Council Chamber
After handling security at her palace, Sally immediately called an emergency meeting with the rest of the council. She could see Roland and Dravar seemed slightly annoyed, particularly the latter, but Regal looked concerned as she saw the bandages on Sally's shoulder.

"What happened?" the blue rabbit asked.

"What happened is that someone made an attempt on my life," declared the chipmunk, hearing a few murmurs from across the chamber. "Last night, a robot resembling one of Eggman's cove-"

"Again with Eggman," sneered Dravar.

"One of Eggman's covert assassin bots tried firing on my vehicle, and managed to hit my shoulder before I could deal with it. This never happened before these Badnik attacks started, so it's no coincidence."

"This does require some concern," said Roland, putting a hand to his chin. "If someone were trying to kill you, they may go for the rest of us."

"Don't be foolish," the leopard interjected once more. "It probably only went after Sally because she rebelled against the doctor. The rest of us are safe."

"Not me. I'm also a veteran, remember?" retorted Regal. "Keep waving Isserkai's white flag and no assassin-bots will target you."

The two councilors began to argue, Sally rolling her eyes and burying her face in her palm. This meeting should have been quick, then she could call Nicole and tell her not to worry. Then she heard doors closing, the powered doors leading to the chamber closing up; a quick glance confirmed that none of her fellows understood what was going on either-none, that is, but one.

"Goss," Sally snarled.

"A pity the last attempt failed," he said, pulling a mask out of his jacket and pulling it over his muzzle. "This time I'll get three in one."

A green gas began to seep up around them, Sally, Regal, and Roland all covering their noses to not breathe any of it in. It worked for a time, then one by one they all slumped to the ground.

Acorn Palace
Rouge analyzed every nook and cranny of the palace, making sure there was no chance anyone or anything could hide under her nose. After that was done, she looked for something different: royal jewels.

"Sure, Sally's generous to a fault, but surely she has some sort of fancy jewels around here," she pondered. "Something that'll serve as satisfactory payment for my services."

The bat found them eventually, then let out a groan of frustration. Of course the only form of jewelry there would be heirlooms from her dead parents.

"For the love of Chaos," she groaned. "Why was I born with a conscience?" Sure, she could snatch those up, no issue, but then Sally would be crushed. Before Rouge's moral dilemma could reach a conclusion, she received a ping from her comm. "Agent Rouge speaking."

"H'yes, something's going wrong 'ere, ma'am," responded Parkley. "Miss Nicole and young Master Prower h'are on their way, but we may need 'hall 'ands."

"Understood, I'm on my way now."

Council Chamber
Outside, there was pandemonium. The doors leading inside were sealed shut, and there was no way of communicating with the inside. Parkley stood next to his vehicle, right as Rouge flew over and the Tornado touched down on the street.

"Has anyone come out of there?" asked Nicole, her concern unambiguous.

"Can't say h'anyone 'as," the dog replied. "I h'expect they'll start cutting through the door before long."

"There's no need, the doors are electronically controlled, right?" said Tails, already pulling out his Miles Electric. "I'm sure Nicole and I can hack those doors open."

With that, the two geniuses entered the chambers, the holo-lynx glitching nervously as she calculated multiple scenarios. Inside, they began manipulating the wavelength of the doors in order to make them open. After a while, the doors slowly opened-too slowly for anybody's liking-and those two were among the first to barrel into the room.

"Wh… Where is everyone?" There were obviously people there, but none of them were the councilors.

"I don't know. I… I'm seeing a few footprints, but not all of them are Mobian. They couldn't get out through the doors, so…" Nicole glanced down, tracking movement to a vent close to the floor.

Abandoned Warehouse
Sally groaned as consciousness returned, becoming quickly aware of restrictions on her wrists and ankles. As her eyes fluttered open, she became acutely aware that Regal and Roland were also restrained next to her. There was a light before her, and soon voices became clear.

"...in less time than it took your assassin bot to even get a lock on Acorn's car."

"A tool doesn't get a 'thank you' for doing what it's asked."

"I'm not asking for much, I'm just saying my reward should match the service I put in."

The chipmunk's eyes narrowed as she recognized the voice, able to recognize him even from behind. "Goss."

