Author's Notes: thank you for your patience. Please Read and Review if you have any advice.
Chapter 7: Stunned
"So, with the rest of the team out of the way" the slayer glances at the three heroes. Knuckles cracks his knuckles and neck with a relaxed tone, Tails is nervous but at the ready, and Sonic shoots a confident grin "Will Sonic tell his entourage to back off or do I have to teach them a lesson about stepping down when one is outclassed."
"THE ONLY THING BEING TAUGHT," Knuckles charges at the mobian "WILL BE A LESSON IN PAIN FROM MY FIST!" A punch misses the slayer by a hair as he steps out of the way. The breeze from the powerful strike sends a massive dust cloud flying. Readying for another, he is certain the hit will land and commits to the punch. Instead of just avoiding the attack, he lunges past the punch, grabs his arm and sends a fully extended kick to the echidnas gut. "Here's a lesson, when you wanna knock someone out in one shot, you got a better chance using your legs; like this." Doubled over and winded by the hit he is unprepared for the knee to the face the he was pulled into. Sent flying to his friends, Knuckles crashes to the ground limp as a ragdoll while both Sonic and Tails stand shocked and in horror.
"Don't worry, he's not dead." The pair snaps out of their shock and step ahead of Knuckles to protect him. "But he'll be milking one hell of a headache and maybe a bloody nose." He stares at the duo and shakes his head "Are we going to have to do this again or is the sidekick going to get smart and let the real fight begins?"
Sonic steps ahead of Tails "Tails, I need you to take Knuckles and get out of here." He looks back at a confused Tails. "Sonic, we can beat him if we work togeth..." Sonic grabs his shoulder and gives him a reassuring smile "Don't worry bro, I got this punk. I need you to get Knuckles and yourself to safety. I'll give him one for the both of ya."
"Sonic, you can give him one for Knuckles, BUT I'M NOT HELPLESS. I CAN FIGHT FOR MYSELF!" In a fit of rage, Tails rushes off and swings both of his tails at the slayer. The slayer hops out of the way "Listen kid," condescension dripping from his words "before you get hurt emotionally and physically, I'd take your friend's advice if I were you."
"TOUGH!" Tails proceeds to attack with little success. As the slayer weaves and brushes off the mixes of fist and tails his patience begins to thin. "YOU'RE NOT ME AND..." a seriously over it slayer grabs both of the fox's tails and slings him to the ground. Just as tails begins to catch his breath from the toss, a boot firmly presses on his back.
"Just so you know this isn't personal, call it a hard taught lesson." Just as he begins to apply more pressure, he notices the fur on the sides of the fox's chest is lighter than the rest. A slight shift in the boot's location sends splitting pain to Tails mostly healed ribs. Although the pain is not constant from the boot, any shift in Tail's movement caused a quick press that made the kit cry out and tears begin to fall. Having seen enough, Sonic spin dashes into the assailant's chest. The hit rolled him back and gave Tails time to crawl away, clutching his side.
"Tails, get Knuckles and get out of here." Before the fox could respond Sonic cut him off "THIS IS NOT FOR DISCUSSION, GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" quietly the fox grabs Knuckles and both walk away from two combatants.
"I'm going to make you regret hurting my friends," Sonic growls through clenched teeth "I'm gonna make you pay in blood."
His voice carries a hint of amusement "I never regret anything I do." He raises his fist and readies for combat "As for paying in blood, your welcome to try." In a flash, Sonic jumps into the air and enters a barrage of homing dash that slam into the blocking arms of the armorer slayer.
"I got him on the ropes" Sonic cheers in his mind "all he can do is block." A well-timed knee sends the blue hedgehog flying back and gut first on to the fist of an eerily quick uppercut. The uppercut turns into a vice grip on Sonic's neck that slams him into the earth with a tremendous thud. With the grip tightening and breathing becoming harder, Sonic with all the momentum he can muster drives a multitude of kicks into his side that finally force him to roll away. As the two fighters return to their feet, Sonic grins "I guess it's time to get serious, Congratulations" words tinted with sarcasm "You have my full undivided attention." The hedgehog stands at the ready.
The slayer says nothing and readies himself, only gesturing for Sonic to bring it as the two fighters begin again.
