Chapter 17: Broken Contracts

September 3rd, 2316 – 12:50 PM – Reppocian Wilderness

Nack stared at Canma in shock. Had she really said exactly what he was planning to say, verbatim? Was she planning the entire time to betray him, just as he was? Nack just looked at Canma for a moment, before the words sank in. Regaining his composure, he started talking again.

"That's my line!" he shouted, edging the barrel of his gun closer to her head. "I'm the one who's supposed to be breaking the partnership here!"

Now it was Canma's turn to look surprised.

"You were planning to betray me too, as soon as you didn't need me anymore?" she asked.

Nack grinned, and chuckled a bit. Canma giggled a bit as well.

"Great minds think alike," Nack said. "So...what should we do now? Just stand here and have a staring contest?"

"I've got a better idea," Canma answered. "Let's fight to the death, right here and now. The winner gets to keep Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, and thus the twenty million demen reward."

"Sounds like a great idea to me, because now I know for sure that reward's gonna be all mine."

"Likewise. Let's begin!"

Canma went into a back flip as she leaped away onto the top of a nearby rock. Meanwhile, Nack used his pogo tail to bounce backwards, as he placed his left hand over the hammer of his revolver. He slapped the hammer down hand as he fired the trigger with his right hand, thus firing off three shots in a row with his fanning technique. Canma jumped into a back flip again, as she landed behind the rock. The bullets harmlessly ricocheted off of the stone.

Nack bounced back and flew over the stone, while he pointed his revolver down to target the vixen. But...she wasn't on the other side of the rock. He looked around as he zoomed through the air, and then he saw a purple blur flying up towards him from behind. The blur was holding a sword. With a battle cry, Canma sliced the air in a broad swing as she approached. Before she could cut him though, Nack kicked her. The vixen gasped in pain as she fell down towards the ground, but she landed on her feet. Meanwhile, Nack landed on his feet too, facing her.

"Not bad!" Canma said. "You're better than I thought!"

"Better? I'm the best!" Nack shouted, as he fanned his revolver again, firing off another three shots.

One bullet missed, and the other two Canma deflected with her sword. Nack looked at her in stunned disbelief. He raised the gun to fire again, but instead of a gunshot all he got was a click. He didn't realize before that he'd already fired off all six shots in his magazine. Canma heard the click too, and rushed towards him with her sword in hand, ready to cut him in half. Gasping, Nack ducked down. He felt her blade cut right through his cowboy hat, leaving nothing on it but the brim.

Gah! That was my backup hat!

He pogo jumped away from Canma behind a rock. Frantically, he pulled six loose rounds out of his bandolier and started stuffing them in his gun. As he was putting in the last bullet, a shadow blocked out the light overhead. Nack didn't need to think at all about what it was, and rolled aside. A quarter second later, Canma slammed down her sword in the spot that his head had been in just before. Unfortunately for her, the blade got stuck in the ground, and she grunted as she tried to pull it out.

Nack grinned, seeing his chance. He slammed in the last bullet, and aimed the revolver at her head. Even as he fired, Canma jumped to the side, running away from the stuck sword. She dashed behind another rock. Though she had dodged his bullets, Nack didn't mind at all, because now she was unarmed. He chuckled to himself as he chased her around the boulder. Nack held his revolver up, planning to fire as soon as he caught sight of Canma again.

Before he could fire though, a small throwing dagger streaked towards him from behind the corner. Nack moved to dodge, but the knife knocked the gun right out of his hand. It bounced off of a boulder nearby and clattered to the ground. Nack rushed over to pick it up and got his hand around the grip of the gun. Before he could raise it up, a boot stomped down on his hand, pressing it and the gun to the ground and causing him to cry out in pain.

Nack looked up and saw Canma standing over him with two small throwing daggers in her hands. She smiled down at him, seemingly ready to cut him up like she was going to do to Sonic earlier. The purple fox screamed a battle cry as she plunged the knives down towards the top of his skull.

Unfortunately for her though, Nack had already pulled the pin on a flash grenade and dropped it. A loud bang filled the air, made worse by the fact that the grenade was so close by. The light blinded both of them temporarily as well. While he heard Canma jump off, Nack stumbled away as fast as he could, trying to get the blinding white light out of his eyes. He bumped his head against a rock in the process.

However, his vision finally managed to clear, and he began to look around to see where he was. It looked like Nack managed to stumble back to where Canma had left her sword stuck in the ground. Impulsively, he yanked it out of the ground. It sure was heavier than it looked, once he got it all the way out. Nack wondered how Canma was able to wield it with such ease, as if it weighed no more than a feather.

