RETRIEVAL
Mighty stretched out his arms as he looked over the trashed lobby. Unconscious legionnaires were all over the place. Blaster holes from laser fire made the walls look like Swiss cheese. Sonic smirked as he stood over a pile of moaning legionnaires. "Where is Julie-Su?!?!" Knuckles yelled as he slammed a legionnaire against the wall. "L-l-level...th-th-thre-ee..." the legionnaire moaned as he lost consciousness. Knuckles looked up at the door leading farther into the fortress and sprinted through it. When the others went after him, more legionnaires confronted them, but Knuckles was nowhere to be seen.
Julie-Su and Kommisar stood on either side of Dimitri, who sat patiently in his chair. Several legionnaires stood between them and the door, but Dimitri knew that they weren't enough. "Sire! The Guardian is coming up the stairs!" one of them yelled. "Good. On your guard, troops," Dimitri said with a smirk. First, there was a slam at that door, and then the door came flying at them! Knuckles used the door as a shield and tackled it into the unsuspecting legionnaires. In a matter of seconds, he had defeated them all without landing a single punch.
"Dimitri," Knuckles growled. "AH! Knuckles! How nice of you to join us! Please make yourself at home!" Dimitri said formally, as if Knuckles was his guest. "You see, Julie-Su? He's here to make your life more difficult. He already broke your sweet little heart, and now he's trying to destroy your family. How does this make you feel?" Dimitri asked her. Julie-Su just glared at Knuckles. "Kommisar, will you greet our guest?" Dimitri said as he motioned his hand for her to go to him. "Hello, Knuckles," Kommisar said with a mischievous smirk as she walked towards him with a whip in her hand. "You aren't the one I'm here to talk to, so back off!" Knuckles snarled. "Ooh! Julie-Su was right! You do have an attitude!" she said as she circled him, "What a physique! And that hat makes you look ! I find that attractive in a male," she said to his ear as she placed her hands on his shoulders. Julie-Su was getting more and more enraged. She couldn't stand too much more of this. She didn't care that Knuckles was with someone else, because she saw it coming, but why did it have to be Kommisar?
"Sorry, but I don't like older women!" Knuckles growled at her as he remover her hands. "Apparently you don't like ugly ones either," Kommisar said as she looked back at Julie-Su, who began to build up tears in her eyes. "Shut your damn mouth," Knuckles snarled as he shoved Kommisar out of the way and began to walk towards Julie-Su. "This is what you left for, Julie? This torment? You think these two are your family? This isn't a family at all! These are just a bunch of cutthroat murderers! Dimitri is trying to manipulate you and Kommisar is making you feel like crap! Forget them! Come-"'BANG!!!' Knuckles' eyes widened as he began to weakly moan. He felt a cold feeling in his stomach. He lifted his hands off of his stomach to see that his gloves were soaked in blood. He looked down at his stomach. He had been shot. "Never turn your back on a sexy woman!" Kommisar said with a smirk as she walked by him with a smoking pistol. "A bullet works so much better than a laser," she whispered in his ear. He took a staggering step towards Julie-Su and fell down in front of her. She was in shock. "You didn't say you were gonna shoot him!" Julie-Su said to Dimitri. "I thought you wanted him to suffer for what he did to you?" Dimitri said with an evil smile.
Julie-Su wasn't sure how she was feeling. She was still enraged at Knuckles, but this seemed so...wrong. He desperately tried to crawl to her with one hand on his stomach. He finally grabbed her hand and pulled her down towards him and whispered, "J-J-Julie...r-rem-member who y-your f-amily is..." he said as he fell to the floor. As his hand fell limply from her hand, he left something in it. Before she could look at it, the Freedom Fighters came rushing in, and stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of Knuckles on the ground, with a trail of blood behind him. They all looked up at Julie-Su with shocked faces. Tears began to fall from her eyes as she shook her head at them, a look of guilt on her face. Suddenly, a large group of armed legionnaires flooded the room, surrounding them. "Guards, take the intruders to the holding cells," Dimitri said as he motioned behind him for three legionnaires to come to him. "You know where to take the Guardian. Hurry now, before he bleeds to death, though he wouldn't with his healing abilities, now would he? Too bad. Waste of a good rug," Dimitri said with a sigh as the legionnaires carefully moved Knuckles, revealing a large bloodstain on the rug.
