Back in the city of Orion, Danny is recovering from holding off the corrupted reavers and was getting scolded from Dominic about the truck from being damaged. While that is happening Sonic, Tails, and Amy are being questioned by Hiroshi Masato in his office.
"So, what you're telling me is this. You're from Mobius and you had recently just finished a war with a man named Dr. Eggman who's been hellbent on creating 'Eggmanland'. And all of that is gone and now you're reconstructing your world, but he teleported you and your friends here…" Hiroshi took a deep breath.
"Listen Sonic we would help you guys out get you back to your world, but we have a war of our own. What Danny did was heroic yes, but he was not ordered to do that. We need to defend this city from any incursions." Hiroshi explained.
Amy got up from the chair angrily.
"Danny saved our lives! If it wasn't for him and Sonic, we wouldn't be here talking to you!" she yelled.
Hiroshi didn't say anything. He closed his eyes and crosses his arms then opens them back up. Amy was confused for a bit then sits back down.
"Alright…if you want to get back home, you're going to help us out. But you will be under Danny's care as he was the one who found you all. We can't allow you to be roaming freely in this world…wait you said there was 5 of you?" Hiroshi asked.
Sonic, Tails, and Amy looked at each other then realize knuckles and tangle have not been found yet. They were about to panic until Hiroshi said something else.
"Luckily we notice that two more dimensional breaches appeared in Crino. However, its heavily guarded by the ascendants." Said Hiroshi.
"Who are the ascendants?" Tails asked.
Hiroshi was about to say something until a portal appeared right next to him. A person stepped out from it. Hiroshi turned toward to the portal as it was closing.
"Everyone I would like you to meet Raavis Sol." Hiroshi said calmy.
Raavis looks at all three of them before bowing his head down to them.
"Anyway, the Ascendants are a collective organization that reside in the Ascendant plane, but we call them the Specter Overlords. This group is more than just specters though so far from what we seen, and the City of Crino have nearly all of them there." Hiroshi explained.
"Specters, Reavers, Durluxs, Haragers, and Ayrbalists. All of them are there." Raavis added.
Hiroshi pulls up a map of Crino before continuing.
"Right, so going in there now is completely suicide. However, we hit the old outposts that is controlled by Barakis in the outlands near the city, it will cause Barakis to send Specters to go deal with the problem. While that happens Danny will disable the artifact causing a chain reaction through the outland outposts, and renders shielding the city useless which will allow us to punch a hole through the city. Sonic help us take down these outposts in the outlands, and we will be able to get your two friends back." Hiroshi commanded.
Sonic jumps up from the chair with a smirk on his face.
"Heh you can count on me!" Sonic cheerfully said as bolts to the door.
"Wait Sonic!" Amy and Tails tried to stop Sonic, but he already left the office.
Hiroshi shook his head while Raavis chuckled a bit. Amy and Tails looks back at them both.
"I have a question for you two." Tails said.
"What's your question?" Raavis asked.
"Who are you guys exactly? You're not G.U.N are you?" Tails asked.
Raavis looked at Hiroshi and nodded at him.
"We are not G.U.N. We are the Metallic Mercenaries. I hired some heroes to protect Raavis from the Ascendants that are hunting him down for a crime he didn't commit. But…" Hiroshi gets up from the chair and walks towards an older map of Woodland City,
"The heroes we hired perished in the Battle of Woodland City along with an Exiled Specter named Rakhimu. We tried our best to keep the Ascendants back, but they were too strong. So, we lose Woodland City and came here to stand our ground from any remaining forces left. The people we have now are criminals helping us do whatever we can to defend this city and Raavis." Hiroshi explained.
Amy and Tails was shocked.
"Why did you hire criminals! They should be in jail!" Amy yelled.
"When your pinned down to nothing any help is necessary. Though with this people I hired… deals had to be made…." Hiroshi was interrupted by Raavis.
"That is not important Hiroshi. What is important is getting them back to their world." Raavis explained.
Hiroshi nodded in agreement. Hiroshi escorted Amy and Tails out of the office. However, when Raavis interrupted Hiroshi. Tails suspects that they are withholding more information from them and cannot be trusted.
Meanwhile in the medical bay, Danny has fully recovered and headed to the armory to retrieve his gear. While he was doing that Sonic was running through the bunker looking for him and has found him.
"Hey Danny!" Sonic yelled.
Danny turned around as he was putting on the ballistic vest.
"Hey…uh…Any problems with Hiroshi?" He asked.
"Heh no problems. But he asked us to help you guys out. Something about the outlands outposts." Said Sonic.
"Outposts…oooh…I gotcha. Follow me." Danny grabs the modified UMP-45 and holsters it then leaves. Sonic shrugs his shoulders and follows behind him.
Both walk through the halls of the bunker as Danny was asking Sonic questions.
