Omega returned to the present, and shook his head. This Fractured Time was getting weirder and weirder… he had been… somewhere underground, as if he had not come back to himself, and something had happened… but the memory was fading. It wasn't supposed to be his memory.
"Well?" asked Bane. "What's the report?"
Omega focused. He had spent way too much experience in the Fractured Time, and it was hard to re-adjust. "Um… do you want the short version, or the long version?"
"Short, then if it doesn't explain enough, long."
"Right. We need Knuckles to come with us in order to beat E-151c, because the Queen version needs to be sealed in the Fractured Time."
"Hold up… what?" Rachael interrupted.
Omega scratched his head. "Well, scrap that theory. I'll just put the stuff I learned in the TPO archives… along with the Legacy of Kun'nuk'kles. You want to know what I do, read that," he said firmly, and turned on his uplink.
He re-logged on, and began uploading the knowledge from his mind into the archives. This took approximately two tenths of a second. "Intriguing…" murmured Bane. "So the Chaos Oath only works for the descendants of the Echidnas?"
Omega deactivated the uplink, and looked at Bane. "I can't lie to the Archive. It's a mix of science and Magic."
Bane snorted. "There's no such thing as magic, not in this world, anyway. Everything magical here came from Mobius."
"Oh, yes?" Omega sneered. "And how do you think that you've stayed so young over these years?"
"That's different. My metabolism-"
"Has absolutely nothing to do with it. I'll bet that all those millennia ago, someone saw in you a great potential, am I right?"
"Yes, it was the original founders of the TPO, but-"
"And those founders were referred to as the Seven Sages, right?"
"Well, yes. That's in the archives, just like everything else-"
"Hmmph. You are the victim of your own logic, you know that?" said Omega, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "You yourself are a SPELLSWORD. That's what the SS class is. And you won't acknowledge the thing that keeps you alive? Amazing. You may not believe in magic, Agent Bane… but obviously, magic still believes in YOU."
And with that, Omega turned away, to jump into the Learjet. And then, the world went gray. Again. Omega looked around. This was not the Fractured Time, he was sure. This was a true time-stop. And Bane was there, too. "You have not the right…" said Bane, in barely a whisper, but easily heard in this soundless place. "You have not the right to judge me. You don't know. You can't know. I hid it from the archives, so only I know. You think you know everything, little cat. But you know nothing. I don't believe in magic. It couldn't save her. It refused to save her. Until you learn, little cat, do not judge. But you won't learn from me."
Bane was glaring straight at Omega, his eyes blazing. "Why did you have to remind me? Why did you have to figure it out? No one has even thought about that SS class, not until you. Why did you have to be so clever, little cat?" he said, his voice rising ever so slightly. "It couldn't save her. It wouldn't save her. Instead, it saved me. Why did it save me, little cat? If you're so clever, tell me why it didn't save her, and saved me, instead?"
"Bane… you're being irrational," said Omega, carefully.
Bane laughed, a horribly harsh laugh. "I'm being perfectly rational, little cat. You just don't understand me. Why don't you understand me? Tell me, if you're so clever, little cat?"
"Stop calling me little, Bane. I'm warning you. Let me out of this. You're not being yourself."
"On the contrary, little cat!" Bane screamed. "I'm being myself for the first time in millennia! The pain, the loss… they were almost gone! And then, you came, and awakened them with your talk of magic!"
Enough was enough. Bane was obviously not himself. Out of the corner of his eye, Omega saw a chain in the bottom of the jet's cockpit. Probably a leftover from the last user… but the important thing was that it was rusted, red rust. He reached down slowly, and took it up. "This is your last chance, Bane. Let me out, and calm down." He said.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I won't let you out. The world will die before you come out of here. You'll be here for eternity, even longer, for awakening that which slept!" he shouted, his eyes bulging.
With that, Omega's eyes narrowed. Then, he threw the chain, straight at Bane. His eyes went even wider, and lifted his hand. A blast of magical energy came out, straight at the chain. It had absolutely no effect. It struck Bane in the head, cracking one of the lenses of his sunglasses. Color returned as Bane fell, unconscious. "You can't magic iron, Bane. One of the basics. Anyone who knows anything about magic knows that," Omega muttered.
Rachael, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles looked shocked. "What the hell happened to him?" Rachael demanded.
"He… was a bit overtaxed. Apparently, I struck a chord with him on the subject of magic. It's a good thing that you can't magic iron, or I would be stuck in a timeless void for all of eternity…"
"But… why? How could something like that get to someone like Bane?"
"It's… simple, really…" Bane said, slowly sitting up. "Oh, don't worry… I've regained my senses. But you're not going to find out about it. Not from me."
"You have a bit of explaining to do, in any case. What the hell just happened?"
"None of your business…" Bane snapped, pulling a new pair of sunglasses, identical to the first, from his coat.
"Let's just leave him be…" Omega murmured to Rachael.
Then, he turned to Knuckles. "Knuckles…" he said. "We're going to need your help."
Knuckles sighed. "I had thought as much," he muttered. "I can't do it, though. The Master Emerald-"
Just then, the Master Emerald pulsed with an urgent light. "What?" Knuckles said, confused. "You WANT me to go?"
The Master Emerald pulsed again, a bit less urgently. "Oh, all right… do you want to come with?"
There was no response. "Stay out of trouble, then."
Knuckles turned to Omega. "Looks like I'm coming with you."
"Excellent. Although it may be a bit crowded in the jet…"
"You'll have to stay here for a while, though. I have to get ready. That'll take until morning, at least."
"What? What the hell are we supposed to do until then?" demanded Rachael.
"I don't know… gather wood for all I care," Knuckles responded.
And with that, he turned and faced the Master Emerald. He sat, bowed his head, and closed his eyes. Bane pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Look…" he said. "A lot has happened in not a lot of time… lets go our separate ways for now, and come back for him in the morning…"
