Chapter 11 – Guilty Conscience.
The first indication they had that things had gone wrong was when the smoke bomb went off.
Completely lost in the thick, black residue from the explosion, the four would-be ambushers were blind to the events that were being played out in the cabin itself. As soon as he had neutralised the major threat, Seraph was sprinting for the door, concealed by the night and the smoke from his grenade. He could hear a mighty scramble from inside the structure and the door was beginning to open. Launching himself forwards in a flat out dive, he took the surprised doorman in the chest.
Amy screamed as Shadow crashed back through the door he had just opened with a second, equally dark figure latched onto him. Her Piko Piko hammer was instantly in her hands but she knew she couldn't use it safely yet; she was as likely to hit Shadow as Seraph as the two wrestled on the floor. Tails, realising his plan had gone up in smoke and feeling pretty peeved about it jumped right in, pounding with his fists and snapping with his sharp teeth. However, brave as Shadow and Tails were, they didn't have the experience and knowledge that Seraph did in fighting. Loosening a single arm from the melee, the dark angel threw a short but brutal punch that sent Shadow reeling away choking and span to his feet, assessing the situation as both Tails and Amy rallied.
No targets. Law states kidnap illegal. Require medium to repay debt. Medium discovered.
There was no indication as Seraph suddenly moved, darting forwards and dodging the swing of Amy's hammer, getting within its sweep. Tails threw himself at the assassin, determined not to let him hurt the female hedgehog and rewarded as his teeth sank into one of Seraph's arm guards, though he couldn't penetrate the oily fabric. However, his target seemed unfazed and gripped onto the handle of the famous pink hammer as Amy brought it back for a second swing. Shaking Tails off momentarily, Seraph twisted the hammer handle as he tugged, forcing Amy to let go or risk breaking her own wrists. As soon as it was clear, the black clad demon was away, vaulting over Shadow's kneeling form as the black hedgehog fought for breath, then back outside, the cover afforded by his grenade dissipating as he raced for the tree line. The extra weight of the hammer slowed him a little, but it was overall immaterial as the others regrouped to check the damage his assault had wrought.
"Shadow", Nack coughed the thick, black residue out of his lungs before trying again, "Tails, Amy – talk to me". As his stinging eyes cleared, the weasel raced towards the door of his cabin, praying that by some miracle the ones he had tried to protect would be safe. As he got to his destination, he heard a voice that pierced his heart with pure, sweet relief,
"Nack, we're all fine, he didn't hurt us. Shadow took a hit but that's all". As his eyes swept around, he felt light-headed with relief as he saw that Tails wasn't wrong; Shadow was recapturing his breath as he pushed himself to his knees but neither of the two younger Mobians looked touched. Before he could get a closer look, he was forcibly shoved to one side as Sonic blazed in, almost beside himself with worry.
"Tails, Amy what happened; if that psycho's touched…"
"Cool it Sonic", Shadow gasped as he regained his feet, "we're all okay, he just stole our weapons". Weapons; the blue hedgehog stood still for a second in confusion before he caught a look at Amy. The tears in her eyes and the quiet, heartbroken tone in her usually bubbly voice tore at Sonic's spirit as she whispered,
"My hammer, he took my hammer". Maybe the psychological warfare paid off, but the sight of Amy crying finally did it for Sonic; the red mist descended and, shrugging off the weasels' hand, he raced off into the jungle in pursuit of the assassin.
"What the hell was that?" The wind that buffeted Rouge was alien to her but instantly recognisable to Knuckles. The echidna swore and grabbed her arm,
"That was Sonic; c'mon, we gotta get after him before he does something stupid".
"Too late isn't it?" the bat remarked as she took off after the echidna, shouting over her shoulder for the others to stay inside.
There was nothing in Sonic's mind beyond the thought of exacting bloody, painful vengeance on Seraph. First he had messed all of their heads around for three days, now he had the gall to try and steal something from one of Sonic's closest friends. When I get through with you, you'll have a damn good reason for wearing a mask Sonic cursed as he picked up a trail; he was nowhere near as skilled as Knuckles at tracking, but even he could follow this. His blistering speed left his allies behind as he sped towards the end of his trail.
False trail successful. Proceed to endpoint. Medium prepared.
"Here", Rouge shouted as her eyes quickly spotted the churned up mud and plants that seemed to follow wherever Sonic ran to. Knuckles hurried to her side and nodded,
"Yeah, that's Sonic all right, but this trail's false", he touched a snapped twig, a surprisingly gentle movement for someone with hands as large as his, "see, the sap's dried, this was done hours ago".
"Would Sonic know that?"
"Not a chance". The two treasure hunters met eyes as they arrived at the same conclusion; Sonic was running down a blind alley trap. Both pushed off, Rouge whispering down the radio Tails had given her for the rest to sit tight and wait for them.
