Chapter 106: The Paths That Cross

Last time on Sonic the Hedgehog, a tragic loss is brought upon the people of Albion as not only were many lives lost after Finitevus's experiment, but their leader, Luna-Sta, had lost her life to weaken Finitevus and purify the Master Emerald. With this, the Albions now have nowhere to go, leading to their undecided fate...

Starring:

Espio the Chameleon - Bound by Honor
Thread the Arachne - Bound by Betrayal

Angel Island; Eggman's Abandoned Base

*In the now abandoned base that Eggman - or rather Thread and Metal - used to gather information of the Master Emerald, the front doors are opened as a figure stepped in. It was Thread, no longer sporting her Egg Boss uniform but her old ninja gear from her time at Chun'nun. She looks around the area, getting flashbacks to fighting Knuckles and the Chaotix in here a long time ago. As she walked through the dark and empty halls into the next room, her eyes darted behind her. She paid no mind to it as she approached the monitor.*

Computer: "Access code."

Thread: "Scrambled Eggs."

Computer: "Backdoor code accepted. Welcome."

*Thread closed her eyes before, in a quick flash, blocking an assassination from Espio.*

Thread: "A bit too slow on the draw, Espio! You're losing your touch!" *Pushes Espio back.*

Espio: "Thread... What are you doing here?"

Thread: "Oh just decided to remanence on good times here. Is that so wrong?"

Espio: "It is since you're one of Eggman's Egg Bosses." *Tosses the knife, but Thread dodges and catches it.*

Thread: "Failed to do a fact check first, Espio? Amateur move." *Tosses the knife down before glaring.* "I stopped being Eggman's crony a while ago. He betrayed me, so now I work only for myself."

Espio: "Hmph. And you expect me to believe you?"

Thread: "No, but I expect you to leave before I decide to make you leave."

Espio: "After all you pulled, you still refuse to change..."

Thread: "Says the Chameleon that doesn't let go."

*Espio draws his blade and tries to slash at Thread, but is blocked by the arachne's katanas as they glare at each other. The two get into a brief sword duel before Espio slashes at Thread, cutting her side. This exposes some wiring and metal under her gear.*

Espio: "What the...?"

*Espio is kicked away by Thread.*

Thread: "Yeah... One of the many cons of joining Eggman that I was too blinded to realize. My entire body, sans my heart and brain, are all completely mechanical. I don't need to eat, I lack the feeling of touch, and my heart gets artificial air through makeshift lungs... A couple of weeks in the hospital has made me realize just how much I sacrificed and what it truly did to me..."

*Thread blocks another sword swipe.*

Espio: "And you deserve it too... After what you did to our home!"

Thread: "So what, you plan on stabbing me in the heart or cutting my head off?"

Espio: "You deserve to rot in jail!"

Thread: "And you should learn to let things go... Before you become like me." *Pushes Espio off.*

*Espio stares at her, a bit confused.*

Thread: "Espio. You should know carrying grudges is a bad thing. It leads to you making poor decisions. Decisions that you'll regret in this life and the next. Decisions...like being mostly robot..." *Scatters the webbing making up her katanas.* "I held a lifelong grudge against my sister, the prior Leader of my clan, all because she got accepted over me. I blamed her for stealing something I thought was rightfully mine... A grudge that led me...to making the worst mistake of my life... Joining the Eggman Empire..."

Espio: "..."

Thread: "Do you not see, Espio? Grudges over betrayal only breed more grudges and mistrust. I've been betrayed twice... Once by my family... And again by Eggman... There was a point I was contemplating my life... Everything seemed to go uphill... But then...it came crashing down... I saw what true hatred looked like and I...feared it..."

*Espio's eyes widened at that. Hearing Thread fear anything seemed to catch his attention.*

Thread: "My time in the hospital has led me to rethink and reevaluate myself. And it led me to one thing... Perhaps...a redemption of sorts..."

*Espio starts to look down before putting away his sword and sighs.*

Espio: "Thread... If you no longer work for Eggman... Then who do you work for now?"

Thread: "...The Kingdom of Acorn... Namely, its Secret Service run by King Max..." *Shows her badge, proving her claim.*

*Espio looks at it and sees it to be authentic. A real badge of the Kingdom of Acorn.*

Espio: "Then...we are allies?"

Thread: "Allies? Yes. Friends? ...No."

Espio: "...What was with the pause?"

Thread: "Nothing... I just don't trust anyone to be friends with them..." *Turns to continue her business at the hidden base.*

Espio: "Thread... If you are being truthful... Then..."

Thread: "No. Don't finish that... I regret enough of my actions with you opening more old wounds." *Copies files on the monitor to a USB and takes it.* "There. I've got what I came for."

Espio: "Then... You are leaving..."

*There is a pause between them, Thread looking at Espio before sighing. She then approaches the chameleon...and hugs him.*

Thread: "...Give Knuckles the suggestion to move Albion here. They'll be safer here than down there... Say you got the security systems up and running. And as for Eggman's tracking... I disabled it so he can't locate the floating island again."

Espio: "You... He was tracking us?"

Thread: "Indeed. It is mostly so he could return to take the Master Emerald if he wanted to. Knuckles is tough, but easily distracted. As demonstrated today..."

*Espio falls silent, seeing no way to refute or rebuttal that claim. Thread walks by him as they part ways. Espio turns to look at her, but she is already gone.*

Charmy: "Espio!? Where are you!?"

*Espio hears Charmy and walks out to greet the bee.*

Charmy: "Did you find Thread?"

Espio: "No... She...eluded me... And I couldn't find anything that suggested she came here..."

Charmy: "Really? Huh... You think Manik's accounts were off?"

Espio: "No. We may have just missed her..." *Shakes his head before walking by Charmy.* "Come on. Let's head back to Albion and talk to Knuckles. I may have an idea to help out his people."

Charmy: "Really? Cool! Can I hear it!?"

Espio: "Only if you don't spoil the surprise."

Charmy: "Yay!" *Grabs Espio by the arms and starts carrying him off the island and back towards Albion.*

*Thread looks on from where she hid, sighing as she pulled out a communicator.*

Thread: "Your majesty... It's Thread. I got the backdoor files. With it, Eggman's security won't be so airtight and we can look into his schemes in real time. Be sure this USB reaches Rotor." *Closes her communicator before vanishing into the shadows.*

To be continued...