Julie-Su, tears still pouring down her guilt ridden face, watched as Knuckles was dragged to who knows where, while the others were being taken to the holding cells. "I always knew you'd betray us! I can't believe I actually began to trust you! You backstabbing bit-"Vector yelled as the door slammed behind them, cutting off his remark. Julie-Su looked at what Knuckles had left in her hand. It was a photograph of herself with the Chaotix and him. Their first group picture. Now, it was hard to see if you weren't looking for it, but if you were, you could see Julie-Su and Knuckles holding hands behind their backs. That would explain their pleasant smiles. There was a drop of blood on the picture, but a tear from her face washed it away. Julie-Su looked up and remembered what Knuckles had struggled so hard to say. "Remember who your family is." She took a deep breath and wiped her tears away. She knew what she had to do.
"Anyone got any bright ideas on how to get out of here?" Rotor asked as he observed their cell. The walls were made of solid concrete, and an energy field blocked the door. "Sonic, could you phase through the wall?" Sally asked. They all frowned when he shook his head. "I'd need a lot of room to build up enough speed. This cell is nowhere near big enough," Sonic said. They all sat in silence for a few minutes, until a door from outside the cell opened up. Three armed legionnaires walked in. One armed with a laser rifle, the other two dragging Knuckles! He was conscious, but seemed to be very groggy. The energy field dropped, and they tossed Knuckles in with the rest of them. After that, the field closed again and they left the room. "Knux! You okay, man?" Mighty asked. "Yeah...I feel great after taking a freakin' bullet!" Knuckles said weakly. "How come you're so weak? I mean, your healing ability-""I think they might of drugged me while I was out," Knuckles said as he weakly sat up.
Suddenly, the door opened again, and this time, Julie-Su walked in. Everyone but Knuckles was glaring at her as she stood in front of the energy field. "What do you want?" Amy spat. "I can't believe this. I always thought Vec was wrong about you. I guess he was right," Mighty said. "For once in his life," Espio commented. "Hey! I saw right through the witch's plan! Get cozy with us and take us out with her buddies!" Julie-Su started crying and began to yell at them. "I didn't ask for you to come after me! It's your own fault!" Her eyes finally met with Knuckles' and she stopped. "Did you think about what I said?" he asked. She pulled out the picture he gave her earlier and looked at it. "Are they your family...or are we?" Knuckles asked.
Now wearing Dark Legion uniforms, the escaped prisoners followed Julie-Su through the base towards the entrance, where they could make their escape. "Can we trust her?" Vector asked. "I do," Mighty said, regretting what he had said earlier about Julie-Su. All was going well until they were confronted by Xenin! "Where are you all going?" Xenin asked. "Lord Dimitri has assigned us to relieve the patrol unit," Julie-Su said calmly. Sally was amazed at how quickly and calmly Julie-Su had reacted to Xenin's sudden question. "I don't recall Lord Dimitri giving that order...Let me check with him," Xenin said as he opened up the communicator in his wrist. "Sorry, buddy!" Rouge yelled as she kicked him in the head, knocking him out. "The intruders have escaped!!!" a legionnaire yelled from down the hall. "RUN!!!" Julie-Su yelled as she motioned for them to follow her. When they re-entered the lobby, there were several legionnaires armed with laser rifles that began to open fire upon them! Mighty quickly threw himself in the way, using his armored back as a shield. Sonic ran and quickly grabbed their rifles, disarming them. The legionnaires looked down at their empty hands, then up at the group of heroes charging at them.
