic asked trying to hold in his laughter.
"Yeah, are you alright?", Tails asked.
"Don't laugh! It's not funny! I'm freezing my ass off up here!", Amy yelled.
"How did this happen!?", Sonic asked.
Amy blushed from embarrassment. "Oh, uh . . . While we were fighting, I got carried off by one of the Mecha Knuckles. I was able to damage it somehow, and I broke free. I then, fell down a small slope, and when I tried to go join back up with you . . . I fell into this trap." She said.
"Hold on! I'll get you down!", Sonic said before cutting the rope of the trap, causing Amy to fall into his arms. The pink hedgehog blushed more. She really liked being in his arms like that.
"Are you able to walk on your own?", Sonic asked.
"Yeah, I'm just a little dizzy from all blood that was rushing to my head.", Amy said as she leaped out back to her feet.
"There's no need to feel embarrassed . . . That could've happened to any of us right, Sonic?", Tails asked.
"What? . . . Uh? . . . Yeah, like Tails said, it . . . was just an accident.", Sonic said.
"A stupid accident.", Amy thought to herself as she fake smiled.
"The fight's over anyway. We already kicked butt. I'll give you rundown on the way back.", Sonic said.
The trio walked back to regroup with Sally and the others to find out the trap from earlier was laid by Julie-Su and the Brotherhood just in case of trespassers. The pink Echidna was just grateful that Amy didn't fall into any of their other traps. With their work finished here, Shadow did as Gust ordered, and worked his magic to warp everyone to Angel Island.
Many frowns were turned upside down later when everyone had returned to Angel Island. Knuckles was reunited with Julie-Su and his family. When Julie-Su had confessed that both her and Dimitri were involved in their mysterious leave of absence, Knuckles was somewhat upset, but at the same time overjoyed. Dimitri of course, apologized to Knuckles for lying to him, again. The Guardian could've kicked him off the island like a football, but he understood it wasn't entirely Dimitri's fault. The Freedom Fighters exchanged handshakes, hugs, and pats on the back with Knuckles and his people for a job well done. To Knuckle's surprise though, he noticed Gust was in handcuffs as were the rest of his team. He wanted to thank him for his part in rescuing everyone he cherished. Sally gave them their reasons for arresting him, but the Guardian tried to protest. However, the princess would refuse to change her judgment.
The still captive Gust, then ordered Shadow to chaos control the Freedom Fighters and their team back to the Southern Tundra where they would find the FF-Special. They could've flown back, but again Shadow knew where New Mobotropolis was so he just teleported everyone along with the jet back to their home to save time and fuel.
The people of New Mobotropolis had heard about the Freedom Fighters success, and welcomed them back. Sonic of course couldn't get enough of his fans. He loved pandering to his "peeps." Sally and the others simply responded with casual waves. However, all celebrating ceased when the people were surprised by some familiar Mobians in handcuffs followed by an Overlander with a smile on his face.