Due to the fact he tended to move at high speed, Sonic's brain was able to process information at a rate that most scientists would have described as astounding. As such, he was able to follow a trail despite moving fast enough to set the sound barrier creaking. However, seeing something was only half the battle; he had to have enough time to react to it as well. Sonic saw the trap as the trail began to peter out, but with his mind occupied with visions of ripping Seraph limb from limb messily, he didn't have time to react. His right foot landed squarely in the middle of the snare and immediately it tightened, pitching him flat on his face and causing him to gasp in pain; it was too tight, cutting off the circulation to his foot completely. Growling, the hedgehog flipped over, trying to loosen the wire before it did any more damage; the longer he was delayed here the more chance Seraph had of getting away. He was so preoccupied with trying to free himself that he barely noticed as something arced over his head and landed behind him with a thud. He spared it the briefest of glances; it was only due to his remarkable brain that he actually recognised it at all. He did a spectacular double take, palms beginning to sweat as the Piko Piko hammer lay in the dirt. A shadow fell over him and Sonic felt himself in the presence of the enemy.
Research again useful. Sonic Hedgehog prone to acting irrationally. Use to deliver medium.
With his enemy sliding out of the bushes in front of him, Sonic felt the anger within him reignite with a fierce flame. Roaring incoherently, the blue hedgehog threw himself forwards, curling into a ball and preparing for impact. Unfortunately for him, Seraph designed his traps well as there wasn't enough give in the snare for the attack to succeed properly; Seraph stepped backwards, denying the hedgehog a fair hit as Sonic reacquainted himself with the forest floor. He felt a rush of air and a foot pressed into the hedgehog's back. Sonic swore and prepared himself for the pain that was sure to follow. There was a second air rush and the pressure suddenly released, Seraph springing away as Sonic threw himself to his feet, snarling and getting ready to attack.
So that's Seraph then the furious hedgehog thought quickly, trying to think what would work best against him, well, that was stupid; you should have got me when you had the chance. As Sonic prepared to act, he tensed as one of Seraph's hands moved slowly downwards, seemingly pointing at something in the floor. Sonic gave a tight smile,
"Yeah, like I'm falling for that one" he shouted as he revved up and ran straight at Seraph, using his traditional homing attack to weaken the former guild member.
Hedgehog oblivious. Avoid and show.
As the blue ball flew towards him, Seraph threw himself forwards and rolled under the aerial attack. Sonic landed and span on his heel, the positions of the two combatants swapped. Seraph pushed himself upright as Sonic sneered,
"Nice move, but you can't dodge forever". The dark figure didn't reply, instead crouching down slowly, hand descending to the floor. Sonic tensed, ready for treachery as it moved up again, holding something; on closer inspection, Sonic was jolted as he actually saw what it was and he finally noticed the Sypder in Seraph's other hand.
The snare dangled uselessly in the black glove, the trapping wire neatly bisected by the fine blade.
He caught me, then let me go, why? Sonic's mind was in turmoil; the anger drained out of him as Seraph, realising that Sonic was no longer trying to fight him, snapped the deadly blade shut and replaced it on his belt. The blue hedgehog shook his head, coming back to himself as he tried to fathom out Seraph's modus operandi.
"You, you're seriously messed up", was the best he could come up with in the circumstances, "what the hell was that all about?" Sonic folded his arms as Seraph pointed to the hammer, then pointed to Sonic.
"Right, you want me to have the hammer? After you stole it?" The blue hedgehog was becoming increasingly confused as Seraph nodded, then pointed at him again, and indicated the way he had come; he seemed to be telling Sonic to go back. Keeping his eyes trained on the blue hedgehog, Seraph made his way slowly backwards when the hedgehog's voice stopped him,
"Hey, why the hell didn't you finish me off?" despite the fact he could have died, Sonic had to know, "I was helpless, why are you letting me go?" Sonic snorted as the black clad Mobian slid away and he knelt to pick up his hammer.
"Harm not the innocent".
It was a dry, throaty whisper, the voice rusty from ill use. As Sonic realised who it was who had spoken, he stared at the ground where Seraph had been; the assassin had vanished. He was in such shock it took a few minute for the fact someone was calling his name to register.
"Sonic", Knuckles had decided to hell with subtlety and was roaring at the top of his lungs, fearing for the blue hedgehog's safety, "Sonic, where are you? Answer me damn it". He fell silent as Rouge twitched her ears, listening for any possible response. Even he, however, could hear it as something approached from down the trail. It was moving fast and Knuckles felt his spirits rise a little at this fact; he doubted Seraph would want to alert his targets by moving so quickly.
"Sonic, where, you got the hammer?" The lecture Rouge had planned disappeared straight out of her head as the blue hedgehog appeared from the opposite direction, moving more slowly than usual due to the unwieldy nature of the weapon he now carried. He pulled up in front of the pair, face troubled and voice quiet.