"I'm guessing your tagging along with me huh?" Danny asked.
Sonic gave him a thumbs up and a smirk.
"Great…okay is anyone else tagging along?" Danny was slightly annoyed.
Tails was running right behind Danny and Sonic.
"Sonic!" Tails caught up to them as they turned around.
Danny had covered one of his ears and looked at Tails with disgust.
"Can you not scream at the top of your lungs…" Danny was annoyed.
"Sorry." Tails looked down away from Danny then looks back at Sonic.
Danny shook his head while walking away from them then headed towards briefing room to get his assignment. While that was happening, Tails was explaining to Sonic that he should be careful around the Mercenaries and not to trust them. Sonic just brushes it off as Tails sigh knowing that Sonic was not listening. Inside the briefing room, Danny had received a call from Hiroshi with Ava and Jonathan inside.
"Everyone listen up. Due to our minor setback with these animals…Our battle with the Ascendents will be a bit harder until we get them back to their world. Now I discuss the plans with them about hitting the old outposts to disable a relic that's there shielding the city. Raavis believes the relic is underground however, something else is throwing him off. Danny, I want you Sonic, and Tails investigate the old outposts, neutralize the relic underground and the disturbance from there as well." Hiroshi Commanded.
"I Understand." Danny said.
"I have someone in the area, and they will provide you overwatch or support. One other thing Danny since you're the one who found these animals your responsible for their safety. Hiroshi out."
"Fuck my life…" Danny was frustrated.
"Alright. Jon where you are heading if I'm doing this?" He asked.
"Me and Ava are heading to the city limits of Crino to wait for you and the others." Jonathan said before leaving the briefing room.
"Until then try not get yourself killed. Be ashamed if the ascendants get ahold of your weapons that you collected." Ava teased him before leaving.
Meanwhile outside of the briefing room, Amy and Dominic have been walking and talking before walking up to Sonic and Tails.
"Where have you two been? I been looking for you." Amy was worried.
Before Tails can answer, Jonathan, Ava, and Danny came out the briefing room. Ava and Jonathan walk right pass everyone else leaving Danny standing next to Sonic and Tails.
"What are you doing here Dom?" Danny looked at Dominic with confusion.
"I was showing our new guest around the bunker. Oh, and I have a helicopter ready for you and your friends here." Dominic explained.
"Why are we flying over the outlands?" Tails asked.
"For safety reasons that area is really a no-man's land, but I was recently updated by our recon scout that he saw a flying 'Egg shape' vehicle hovering over one of the old outposts." Dominic said.
"Eggman!?" Sonic snapped at Dominic.
"What is Eggman doing here!" Amy asked.
Sonic balled his fist up and slam it on his other hand with a smirk on his face.
"What ever he is up to we will stop him! Right guys?" Sonic motivated Tails and Amy as Danny and Dominic stood there in confusion.
"Seems like you guys are…uh motivated…alright Dominic were ready to go." Danny said before escorting Sonic, Tails and Amy to the Helipad Hanger.
In the Hanger was a MIL-MI 26 helicopter already prep for launch. But two people was waiting for them it was Raavis Sol and Hiroshi.
"Hey it's Raavis and Hiroshi!" Sonic waved at them.
Hiroshi did not wave back as he walks up to Danny. He stood right next to him without looking at him and whispers.
"Keep an eye on these creatures. We don't know that much about them. Also, I sent some personal friends to deal with a problem of yours that you caused earlier." Hiroshi leaves the Hanger.
"What was that about?" Sonic asked.
Danny shrugged his shoulders as everyone walks up towards the helicopter. When they got closer Raavis has something by his side.
"Danny I assume you might need this. I'm not fond of using human-weaponry." Ravvis commanded as he gives him the AT-4 rocket launcher.
As Tails was admiring the aircraft, he got a quick glimpse of Danny holding the rocket launcher hauling it inside to the helicopter. Tails was a bit worried about what Danny was going to do with it.
"Everything is loaded." Danny heads to the cockpit and thumbs up to the pilot.
Sonic, Tails, and Amy climbs aboard the helicopter while buckling themselves in. The helicopter was getting ready to take off has Raavis walked towards the elevator buttons on the wall. He pressed the button for the elevator to go up and set it to go back down automatically later. Hiroshi had left the hanger as soon as the massive elevator was going up.
At the very top of the massive elevator, beams of light were creaking through more and more as it was opening. The whole thing was wide open as the helicopter took off from the lift and proceeded to had to the Outlands. Sonic, Tails, and Amy looked out the windows as the helicopter was flying over the City of Orion, The Orion Forest, and the Outskirts. Sonic unbuckled himself and walked towards to the cockpit where Danny is.
"Hey Danny! How long until we land?!" Sonic yelled.
"About another hour! The Outlands is pretty far!" Danny responded.