While he was armed now, it wasn't with the weapon he preferred. He needed to get back his revolver. Nack dashed back around the rock again, towards where he'd dropped it a few seconds before. On the way, Canma greeted him by aiming his gun at his face.

And yet, Nack broke out into laughter at the sight. She was holding onto the revolver by its barrel and pointing it at him by using the grip. The only thing she'd manage to shoot holding the gun like that would be her foot. Regardless, she pulled the trigger anyway, and jumped in surprise as a bullet ricocheted off the ground at her feet. The gun fell from her fingers and bounced off of the ground.

Meanwhile Nack took a swing at her with her own sword, but Canma whirled aside in mid swing. Then she hit him across the back of his head with her arm, sending him toppling to the ground as the sword fell from his hand. However, that caused him to fall with his hands landing right on his gun, and he picked it up. He whirled around on the ground and pointed it at Canma's head. However, at the same time she had her sword pointed at his neck. Both of them were breathing heavily, the adrenaline rush getting to them.

This is really getting old...

"Looks like we're both pretty much dead even when it comes to fighting," Nack gasped out, between breaths.

"Agreed," Canma answered. "So what are we gonna do? Just keep fighting until we both die of exhaustion?"

Before Nack could answer, there was a loud gunshot in the distance. About a half second later, a bullet bit into the dirt next to them, sending up a cloud of dust in their faces. It sounded like a sniper rifle, and there was only one person Nack could think of right now who'd be after them with that type of gun: Half. That was his favorite weapon, and the gun he was also the best with. If they stayed out here just a bit longer, he'd take both of them out from afar. Nack and Canma looked at each other, and nodded. They both jumped up and ran in opposite directions, as they dashed to get out of Half's crosshairs. Looks like it would be a three-way battle for the money now...

Over in the woods...

Nail grinned, as he lay in a prone position on top of a hill overlooking the field. He had one eye stuffed right into his riflescope, as he moved to point his gun at Canma or Nack, whichever one he saw first. Meanwhile, Redrum lay in the grass beside him, with binoculars in hand so that he could spot for him.

"Nail..." he said. "Eleven o' clock... I saw Nack go behind that rock over there."

Nail adjusted his aim and positioned his crosshairs on the boulder Redrum was talking about.

"Guess you'll have to wait till he comes out to pop him, right?" he asked.

"No need," Nail answered back, as he flicked on thermal mode on his rifle. He could now tell how hot or cold something was by looking through his scope. The rock was a dark blue, indicating no heat. However, he could make out Nack as plain as day on the other side, thanks to his red and yellow heat signature.

Nail gently squeezed the trigger, and saw that bullet had cleanly passed through the rock and out the other side, just between Nack's legs. With the help of his thermal scope, Nail saw the weasel jump in surprise as the bullet almost took out his crotch. He chuckled, enjoying himself as he startled the weasel.

I can see you two, no matter where you are out there. You've got no place to hide from my bullets. I was just playing around with those first two shots, but now I'm going to fight seriously.

"Three o' clock Nail..." Redrum said. "Canma's over there."

Again, Nail repositioned his aim, targeting the vixen this time. That bitch was going to pay for stealing out Sonic from under his nose, back when he was fighting Nack the first time in the woods. He spied her taking cover behind another large boulder...peeking out from behind the rock. Nail positioned his crosshairs between her eyes, and squeezed off another shot. However, just as he fired she ducked to the side, dodging the bullet.

Damn, she's got some good reflexes! Canma was able to dodge as soon as she heard the gunshot, and that would only leave her about half a second to do that at this range.

Nail zoomed in again, seeing that she was taking cover behind the rock. A fat lot of good that would do her though... Nail squeezed off another shot, this one aimed at her chest. She went into a cartwheel to the side, and then took off sprinting through the rocky field...straight towards their position.

"Shit," Nail whispered. "We've been spotted."

"Let's run then!" Redrum said.

Nail got up from his prone position, and kneeled down to let Redrum climb on his back. The robot dog easily got on, and Nail stood up straight again. However, as he headed around a tree, he collided with somebody.

Nail looked up, and saw someone he never expected to see there. His jaw fell open in shock. This wasn't Canma at all; it was much worse. Red fur...white gloves...dreadlocks... It was Knuckles! And he had the scariest smile on his face that Nail had ever seen, like he was contemplating which of his bones to break first.

Nail started, "What the f--!"