"Hold on, you two; we've got some serious talking to do". Knuckles and Rouge swapped a glance and then silently held onto Sonic, the echidna holding the Piko Piko hammer do its weight was evenly distributed and it didn't upset the hedgehog's equilibrium. Taking a deep breath, the hedgehog sped off into the lightening gloom, heading for the cabin, unaware that he was being followed.
"Come on Sonic; we've been through too much for you not to come back from this". Tails muttered under his breath, fearfully watching out of the cabin door with Shadow as Nack was inside with Amy. The pink hedgehog was beside herself with guilt; both for letting her hammer be taken and then for Sonic running off after it. The weasel was doing all in his power short of physically restraining her to stop Amy running after him, quietly intoning filthy curses on the head of Seraph and all his family unto the thousandth generation. Tails looked up at Shadow, the black hedgehog was worried though he was doing his best to hide it. Probably to avoid panicking me the fox thought glumly, resuming his prayers to ensure his brother's safe return. As if in divine answer, there was a sudden screech as Sonic pulled up just outside, allowing Rouge and Knuckles to disembark. Icy relief poured out of Tails as he whispered his thanks and a pink blur shot past him, glomping onto the front of Sonic.
"Sonikku, you're safe" Amy cried; not one of her normal bone breaking hugs, this was a gentle squeeze that just reaffirmed to her that he was actually there. To the surprise of most concerned, Sonic didn't jerk away or try to pry her loose; he simply gripped her shoulders softly, holding still as the female hedgehog took reassurance that her hero was unscathed.
"So, you made it back then?" Shadow had a quirky smile on his face, trying to conceal how relieved he actually was as he offered his hand and Tails joined Amy in hugging the blue hedgehog. To his concern, his blue counterpart was totally serious as he shook and answered quietly,
"Yes, I'm alright, but I shouldn't be", he raised his voice as the two younger Mobians let go and stepped back a bit, "everyone, we need to talk about this. Inside now, oh and Amy", he offered her the hammer he'd managed to rescue from his shadowy enemy; "this suits you better than me".
"Thanks Sonic" she said softly, giving him a smile that nearly made him melt as she followed him inside.
Once within the security of the log house, Sonic recounted his adventure to the others, telling them exactly what had happened and the incidents that had led to the recovery of Amy's hammer. There was silence as the hedgehog concluded,
"So he just gave it back to me. He could have done pretty much anything to me but he didn't, he just cut the snare and let me go", the hedgehog reclined on his sleeping bag, the narrowness of his escape finally getting to him, "he said something about not harming the innocent and then poof, just gone". Nack stared hard at Sonic as he said the last sentence.
"Hold up a sec; what did he say, exactly? This could be important". Sonic racked his brain, trying to remember Seraph's exact words,
"He said 'harm not the innocent'" he managed to stutter at last, causing the weasel to sink down with a relieved look on his face.
"So that's it; he's still goin' by the rules".
"Of course", Rouge slapped a hand to her head, cursing herself for not realising it earlier as several puzzle pieces came together nicely, "that's why he hasn't attacked any of you five". She indicated everyone bar Nack and herself. As their confusion became more evident, Nack continued,
"Remember I said about the guild laws, well one of them was not to hurt anyone who got in the way of your mission unless it was necessary – harm not the innocent".
"So that's why he didn't go for anyone when he broke in here", Tails snapped his fingers, "neither of you two were in here, so by that rule, he couldn't attack us because we were innocent. So why'd he snatch the mallet?" the fox gave voice to his thoughts.
"No idea about that, but that law's probably what saved your blue hide", Knuckles pointed at Sonic, "and why he didn't attack me until I was between him and where you two were staying; I wasn't in his way before, so he couldn't go for me". Just as well the echidna thought privately.
"If that's the case, it appears Seraph is still living by the laws of this guild", Shadow intoned solemnly, "what were the other laws the guild had? If we know about these, we can perhaps use them to out advantage".
"Nice thought Blackie, now there…"
"Don't call me Blackie" Shadow growled at Nack, swallowing the unmeant insult like a toxic pill. Nack raised his eyebrows before continuing,
"There was that one, you stole only the specifics, er…"
"Follow the contract and the contract alone", Rouge chipped in before looking hard at Amy, a small frown on her face as she remembered the final, fourth law, "and always leave your mark at the scene of the crime".
Leave the mark. Debt to target repaid.
There was a clunk as Amy dropped her hammer into view, carefully scrutinising it for any marks of any sort. No-one knew her weapon as well as she did and quickly she realised one of the hearts that adorned the hammer haft was loose. Carefully moving it aside, she realised there was a piece of folded paper tucked neatly under the pink heart.
"It's here" she said simply as she extracted it with her nimble fingers. All six clustered round as she unfolded the paper. It was a small piece, and it was nearly brown with age. It showed the outline of the angel, but this time it appeared wrong; the left wing was totally missing leaving the mark unfinished, and on the right corner of the paper was a faded, dark brown stain. Under the angel in black pen with a neat hand were two words: Remember this?