As Knuckles was about to help the others plow through their last obstacle, he felt something wrap around his neck! He grabbed it and gasped for air as he tried to loosen it's grip. Suddenly, he started hearing Kommisar chuckling behind him. She walked out in front of him, holding a whip in her hand. "So, you don't like older women, huh?" She said as she tightened her whip around his neck. "Perhaps I can change your mind," she said as she put her free arm around him and kissed him. Knuckles wanted to push her off of him, but that would mean getting strangled. Kommisar turned around when she felt a tapping on her shoulder, only to come face to face with Julie-Su. "You're such a slut!" Julie-Su yelled as she punched her in the face, knocking her flat. Knuckles unraveled the whip and gasped for air. "Th-thanks," he panted. "This doesn't change anything between us," Julie-Su said. "I...under-stand," Knuckles said, still gasping for air as he stood up and followed the others out of the fortress.
They all quickly ran into the woods and jumped onto the ship. "It's weird. They didn't chase us into the woods," Espio said. "Maybe they gave up," Amy suggested. "Not Dimitri," Knuckles growled. "G-guys...I-I'm sorry about...well, all of this. I don't deserve to call you guys my friends," Julie-Su said quietly. "You deserve it more than you could ever imagine," Sally said with a smile. "I...guess I owe you an apology," Vector said. "Why Ah'll be! There's a change!" Bunnie said. "Let's get you home. Where you belong," Mighty said with a smile. Julie-Su felt tears rolling down her face, but these were tears of happiness.
During the flight, everyone had drifted off to sleep as Nicole piloted the jet through radio waves. Julie-Su sat in the back of the jet, staring out the window. "Can I join you?" Rouge asked. "Sure," Julie-Su said with a sigh. "Listen, I want to apologize for the situation I got you in to," "Please! Don't say that! It wasn't your fault," Julie-Su said, turning to Rouge. "What about Knuckles?" Rouge asked. Julie-Su turned away and stared out the window again. "Nothing. I don't care anymore," she whispered. "I never meant to come between you," Rouge said. "In fact," Rouge said with a strange look in her eyes, "I'm not even sure if I like boys." Julie-Su turned around to face her, shocked at her statement. Rouge chuckled and said, "Got ya!" Julie-Su smiled and sighed in relief. "You suck. You really do," she said. "You should have seen your face!" Rouge said as they began to quietly giggle. "I hope that you and I can become friends," Rouge said. "I'd like that," Julie-Su replied.
Julie-Su never felt happier in her small apartment. It felt like a palace now. She smiled and decided to walk out onto the balcony for some air, and saw a familiar face walking down the street. 'Oh, what a surprise to see him,' she thought to herself sarcastically. Knuckles, still wearing his hat and belt, walked by the apartment and looked up at her. He waved and she waved back out of politeness. She could see a weak smile on his face, but she couldn't find it in herself to smile back. "Hey. Listen," he began, "I was wondering...if we could go back to the way we started off. You know...be friends," he said. She sighed, but nodded. "I have no problem with that, but we'll never be anything more. Never again," she said. "And I accept and understand that. I have no objections." They stood there for a moment, until he finally said, "Well...I need to go. You probably wanna sleep anyway, so...bye," he said weakly with a wave. "Bye," she said as she stepped back into her apartment. "Well...at least we're friends," Knuckles whispered to himself. He turned away from the apartment and continued to walk down the lonely street until he was out of sight.
Epilogue
"Do you think they suspect anything, my lord?" Xenin asked. "No, and by the time they figure it out, it will be too late," Dimitri snickered. Kommisar rubbed her now swollen cheek. "When I get my hands on that little skank, I'll-""Patience, granddaughter," Dimitri said, "Very soon, she, along with the rest of the world will bow before me! For now, I have the ultimate engine of destruction! Not even our young Guardian friend can overcome this evil! Knuckles is going to wish that he was never born!" Dimitri began to chuckle, but then broke out into an evil, malicious laughter that echoed through the base and the woods.
Author's Note: Well, that's it for this one! Hope you all enjoyed it. In case you felt it wasn't actiony enough, I'll let you in on a little secret...This story was just a stepping stone for my next fic, which will have you on the edge of your seat! I'll get it up as soon as I can! L8r!