However, he was cut short when Knuckles slammed a fist into his chest. Nail felt his eyes bulge out in his sockets, as his stomach caved in. He doubled over, as he dropped his gun and Redrum slid off of his back. For a few seconds, Nail just groaned in pain, before collapsing to his knees. That punch had knocked the wind right out of him.

He looked up, to see Redrum trying to fight Knuckles despite having no legs. However, Knuckles easily picked up the robot dog by his neck and held him up. While Redrum was certainly in no danger of choking to death since he didn't need to breathe, it was obvious he wasn't going to break out of Knuckles' grip. Even though it looked like the dog was pushing his limbs to their strength limit to pry off the echidna's hand, Knuckles seemed to just be enjoying himself as he watched Redrum struggle.

"Lemme go!" he screamed. "Lemme go you bastard!"

Nail then remembered he still had his handgun in the holster on his belt, and started to reach for it. Before he could though, Knuckles rushed over to him and grabbed his arm. He painfully twisted it around behind his back while Nail screamed and dropped the pistol.

"Nuh-uh...my little foxy friend," Knuckles said. "I think that's enough playtime for today. It looks like Carrie was totally right about you. You're still the same greedy scum you were back at her room! I can't believe you're really her brother! If it were up to me, I think I'd give you the worst beat down of your life right now for everything you've done to her, me, Tails, and Sonic."

Nail turned around and glared at Knuckles.

"Lucky for you though, it's not up to me," he said with a frown. "Now get up! Go towards the center of that field over there. I'll carry your little dog buddy for you."

"But...but they're still fighting..." Nail stammered out, referring to Canma and Nack.

"Oh no they're not..." he said with a smile. He kicked Nail a bit. "I said get up!"

Not wanting to suffer the wrath of one of Knuckles' punches again, Nail struggled to his feet. Knuckles swiftly tied up his arms and Redrum's arms with some rope he had. Then, Knuckles gestured towards the field, and Nail started walking towards it. Meanwhile Knuckles carried Redrum in his other arm as he walked behind Nail. As they walked though...Nail wondered just exactly what was going on. The last thing he'd seen, Knuckles and Tails were both fast asleep in the cage, while Sonic had been tied up...

As they entered the clearing, he saw Tails and Sonic standing in the center of the rock field. Between the two of them was Canma and Nack forced into a kneeling position. Both of them were stripped of their weapons and had their arms tied behind their backs, as well as their feet being tied up. Their weapons had also been taken off of them, and laid in a small pile a good distance away. Nack and Canma both had the same puzzled looks Nail had on his face.

"Heh heh," Sonic laughed, as he faced Knuckles. "Good work Knuckles! Looks like we got all of them!"

"Yeah!" Tails said cheerfully. "He got Canma, and I got Nack."

"Sure sure, great," Knuckles mumbled.

He forced Nail to kneel like Canma and Nack, and tied up his legs too. Redrum was placed next to him. He heard the clatter of his weapons being dropped to the ground nearby.

"Could someone kindly explain to me now how the three of you are walking around and kicking our asses?" Nack said, looking at the three bounties. "Last I saw, Sonic was all tied up and Tails and Knuckles were asleep."

Tails and Knuckles laughed.

"Did you really think you could get us with that gas again?" Tails asked between laughs. "That's the third time you've used it on us! I think we'd be expecting it this time, don't you?"

"What do you mean?" Canma asked. "Me and Nack saw both of you get caught right in the middle of the gas cloud!"

"Yep...we did," Knuckles said. He pulled out a tiny black bottle in his hand. It looked a bit like a perfume bottle. "But we had these with us, which Tails made. They contain a small supply of oxygen we can breathe from. So...when you used that crazy purple gas again, we just pulled these out, breathed from them until the gas faded, hid them again, and pretended to go to sleep. You and Nack fell for it easy!"

Canma scowled between Tails and Knuckles, while they smiled victoriously back.

"After that, we just pretended to stay asleep for a while," Tails said. "We were thinking of just arresting you all right away, but we decided to find out what this client of yours looks like first. So we just pretended to sleep for a while until took us to the drop off site, and then I used my hidden set of tools to break us out of the cage."

"If this 'client' of ours wants us so bad..." Knuckles said with a grin. "...then he is going to get us."

"Heh heh," Sonic laughed. "Great work you two! Nice job all around! Gimme a high five!"

"Hah," Knuckles said, chuckling. He raised his hand. "I can only give three!"

Sonic and his friends laughed. Meanwhile, Nail just zoned out from what was happening, and closed his eyes. He let out a sigh of defeat, as he heard the rumble of a thunderstorm in the distance.