Nack's world shattered.
The weasel threw himself backwards, staggering drunkenly as the memories he had hidden deepest resurfaced, tearing at his mind and threatening to destroy his sanity. He tried to tear his gaze away, stop looking at the dreaded mark, especially this mark, but failing as fear paralysed his reactions. In the kaleidoscope of images that spiralled in his mind, a single, recurring thought pummelled at his mind. It's me, he's after me, just me! As his adrenaline kicked in, he made the only choice available to him; he ran.
All six were startled as Nack had moved, staring as the weasel jammed his hat down on his head, minds numb as his eyes unfocussed, mouth working as he tried in vain to exercise a nameless demon. With a sudden burst, the bounty hunter simply turned and ran headlong, barely pausing to open the door as he threw himself out of it. Shadow reacted first,
"Hey", the black hedgehog raced off after the weasel, mind hammering as he avoided turning on his shoes, "Nack, stop". Once outside, Shadow was easily able to outdistance the fleeing treasure hunter, flooring him with a well timed tackle.
"Hold it, Seraph's still out here".
"Let me go", Nack's words were shrill with hysteria, his eyes still unfocused and on the verge of hyperventilation, "he can't be stopped, he'll…" any further words were lost as the black hedgehog brought his hand back and slapped the weasel hard across the face, silencing his protests as Shadow tried to instil some sense of rationality into him. Eyes darting around to try and see if the area was clear, the hedgehog pulled Nack to his feet as someone else arrived; it was Rouge and Sonic, the bat in particular looking particularly concerned.
"Help me get him inside" the ultimate life-form said curtly, half-carrying, half-dragging the almost comatose weasel towards the sanctuary of Knuckle's cabin with the assistance of the other two.
Unexpectedly violent reaction. Move swiftly – capitalisation possible.
The other three were waiting for them; Knuckles pulled up the single chair and Amy dragged out a pink thermos flask, pouring out some tea as Nack slumped down into the chair, breathing gradually slowing down as slowly, he gathered what few wits he still had functioning. Approaching carefully, the hedgehog offered the cup,
"Here, drink this" she said in a placating tone of voice, hoping to try and calm the weasel down. There was no immediate reaction but eventually he looked up at her, eyes dull and almost lifeless as he silently reached forwards, seemingly lacking the energy to even hold the light plastic cup. Everyone waited with baited breath as he slowly sipped, the warmth of the liquid the only source of heat his numb body had at the minute. It's because of me; I'm the reason behind all of this; the thought ran through his mind over and over again, never slowing or ceasing for an instant. There was no hiding any more; if they'd had any suspicions before, that gut reaction had been as obvious a giveaway as you could ask for. At the back of his mind, Nack realised that all before had been a prelude; Seraph had toyed with him before delivering this hammer blow, hoping to flush him out into the open and damn him, it had so nearly worked. Finishing the drink, Nack swallowed and turned his eyes to all six of his new found friends; as he'd expected, they were waiting for an answer. Summoning up every ounce of courage and resolve he had left, the weasel spoke,
"I'm sorry".
"What about?" Rouge spoke gently, as though addressing a child; in his current state of mind Nack was capable of pretty much anything. She was worried, more nervous than she had been at any other time during this crisis; in all the time she'd known him, she'd never seen Nack lose his cool as bad as that. Her eyes darted to the note that Seraph had attached to the hammer, wondering what it meant and how it was connected to Nack. The weasel raised his eyes to meet hers and the tears in them couldn't be ignored. His voice was a mere croak as he answered,
"About all of this", she saw tears leak out the corners of his eyes as he lowered his head, trying to contain himself, "it's all my fault. I'm the one he's after, not you or Jess or Razzy, just me". Sonic spoke carefully as he sat down; even his poor standards of reading people could see that Nack was on the verge of breaking down as something terrible was pushing against his barriers.
"Why would it be your fault Nack? Seraph's after the guild and…"
"No", there was urgency in his voice now as he hissed the word venomously, "he wants me. He wants me dead".
"Nack, there's no reason to say that…" Rouge began, remembering their conversation at the airport; Jess had been taken alive as far as they knew, so why would Seraph want Nack dead, not the others?
"He wants me dead because", the weasel fortified himself, in a life of hard knocks, this was rating as possibly the hardest thing he'd ever done, "because seven years ago, I, I nearly, killed him". As Nack lowered his head and wept silently, the reactions of the other seven people involved in this business began to play out.