X.x.x. New Mobotropolis .x.x.X
An uneasy chill crawls up Sally's spine as she and Bunnie helplessly watch the tide of battle swings back and forth. By now, the civilians are watching the fight from their home windows and the whispers of doubt begin to fill the city with worry.
"This ain't good Sal, he was able to separate us," her steel arm clenched in frustration "And after what he did to Knuckles and Tails it was like he was playing us from the get-go" Although she knew Bunnie was right, part of her wants to still believe Sonic was somehow in control. (He's been through a lot worse, so why do I feel like this is something more.) At a terminal in the heart of the city, Rotor and Nicole struggle to escape the shield system they built with their own hands.
"I don't believe this," he smacks the terminal screen he's on. Nicole materializes from another terminal nearby with the same frustrated look on her face. "Something is cutting the terminal's connection to the mainframe." While Rotor works on the connection, Nicole notices the destroyed robot and begins to put it all together.
"Rotor something is not right, we need to open this robot up." The walrus makes quick work of the robots chest cavity to see a mess of wires burst out.
"You thinking what I am, Rotor?"
"That you don't need this many wires to run anything as simple as this." Nicole nods as Rotor carefully digs around inside. A second or so later, he begins to laugh.
"There's a scrambling device in the chest hooked to the main battery, that's why the terminals aren't responding the jammer's output is being amplified by the extra power. Let's just cut this scrambler out and ..."
"WAIT!" Nicole grabs his arm and points to a white putty-like brick with wires in it. "I don't think he would let us do it so easily."
"Then how do we get out?"
"The terminals in the city are jammed but there is the terminal at Freedom HQ."
"And I know just how to get to it..."
X.x.x. At the lookout .x.x.X
Sonic and the mobian break away from one another after a long series of traded blows. Sonic staggers away as he stands on weak legs covered in bruises and cuts.
I don't get this; I've spent most of the fight being on the offensive. Yet I'm the one looking beat.
"Don't tell me that's all there is in the tank." the mobian stands at the ready, breathing as calm as when the fight began. Aside from some small dents and cracks in the armor, he shows no sign of being hurt or even tired. "If this is all," he cracks his knuckles "Then I guess it's time to wrap this up." Sonic shoots him a glare, (You're right it's gonna end now. I gotta hit him with everything I got.) He crouches and begins to rev up.
"You're going for the one hit KO too." He stretches his arm and readies a fist "Personally, I'd advise against such a reckless move but the balls in your court." There is a moment of clam before Sonic spin dashes with such speed that it seems that he's trying to go through him. At the same time, the slayer crouches and lunges with all his might as the two fighters collide...
X.x.x. Freedom H.Q. .x.x.X
At Freedom HQ, Tails drops a groggy Knuckles into a medical bed. As he prepares to head to the city his communicator goes off.
"Tails come, in are you at Freedom HQ?"
"Yeah, I just dropped off Knuckles and I'll be on the way..."
"No need, your right where we need you. The terminals in the city are jammed; we need you to drop the shields from where you are."
"Jammed!" Tails looks in disbelief "Alright, consider it done." Tails runs out of the infirmary so quickly he doesn't notice the figure lurking in the shadows. The figure walks to the still of the infirmary watching the resting echidna. The figure give a sign the quietly walks out of Freedom HQ into the night.
X.x.x. New Mobotropolis .x.x.X
Rotor jogs over to the group with a grin as the shields begin to melt away. "Guys the shields are coming down. What did I...?" Like all the others, Rotor's jaw drops in shock and horror "Oh no." image on the disappearing screen shows they are too late...
X.x.x. The lookout .x.x.X
There on that cliff, the near impossible happened. Sonic, the fastest thing alive was struck square in the face by an armored glove while in mid-dash. A sickening thud is all that can be heard as the combination of the forceful punch and his own momentum left the hedgehog with a look of pure shock painted on his unconscious face.
The slayer regains his composure and grabs his arm as he walks over to Sonic's rag dolled form.
"I'm not gonna lie, that one hurt like hell. But to be fair, I did warn you." and the mobian takes his foot and rolls the lifeless hedgehog on his back. "Oh well, time to wrap this up." Everyone can only watch on in terror as the victor aims a gun at the unresponsive hero with no one around to stop him.