Dravar turned around, smirking as he eyed the captured trio. "Ah, I see you're waking up. Miss Acorn, I'm sure you recognize Levi."

"We've met," she spat.

"An attitude that hasn't dulled," observed the robot. "But we'll soon change that."

Regal snarled. "Of course the Isserkaian would surrender to-"

"This is survival!" thundered Dravar, the leopard's fur standing on end. "Eggman wants the Four Territories, and he wants any old rivals gone. If I help him secure you two, I get to live."

"But Goss, I never opposed you," said Roland. "I have no part in this."

"You're an obstacle, that's all the good doctor needs to cross you off," countered Levi. "Have them delivered to the port by midnight, or we'll turn Isserkai to a crater."

The hologram faded, Sally instantly straining against her bonds. They could be loosened, but it would probably take a long period of struggling. That struggling stopped, though, as Dravar turned to face her, a pocket knife held in his right hand. "I'm to be rewarded for bringing you in alive, but that doesn't mean you'll go in unharmed," he sneered, sliding the blade along her chin. "Midnight won't be for another seven hours, we have plenty of time to play."

The chipmunk refused to give him the satisfaction of a reaction. He would have used the knife, had he not heard a buzzing from his pocket. Angrily jabbing the knife into Sally's slab, the leopard pulled his phone from his pocket. He spoke into it for a while, becoming more and more agitated by the conversation, before he hung up.

"I would seem I have other business to attend to," he said, doing his best to sound calm. "I'll be back soon, not that you'll be going anywhere."

With that, he walked hurriedly away, desiring to leave fast and come back faster. Once the door slammed shut behind him, Sally turned her head and grabbed the knife with her teeth. Turning her head to Regal, the blue rabbit quickly noticed the knife and grabbed it with one of her ears.

Council Chamber
Nicole had mapped out the ventilation system of the entire building, using her advanced sensors to detect where the councilors may have been dragged off to. She found a trail, but it ended as soon as the vent reached the outside of the building.

"This h'is a loading dock," said Parkley dejectedly. "Sorry, miss Nicole, but they could be h'anywhere now."

"Aren't there cameras around here?" suggested Tails, pulling out the Miles Electric. "Surely there was some sort of van waiting for them around here."

He managed to find footage from the cameras, which showed a black van roll up to the dock shortly before the disturbance. Then, the cameras began glitching, and when they cleared up again the van was gone. That would have been the end of the trail, but Nicole had already scanned the available footage for any abnormalities on the van - such as dents and paint scratches - and was pulling up red light cameras.

"It traveled west after leaving the chamber, but after going down this country lane the cameras can't spot it."

"I've got a map of that road," called Tails, the two looking over it to figure out where the van could have gone. "There! That warehouse looks abandoned. It's cliché, but maybe Sally and the others were taken there."

"H'it'd be best if we split up," suggested Parkley. "One of h'us goes 'ere to search, h'while the rest of us keep going down the road."

"Tails can take the Tornado to the warehouse, it's fast enough that if the councilors aren't there, we can just take off again quicker than we landed."

With that plan in mind, the group set off to the rescue.

Goss Hall
Dravar unlocked the front door, allowing his housekeeper to come inside. "I'm sorry," the housekeeper apologized. "I could have sworn I had my key when I left."

"It's quite alright," said Dravar hurriedly. "It could happen to the best of us. Just be sure to lock it back when you're done."

It was then the leopard saw the Tornado in the sky, heading in the direction of the councilor's hiding place. Quickly taking his key back, he hurried to his vehicle, tearing back onto the road. While the road went straight there, he turned off, having a few shortcuts that would get him there first.

Abandoned Warehouse
Regal had used the knife to get herself and Roland free, and was working on freeing Sally when they heard a vehicle outside.

"We need to hide," fretted Roland.

"Hide where? He'll know something's up the moment he sees us free," said the blue rabbit.

"Just see if you can pull me free," snapped Sally.

The bonds around her arms came free, the mangled shackles at her ankles coming loose too, just as Dravar stepped back in. He looked to see his prisoners freed, growling and charging at the group. He swiped at Regal first, who ducked behind the slabs to keep from getting scratched. Roland tried making a move, but he was shoved aside.