"Nack", Tails began, the fox pulling his sleeping bag tightly around himself to try and warm up a little, "I think you need to get some sleep. I'll take your watch and let you settle for the night". He was brought up short by the weasel's sob-choked voice,
"No, not no more", the weasel regarded Tails with blurred vision, trying to convey the urgency he was feeling; if he didn't say this now, he doubted he'd ever be rid of this millstone round his neck, "I gotta do this, and now, you gotta know…" The fox nodded mutely as Knuckles said solemnly,
"All right Nack, what's all this about", the echidna fished something off the cabin floor, "and what's the significance of this?" he asked, holding up the browned paper. Nack moaned and turned away from it, shaking uncontrollably as Shadow took the paper from Knuckles, concealing the dreaded outline. Rouge stepped forwards, gently putting a hand on the weasel's jacket shoulder and speaking calmly,
"Nack, tell us in your own time; we've got plenty. How did you get involved in that mark?" Swallowing bitterly, Nack put his hand gently on hers, taking strength from the fact at least one of the guild was here. Steeling himself as well as he could in the circumstances, he took a final, shuddering breath and started speaking,
"When, when we all saw what Seraph had done, there was an emergency meeting; just me, Jess, Chalkie and Razzy. We met up at the warehouse and, and we decided what to do next". The weasel paused, allowing Rouge to ask,
"I never knew about this meeting".
"We didn't want you involved; it wasn't your problem", Nack spoke as answer, "it was just the other original four members of the guild. We had to decide what to do next; no-one, not even Chalkie, thought Seraph would have committed a murder. We all met to try and explain it, but most important, we had to do something about Seraph. To us, he wasn't even a guild member any more – he was just a killer who'd led us on. It wasn't an easy choice, but in the end", Nack broke off, unable to continue for a minute as the images of that chaotic gathering crowded his mind; Razzy, bless his soft heart, had broken down in floods of tears when Jess had told him of the crime and Chalkie had needed restraining to avoid going after the killer alone, "we made a choice". Nack didn't need to explain to everyone what had been agreed; he could see Rouge and Tails widen their eyes, horror struck. The foxboy huddled down deeper in his sleeping bag, whispering,
"You all…"
"Not quite", Nack decided to spell it out at least for his own piece of mind; he was excising this cancer of his soul, all of it, and he was doing it now, "we decided that we couldn't shop Seraph – what happened in the guild would stay in the guild. We'd harboured a monster, so we'd deal with it; Seraph's victims would be avenged".
The atmosphere of the cabin went from cold to downright freezing as the implications of this went in deep; what was there to say? Nack's voice cut through the silence, the weasel desperate to finish what he'd started in the fear it would break him in twain if he failed.
"We tracked him down easily enough; he was in a small flat in Metropolis. Problem we had was choosing who would do it – not even Chalkie wanted to kill in cold blood, not even someone like Seraph. Only fair way to decide was drawin' straws".
"And you drew the wrong one". Knuckles finished for him, trying to imagine entering a game like that; murder on the line – he shuddered and realised just how resolved Nack and the other three guilders must have been to have gone through with it. The weasel nodded and smiled sadly, dried tears flaking off his whiskers as the deadly events of that night replayed in his mind. Forcing his thoughts into a logical order, Nack closed his eyes and recounted the memory etched indelibly in his mind,
"I went in at night; got to the door fine. Razzy had shown me how to use a skellie key, so I broke the door quiet. I had me gun drawn and ready, but there was a light coming from the front room. I was terrified and my hands were shaking, but I went in. He was there".
"What happened next Nack?" After a few seconds silence, Amy asked the final, major question, all at once not wanting to know the answer and morbidly fascinated as to how the battle had resolved. Nack was numb; the memory was hurting, but he'd felt so much pain from it he couldn't consciously feel it anymore; it was like he'd become a sponge, soaking it all up with no discomfort showing. His voice was a monotone as he answered the pink hedgehog, feeling like he was leaving his body a long way behind,
"He was sat in a padded chair, facing away from me. He was still dressed in his mission gear, like he hadn't changed. He saw me first and I made to shoot, but he didn't react. He just picked up a sketch pad an' turned back round in his seat. There was nothing I could do; bottling it wasn't an option, not after what he'd done, so I, I brought my gun up and, and…" He tailed off, but no-one present missed his index finger twitch as he replayed the gun exploding again in his mind, feeling the weird sense of coldness creep up on him as he dropped his firearm and saw the hole his round had punched in the back of the chair and the quiet, the absolute quiet that had followed the shot.
Rouge was unsure what to feel; pity for what Nack had been forced to do, anger for Seraph forcing this death to occur or just disbelief that the dark angel was still alive – no-one should have been able to survive a gun round from that range. Glancing round quickly, the bat saw the same struggle mirrored in the eyes of her friends and came to a decision. She gripped Nack's hand in hers, squeezing gently as she said the first words of comfort that came to her,"You did what you thought was right".
"Yeah Nack", Sonic affirmed her choice of phrase, face tight, "I don't think I'd have been able to do it, not even for Eggman".