"This is Saber-551. Objective zone in sight" The pilot sees the mountains leading to the center of the Outlands. The gang is close to the landing zone until Sonic was impatient and decide to open the main door of the helicopter causing the alarms to go off.
"WHO THE HELL OPEN THE MAIN DOOR!?" The pilot yelled as Danny unbuckles himself then leaves the cockpit looking at Sonic.
"Sonic what the fuck are you doing?!" Danny was pissed as Sonic grabbed a parachute and jumps.
"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaa…" Sonic had completely jumped out of the helicopter making his way towards an abandoned outpost.
Amy and Tails was not shocked as they watched Danny freak out and closes the door. Tails unbuckled himself and walked towards Danny.
"Don't worry Sonic is always like that." He chuckled.
Danny however was not laughing as he ordered the pilot to land the helicopter near the objective. The helicopter finally landed as everyone got out expect the pilot.
"So much for sticking together…Saber-551 I'll call you back when we are done." The pilot nodded as he restarted the helicopter and left.
"I'm gonna kill that damn hedgehog…" Danny whispered to himself.
Danny, Amy, and Tails made their way towards the entrance of the Main building until they were stopped by a Recon scout.
"Halt! This area is off limits! Leave or be shot!" The Recon scout raised his gun and aimed it at Danny.
Tails and Amy ready themselves as Danny walked up to the Recon Scout still aiming the rifle.
"I know it's you, yet you still don't have the guts to shoot me." He taunted the Recon scout.
Amy and Tails were confused until the Scout revealed himself. Danny smirked and knew it was his friend Gustav Alexseyev.
"Why would I ever kill a great comrade." Gustav patted Danny's back as he lowered his gun.
Gustav looked over behind Danny and noticed the animals. He smiled as he crutched down to their height.
"Privet! My name is Gustav Alexseyev! You can call me Gust and you two are?" He said gracefully.
"My name is Amy Rose! Nice to meet you, Gus!" She said cheerfully.
"And my name is Miles Tails "Prower". But everyone calls me Tails." Tails smiled.
Danny was not going to wait any longer and grabbed Gust be his shoulder.
"Gus we got some important matters at hand remember?" He was annoyed.
"Sorry comrade…" Gus gets up and takes the lead. "Come. We shall deal with this intruder and disturbance." Gus proceeded into the main building as everyone else follows.
Further inside, battle-scared equipment and decomposing bodies are scattered all over. Danny was walking behind the group to make sure no there was no surprises.
"Gus, by chance did you see a blue hedgehog, about 5 feet tall?" Danny asked.
"Hmm…no why do you ask?" Gus responded.
"He jumped from the helicopter we were in." Tails added.
"By the way where are we?" Amy asked.
Gus had stopped along with everyone else. He picked up a piece of cloth from the ground then looked at the massive hole in the wall. They heard some chanting then screaming. Everyone was surprised then ran into the hole in the wall leading them further underground. They were led into multiple tunnels where the interference was getting stronger.
"The heck is that?" Danny's equipment was malfunctioning.
Everyone was looking around the entrance ways until something in the ground caught Amy's attention. It was glowing from under the dirt as Amy called Tails over without Danny and Gus noticing. She scrubs the dirt off and it shocked her and Tails. It was the Phantom Ruby that was interfering with Danny's equipment. The chanting was starting up again as Gus and Danny found where it was coming from.
"This way Comrades!" Gus charged into the tunnel to the far left and Danny followed. Amy snagged the ruby and followed along with Tails.
The group had followed the sounds through the tunnel and came upon a ritual with a giant floating crystal in the air. Below them was a group of Specters and a captured person. Gus took the binoculars from Danny's person and took a closer look of who is captured.
"Huh who is that done there?" Sonic said.
Everyone turned around and Sonic was standing there with a smirk on his face.
"Sonic!" Amy and Tails yelled but their voice echoed through the chasm.
Danny without hesitation tackled Sonic to the ground in anger.
"YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! WE ARE SUPPOSED TO STICK TOGETHER!" He was furious as his voice echoed as well.
Everyones voices was heard from below as the Specters stopped chanting and looked above them. The main Specter a High-Priest named Saiox took notice as he had Dr. Eggman locked up.
"Intruders! Protect the crystal!" Saiox yelled as he shielded Eggman. Saiox rises from the ground and uses his void abilities to shield his brothers and crystal.
"Comrade! We must act now get off that hedgehog and help!" Gus started firing his rifle below then makes his way down.
Danny got off Sonic and gave him a deep glare before going to help Gus. Sonic got up from the ground dusting himself off from the encounter.
"So, what did I miss?" He asked.
"We found this." Amy pulled out the phantom ruby as it was emitting a ruby-mist. The ruby surrounded Amy as the mist was getting thicker as it was creating her most desired illusion.
