A/N: Oh jeez...when I first wrote this back in 2003, I thought it was so funny. Maybe because I'd never seen anyone try to combine Counterstrike and Sonic. Now though, I just can't stand it. As much as I hate it though, I have to keep this in. I want to preserve this story just as it was when I wrote it.

CHAPTER EIGHT - cs-tropolis

Knuckles, Tails, and Nail landed in an alley nearby the command center for some temporary safety. Nail had shaken off the torture he'd experienced with Robotnik, and he could now move around on his own. While he recovered, Tails and Knuckles had interrogated him.

"So, your name is Nail and Robotnik hired you to assassinate Sonic?" asked Knuckles.

"Yeah. I was thinking about refusing until he said he'd pay me three times my usual rate if I would collect it after I killed Sonic. I was an idiot to trust him," Nail said. "By the way, how did Sonic survive that fall? I saw him fall through the trees. That was a long drop."

"We both caught him and flew him to the ground after he fell through the trees, sorta like we did with you just now," said Tails.

"Well, I'm glad he's alive now, even if it blows my perfect operational record. If you two hadn't saved him, I would have suffocated to death in there or been roboticized. It was really noble of him to sacrifice himself back there to save us," said Nail.

Nail stayed quiet for a moment, and then his eyes widened. "Oh shoot! He's probably going to get roboticized any time now! We have to save him!"

"But how? Robotnik's command center is probably crawling with swatbots right now," said Tails.

"Oh, don't worry," said Nail with a wink. "I can probably get us in there no problem, heh heh."

Nail stood up and walked towards the end of the alley. He stopped at the end, and glanced up and down the street from around the corner. Tails wondered what exactly Nail was planning to do to break into the command center.

He turned back to look at them and whispered "Stay back!" Knuckles and Tails hid behind some trash cans as they waited to see what Nail would do. He pressed himself against the wall of the corner and stayed there for a moment. Tails could hear the clunking of a swatbot's footsteps approaching. Soon, it stepped into view from around the corner. It turned to the left and spotted Nail.

Nail was too fast for the bot though. He quickly snatched its laser blaster from its hands, and then pulled out what looked like a small black box. He jammed the box at the bot's chest. The bot crackled with electricity as its systems shorted out. He pocketed his small tazer, but kept the blaster in his hands. Nail then motioned for the others to move up.

Tails whispered "Nice work," to him when they got close.

He glanced out into the street for a moment, and then whispered "Okay, let's go. Quickly but quietly." They slipped down a few streets and they were soon at the entrance of the command center. Nail's buggy was still parked where he had left it. He quickly moved over to the back trunk of the buggy and opened it up. All sorts of hardware filled up the interior, from body armor to assault rifles. After gathering a pistol, an assault rifle, ammo, a radio headset, and something that looked like a laptop, he faced Knuckles and Tails.

"Take whatever you need," he said as he gestured towards the trunk.

"Umm...Nail...we're not really gun people like you are," said Knuckles. "I'd prefer to rely on my martial arts skills. Tails is too little to use a gun right now too."

"Alright then, suit yourself," said Nail. "At least take these though," he said as he showed two more radio headsets like his own.

"These look harmless enough," said Knuckles as he put one on. Tails did the same.

"We can stay in contact now by using these," said Nail.

Nail turned away from Knuckles and Tails, and faced the command center building.

"Now, let's play Counterstrike...for real!" yelled Nail in a cheery voice.

"Play wha-" Knuckles started to say.

Nail interrupted him by saying into the radio "Okay team, follow my command!"

"Why are you talking to us with the radio when we're right here?" Knuckles asked.

Nail didn't seem to hear him, since he used the radio again to say "Follow me."

He walked up to the front door of the command center, and nudged open the door. He yelled "Fire in the hole!" over the radio as he tossed a grenade inside. After the explosion, he ran through the front door with an assault rifle in hand, and then Tails and Knuckles heard a lot of shooting. Strangely, Nail was yelling "Headshot!" on occasion during the shooting.

"C'mon, you llamas!" Nail called out over the noise.

"For your information, I am an echidna, not a llama! And Tails is a fox like you!" Knuckles shouted back. He still ignored him like before though.

Once the shooting stopped, Nail said "Sector clear," into the radio, and then followed up with "Storm the front!" Knuckles guessed that meant that they could come in through the front door now.

Tails and Knuckles walked inside to find Nail standing amidst the wreckage left over from the swatbots he had killed.

"These guys were slower than 56Kers," Nail said. "I headshotted all these n00bs easy. This place would make a cool map though."

Tails and Knuckles just stared at Nail, dumbfounded by what he had just said.

Much to Knuckles' annoyance, he used the radio once again to say "Go go go!" as he ran up the stairs. They chased after him. Suddenly, Nail said over the radio "Team, fall back!" and bounded down the stairs again.

When he ran into Tails and Knuckles on the way down, Nail started speaking quickly. "Okay, here's the situation. We've got an AWPer at the end of the hallway. He's camping like a lamer, so I think I'll flush him out with the HE. Say, Knuckles, do you want to throw the grenade? I've gotten all the kills so far, and I think you deserve to get at least one point on your tally."

"What are you talking about?" shouted Knuckles. "I have no freaking idea of what you just said to me! And why are you talking to us on the radio when we're ten feet away! And why do you want to draw a map of this place! And what's Counterstrike!" Knuckles started breathing heavily.

Nail looked at him with a shocked face. "Hoo-kay...I guess I'll just throw the HE then..." he said.

"AAARGH!" said Knuckles as he punched a hole in the wall.