"That wasn't all", the weasel's voice was strained as the final pieces of this puzzle were made plain, "I had to check he was gone an' I did; the round hadn't exited, but there were a few marks on his chest from shrapnel. He'd been sketching his mark but hadn't finished it; it had a bit of blood on it from his wound", leaving his seat on shaking legs, the weasel picked up the bit of paper from where Shadow had dropped it, "it's the same mark as this. After I saw he was dead, I just lost it and started hurling my guts up. As my back was turned, something hit me on the back of the head and I blacked out".
"Who hit you?"
"No idea, me back was turned", Nack reminded the echidna at this question, "but there weren't many suspects. When I came to, me gun was next to me and there was a cold draft. That's when I realised – Seraph's body was gone, there was just blood on the carpet and a window was open. I don't know how, but he cheated death and survived".
A decent but flawed recital. The night is well remembered. The one behind the events of that night will soon meet with the grudge I bear.
The listening chip he'd placed on Knuckles had done a better job than he'd anticipated; when the severity of Nack's reaction had been broadcast to him, Seraph had made his way to the cabin with all haste. When he had realised there were no guards on the door, Seraph had quickly and silently scrambled up the side of the building. His previous activity had paid off, some areas of the roof were weakened and after listening hard to determine where the cabin occupants were clustered, a little Sypder work had weakened a tiny section of the roof enough to suit his purpose. A gloved hand unclipped a single grenade from his belt; unlike the other featureless black armaments, this weapon was marked with small, horizontal tracks all around its equator. He had waited, and now he struck.
The truth is out; if I ever meet the bloke who came up with that saying I owe him a drink Nack thought wryly, wrung out by the words he'd just spoken. He waited for the reaction; the storm was gathering, all it would take was a single spark to ignite it. Ah, here it comes, he saw Tails open his mouth but before any words came, there was a sharp crack from directly above him. Looking up, something swelled in his vision, something round and demarked; with a barely audible whump, it burst like an over-ripe plum. Nack felt something wet strike his face and almost immediately, his vision started to darken. Seraph, how… his mind was muddled completely; despite a final rallying call from his body, Nack's world, that had so recently been shattered and repaired by lifting the burden of guilt from his soul, went totally dark.
The grenade had been marked by the tracks for a very specific reason; unlike the rest of Seraph's arsenal, this grenade couldn't be brought from any kind of market, black or otherwise. It had been specifically engineered by the dark one himself; instead of the blast or flash powder commonly found in such weapons, this grenade had a clear, viscous gel surrounding a tiny core of explosives. The gel was a mixture of strong sedative drugs that were absorbed through the skin, resulting in almost instant 'lights out' if it came into contact with anyone. This sleep bomb was an excellent example of ingenuity; it allowed entire rooms to be neutralised without harming anyone in them – essential when a target was surrounded by innocents. The fact that a sleeping target caused less fuss to move than a wounded one also had its merits; blood stains are a pain to cover when you're running like hell and trying not to leave a trail.
The door to the cabin opened silently, the kidnapper quickly peeking through the door to assure himself that the grenade had worked correctly. Yes – all were asleep, the target slumped on his chair with the others clustered around his seat, all caught within the radius of his sleep grenade. Moving silently and swiftly, Seraph picked his way through the bodies, keeping his senses tuned to check that no-one was shamming and about to jump up and attempt to prevent him completing his objectives. No-one stirred as he reached Nack and hauled him upright by his jacket, the dead weight resisting under the effects of gravity. With ease of long practise, Seraph slung the unconscious weasel over one shoulder, carefully making sure his legs and eyes were unimpeded by the dangling limbs. While he took a clear piece of paper and sketched the black angel outline, his eyes swept over the other six unconscious Mobians; none of them moved an inch as he placed the mark on the chair Nack had recently and unknowingly vacated. Seraph then moved to the door; though powerful, the drugs would only keep the innocents and secondary target under for about two to three hours. He should be able to get to the island edge by then, but every second wasted shaved his chances ever finer. At a rough jog, Seraph left into the night with his helpless target; his active mind was already running through possibilities of what may happen in the near future. The thought of pursuit was considered, but Seraph never considered it would have begun as quickly as it did.
He's gone. I gotta; man Knuckles, who ate all the pies or what? Oh I hope everyone's alright. As the kidnapper's footsteps receded into the distance, Tails opened his eyes and gave a heavy sigh of pure relief; for a heart-stopping second, he'd thought that Seraph had seen through his play acting. The fox had been lucky on at least three counts; firstly he'd already been deep in his sleeping bag when the bomb went off so most of his body had been shielded from the gel. Secondly, the fact his hair was naturally thicker than any of his friends had prevented the few flecks of goo that had hit his body from touching his skin and lastly Knuckles had landed almost directly on top of him as he'd toppled over. This had meant Tails had been less conspicuous to casual observation, but on the other hand Knuckles wasn't the lightest Mobian Tails had ever known and the fox was struggling to pull his legs clear. Still, could have been worse; imagine if it had been Big, or even Eggman… Tails shuddered; he'd have either been squashed or suffocated had either of those two had fallen like his echidna friend had.