"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" the leopard snarled at Sally, who didn't notice the knife next to her foot.

"I've beaten up robots twice as effective as you," retorted Sally, backing away as Dravar swiped at her.

"We'll see," he snapped back.

The chipmunk leaped back as he rolled forward, grabbing the knife and standing back up. Sally didn't have time to react before the knife was jabbed into her shoulder wound, and she cried out in pain. The leopard was about to step closer, when he spotted a strange shadow overhead. He barely had time to look up before an overhead window shattered, somebody landing right on top of him. He barely had time to open his eyes before he spotted Nicole standing over him.

"Leave. Her. Alone!" She punctuated her statement by punching him in the face, knocking Dravar out cold.

Rouge and Parkley emerged not long after, the sound of a plane buzzing implying that Tails hadn't yet landed the Tornado. Once the holo-lynx knew her quarry was neutralized, she turned to inspect Sally.

"Oh, your shoulder!" she gasped, gently removing the knife and covering up the wound.

Sally was still in a daze from Nicole's entrance and devotion, but soon found her words. "What were you thinking, jumping in like that?!" she scolded. "If your console had hit the ground at that speed, you'd do more damage to yourself!"

"My handheld could be repaired, but I don't think your shoulder could take much more," retorted Nicole, the chipmunk's expression softening as her friend shuddered slightly, glitching faintly. "I… I don't know what I'd do without you, Sally."

Tails entered at this time, watching as Sally hugged Nicole and replied, "I feel the same way. A shoulder's a shoulder, but… I couldn't lose you."

The fox and Rouge both shared a look.

Acorn Palace
Sally was once again on her bed, having her wounds tended to by a doctor. This time, though, she was surrounded by friends and colleagues, the news playing in the background.

"Alright, Your Highness, if you get injured tomorrow, I'll make your third treatment on the house," she joked, stepping out as the news story changed.

"In tonight's groundbreaking story, Prince Dravar Goss of Isserkai was involved in a plot to kidnap the other councilors of the Four Territories. Isserkai has taken him into custody, with no plans to…"

"Regal had the right idea, not liking that guy," remarked Rouge, turning to face Sally. "Well, it would appear my work here is done, Sally, so I'll be taking my leave." She once again gave the unamused princess a kiss on the hand, offering a playful wink to the observing Nicole. "'Til next time."

The chipmunk waved goodbye, staring down at her bandaged shoulder. If she had gotten a black eye, she'd have looked like Sonic after he'd brought them all back together. Thinking of Sonic reminded her of all the zany stunts he'd pulled, which took her mind back to Nicole's entrance. Yes, she had saved Sally from a worse fate, but if her handheld had slipped out and hit the ground…

"When are you going back to the workshop?" she asked Tails, wanting to avoid that line of thought.

"Not for a while," replied Tails. "After what happened, we're gonna take a break from the portal and stay here for a bit."

"Come on," groaned Sally. "I don't need babysitting."

"We're not gonna babysit, we're just here for extra security," assured Nicole.

"Yeah, if they wanna get you, they're gonna have to go through us!"

This made the chipmunk chortle. "Alright, fine, you can stay."

Egg Carrier
"...the authorities will keep hold of Goss until his trial, which will take place four days from now."

"Dammit!" snapped Eggman, slamming a fist against his console. "Without my mole, invading the Four Territories will be more difficult."

"But… he's a leopard, not a mole," said Cubot.

"Yes, he is, but 'mole' is another word for spy," elaborated Orbot.

"Then why not say 'spy?' Sounds easier-"

"Forget the semantics!" The doctor groaned and turned around, Metal Sonic dutifully standing to attention. "You know what to do, Metal. Make sure nothing can get out about our operations."


This was a quick chapter for me to write, as I suddenly had a burst of inspiration soon after finishing the last one. However, real-life issues such as school kept me from posting the new chapter until now. Also, a new Sonic cartoon was announced inbetween these two chapters, Sonic Prime on Netflix. I'm not setting my expectations too high, but I can't help but wonder what all it'll feature. As always, please leave feedback, and I'll see you next time.