As he finally popped free from his sleeping bag, the kit's mind raced – the first thing to do was check everyone was alright and then try to figure out what had been in that thing. Rolling Knuckles onto his back, the fox rapidly reached a diagnosis of deep slumber; he was surprised half of Station Square wasn't being woken by the echidna's thunderous snoring, backed up by Shadow and Rouge's more delicate snuffles. Quickly rearranging everyone who needed it into the recovery position, Tails reached into his backpack, quietly vindicated as a little sneakiness of his own came into play.
Nack was still completely unconscious, but inside the tail of his jacket the tracker the foxboy genius had placed on him unawares was quietly transmitting his location. Tails read off the course Seraph must have been taking and saw the end point with a stab of horror. Looking quickly at his extremely limited options he made up his mind; scribbling a note and laying it carefully on top of the receiving unit of his tracking bug, the fox twisted his tails and took off after the assassin. Pushing himself hard and taking to the air when he could, Tails realised this was going to come right to the wire; despite the extra weight Seraph was carrying, the head start and his so far remorseless pace meant Tails was going to have to go to the extreme to catch up. Gritting his teeth, the fox tried even harder; he may not have known Nack long, but he wasn't going to let an acquaintance of his be taken if he could have a say in the matter.
A desperate race began; Seraph had the advantages of a head start and increased stamina and endurance but Nack's dead weight severely reduced his top speed, while Tails' sheer determination and powers of flight were compromised by his lack of sleep and proper food. As the dawn began to break across Angel Island, the two racers began to reach their goals just as the effects of Seraph's grenade began to finally wear off.
Island edge. Ensure target unconscious during transport.
Tails landed and stifled a groan; his tails were aching from the strain of flying for so long. As he looked around, he was just able to see Seraph; the black leather of his clothing visible as he casually swung Nack to the floor and reached to his belt. Tails caught his breath as a syringe was produced, some clear liquid was squirted out the end of it and then Seraph carefully inserted the needle into Nack's wrist, pumping the chemical into the weasel's still unmoving body. Tails finally found his voice as the dark angel snapped two pairs of handcuffs around Nack's wrists; the fox was scared of what Seraph was capable of laws or no laws, but his nature wasn't going to let this crime continue while he could stop it.
"Seraph, stop it!"
Miles Prower. A mistake – he must have avoided the sleep grenade. Flight capable, combat abilities unknown. He is an innocent. Pursuit off island unlikely.
If courage is not the lack of fear but the overcoming of it, in the second he met the blank visage of Seraph's mask and somehow held its gaze, Tails proved without a shadow of a doubt that he had a lion's heart. After a second of realising this, he even managed a small smile, though that vanished when he heard the clink of the handcuffs snapping around Seraph's own wrists; he'd chained himself to Nack and Tails was seized by a sudden fear.
"Don't do it", he shouted hurriedly, trying to keep calm as he forced himself to take a step forwards, "if you jump, you'll just prove everyone was right. Even if you survive the fall you'll never swim to Station Square, not with Nack chained to you like that". Tails approached slowly, hands raised in a placating manner, trying to talk the down what he thought was a suicide attempt.
Concern unusual, but unfounded. No choice.
From the fox's point of view, it appeared as though Seraph had paused, head slightly cocked to the left as if sizing up his smaller opponent. For a faint second, Tails thought he'd managed to talk him down, but that was before he saw the movement. From what he had assumed to be the back of Seraph's leather outfit, there was a sudden ripple as a cloak somehow came into view, or was it a small parachute? No, there were two of them, parallel and flexing – Tails felt his heart drop into his shoes as Seraph flexed his extra appendages – He's got wings! Temporarily reeling from this previously unseen fact, Tails didn't see his opponent move until it was too late. Hoisting Nack upright, Seraph took as good a run up as was possible and then kicked off Angel Island, grasping his target by the wrists, unheeding the fox's final shout,
"NO!"
Ah, mindfreeze, mindfreeze! Rouge rolled onto her front as thin needles of agony pushed downwards into her brain, holding her poor skull in her hands as she felt it begin to pound under the strain. What hit me? – mind mostly obscured by pain, she nonetheless tried to piece her memory together. She'd been listening to Nack, he'd been really upset, she was certain of that, then something else had happened; it was important, but what was it? A groan from her left told the bat she wasn't alone in her suffering; shifting her eyes, she fought down a wave of nausea as Shadow revolved in her vision, the black hedgehog swimming as he flopped onto his back. She tried to communicate but swiftly realised someone had sandpapered her tongue; sucking vigorously for a few seconds, she tried again, wincing as her voice clanged in her ears like a church bell,
"Shadow, you okay?"
"The ceiling's spinning" the black hedgehog covered his eyes with an arm, trying to go back to sleep and forget the pain. The rest of her body was belatedly reported in; from what she could deduce, there was nothing seriously wrong with her bar the fact her brain had apparently gone on a sudden holiday and forgotten to tell the rest of her. Shaking her head, Rouge mustered all of her training and, with an effort that qualified as well beyond supermobian, pushed herself onto her hands and knees, waging an internal war against the sickness threatening to engulf her. She needed something special to win this fight, and she wasn't sure…
"Nice view" a weak voice from behind her commented and Rouge found the something extra – pure, primal hatred.
She had to win so she could kill Sonic for THAT COMMENT!
Pushing with her hands, the weakened spy collapsed backwards onto her knees, screwing her eyes shut to avoid looking at the jiving wall. The freeze was thawing; she wasn't in as much pain as before and her mind was sort of returning. Forcing herself to open her eyes, a quick glance told Rouge that Shadow was struggling to his knees and Sonic was thrashing weakly on the floor, trying to work up the momentum to roll onto his front. Amy was partially hidden behind the chair and seemed to be sleeping still, while Knuckles was snoring his head off at the foot of the chair. She couldn't see Tails or Nack and was about to wonder where they had wandered off to when she noticed something on the chair Nack had been sat on. Crawling over to it, she aligned herself next to Knuckles' prone form and leant on the side of the chair seat, trying to focus on the elusive bit of paper. It was still scuttling around a bit, she couldn't quite see it properly, but there was definitely something on it; it was in a horrible black colour that clashed with the stark white of the paper. It was a shape, with a pair of points at the top and…Seraph!
The name blew out a large number of the cobwebs at the same time it answered the question of where Nack had gone. Pushing wildly off from the chair itself, the bat scrabbled desperately for balance but failed, cursing the irony gods as she saw exactly where she was going to land.
The first Knuckles knew of the attack was when a crushing pain in his abdomen jerked him uncomfortably back to full wakefulness and the waiting army of nausea that was camped out waiting for him. Muggily, he tried to clamp a hand over his mouth as the fallen object clawed its way off him; the blur of white and pink in his vision nearly broke him as the forces of illness pushed forwards again.
"Knuckles, are you alright?" After hastily reminding himself of his own name, he even managed to recognise the voice at the same time he began to lose the sickness wars.
"Rouge?", he gagged as nausea began to carry the breach, "oh God, I'm gonna be sick!" He felt two hands grip him and drag him semi-upright as he fought a desperate rearguard action.
He wasn't going to last much longer; Rouge was using every ounce of strength and willpower to try and propel both Knuckles and herself to the door. Fortunately, Sonic appeared to have gathered enough to roll out the way as the pair hurtled forwards, Knuckles obviously crumbling fast by now. Barging the door open, she threw the echidna as far forwards as she could in her weakened condition, stumbling forwards to see if she could help as she heard him give out.
On his hands and knees, Knuckles was retching horrifically, unaware of anything beyond his own suffering as his body expelled his dinner, then his lunch and then started delving for his breakfast. He wasn't aware as Rouge rubbed between his shoulder blades, trying to soften the impact for him; he turned to try and see her in his peripheral vision but a violent lurch checked the motion. Unbeknownst to anyone there, Knuckles had caught the worst of the grenade and was therefore suffering the worst of the symptoms. Within the cabin itself, Sonic and Shadow were mostly throwing off the effects of the tranquilisers Seraph had packed his bomb with and were almost walking again, trying to wake Amy whilst wincing as the gargles of Knuckles' torment filtered through the wooden walls to them. To their eternal surprise, the pink hedgehog awoke lightly and complaining only of a mild headache and slightly upset stomach. As the three hedgehogs saw the mark Seraph had left and realised Tails was missing, the unpleasant gurgles from outside finally began to quieten.
Had he ever felt this weak – if he had he couldn't remember when. The arms that could normally smash through Eggman's robots like they were tin cans now seemed barely enough to stop him from collapsing into the mess he'd just made. He was trembling all over, but from what he couldn't say. He let out a weak sigh before his shoulder saw fit to mention to his mind that something was gently rubbing and patting them; he should really see what that was. Flicking his eyes round, Knuckles would have done a double take if he'd had the energy to do so; Rouge was looking at him with something approaching apprehension in her eyes.
"You feeling better?" She asked in a genuinely concerned voice. He smiled weakly,
"I don't think I could feel worse". That was certainly true; all he wanted to do now was get somewhere warm and comfortable and sleep from now until Doomsday. He didn't think Rouge was going to let that happen though,
"Can't be that bad; you just cracked a joke", she smiled, again, not her usual sharky smile but a more supportive and, more importantly, genuine article, "a typically bad joke, but a joke nonetheless. Can you stand?" She offered her hand and, after some test runs, Knuckles managed to get to his feet and walk unaided, though he was swaying a little as he felt light-headed from the illness. As she guided him carefully back to his own cabin, there was a sudden outburst of expletives from inside.
