Chapter 50; Rider of justice and the sky striker
Miles sneaked into the house and deactivated the alarm, being very careful not to wake up the owner. Then he walked silently towards the bedroom. He made his way slowly to the wardrobe and opened the door. He saw a lot of clothes hanging from the hangers as well as several personal stuff under them. Noticing more carefully he saw the backpack he was looking for. He opened it and saw the money from the bank robbery a few days earlier. He took the backpack and then proceeded to inject the sleeping criminal with a paralyzing liquid through a syringe. Then he cupped his hands and yelled.
"Wakie wakie"
The man opened his eyes and immediately realized he couldn't move. He tried to yell.
"Who are you? What are you doing in my house? Help! HELP!"
"Yell all you want mate. Nobody listens. And soon enough no one will listen to you again."
"What do you want? You want money? Take them all I have a backpack full of them in my wardrobe. Please leave me alone."
"I already have the backpack. I only need one more thing."
"W-what thing?"
"Your life!"
The man looked at Miles in shock.
"M-My life?! No please I beg you. I haven't done anything bad."
"Shut up!" Miles yelled while thrusting a piece of cloth in the man's mouth rendering him unable to make a clear sound.
"You robbed that bank a few days ago yes or no?"
The man nodded negatively.
"DID YOU ROB THAT BANK?!" Miles screamed while taking a knife off his pocket and nailing it directily into the man's knee. The man made unclear sounds that reflected his agony and with tears in his eyes from the pain he nodded again, positively this time. Miles removed the knife.
"Great. See how easy it is? But it is almost dawn. So let's get going." He said lifting the man on his shoulders. He then took him out of his apartment and out on the street. He then threw him on the ground and walked away. The criminal who started feeling his body again meaning the paralyzing effect was coming to an end, attempted to get up when he heard the sound of a duel runner engine roaring. He then saw a duel runner turn around the corner and come at him full speed. He managed to spit out the cloth from his mouth and screamed in horror as his head was crushed by the runner's front wheel. Miles who was riding the runner while wearing the backpack, looked at his doing and smiled under his helmet.
"And that makes 50" he said.
Suddenly another scream was heard. Miles looked at the source of the scream and saw a young woman looking at him in horror. Miles knew that she would be a problem later so he accelerated trying to run her over. She jumped over the fence next to her and fell into a backyard with a dog. Miles thought the problem was taken care of and accelerated once again. He made a stop to the bank the money was missing from and let it outside of the building. He then waited until he saw an employee coming to open the bank and then sure that the money would be safe returned home. He entered and immediately laid on the bed with his clothes covered with the blanked pretending to be sleeping. He soon heard Amy waking up to prepare breakfast for her, Sonic, him and his sisters. He made a thought in relief that he wasn't discovered.
"Mission accomplished." He thought pleased.
Later that morning Miles got up from the bed and went to have breakfast with his sisters. Sonic and Amy were watching the morning news.
"How did you sleep honey?" Amy asked Miles.
"Like a baby." Miles said "So what's on the program for today?"
"Well I have a meeting with Tails and Knuckles" Sonic said "about the runner racing grand prix that will take place next week."
"Cool can I participate?" Miles asked.
"I'm sorry son. They only allow drivers with at least 5 years of driving experience to participate."
"Damn." Miles said disappointed.
"I and the girls are going shopping like usual." Amy said.
"We are going over to Marianna's." Evelyn said while texting on her phone.
"You Miles?" Aurora asked him.
"I was actually planning to get some more sleep but I guess I have some driving experience to increase. So I'm off. Catch you guys later." Miles said taking his keys and walking out of the door.
Sonic was watching him leaving when the news started once again.
"In our other news, the so-called rider of justice strikes again. The body of the apparent bank robber has been found outside his home. Cause of death was the smashing of his head which was ran over by the rider's runner. The autopsy revealed the finding over an overdose of a kind of paralyzing liquid in his system which enhances the theory the murderer carried the victim outside and ran his head over."
"Man this is his 50th victim." Sonic said "and they don't have a single evidence as to his or her identity?"
However he was proven wrong the next moment.
"However contrary to the other incidents, there has been a witness. A young woman named Tikal the echidna who claims to have seen the death of the bank robber. Ms the echidna was seen by the rider and had to escape by crossing the backyard of a house, being seriously injured by the guard dog. However she did manage to identify an important characteristic. The culprit was a young male with a white duel runner."
"Young male? White duel runner?" Sonic thought. These were two characteristics Miles had. And he never forgot the day Miles asked about whether criminals deserved to die or not. Ever since then the rider of justice appeared. But he had something other criminals didn't. The knowledge of how police found out the identities of criminals. From everything. Pattern. Autopsy. Witnesses. The rider didn't kill in a pattern. The autopsies only showed how he was killed but couldn't get anything out of it. And there were never any witnesses. Until now.
"Is it even one in a million possible that Miles IS the rider of justice?" Sonic thought upset. One week after Miles and his friends' journey in Belgium he took his gun just to be safe when he went for a walk with Amy and realized it was missing two bullets. He knew it had been years since the last time he shot anyone which was in self defense. The police once came to their house and confronted him with the murders of two burglars who were found in the forest of Valenciennes, the one shot in the head the other with a flesh wound from a gun and several stabs at his chest. The police, although they matched the bullets from the bodies with Sonic's gun, they couldn't press any charges as Sonic was home with Amy all the time with undeniable alibi. But then he remembered that the officers only questioned him. They never questioned Amy or his children.
"Is it possible that Miles took my gun and murdered these criminals during their journey?" Sonic thought trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together in his head. But there was no proof that this was the case. He decided to entrust everything to Amy and go to question Tikal the echidna when she was allowed to leave the hospital.
At the same time Marianna and the twins were discussing her progress with expressing her feelings to Miles. Up until now his responds were unclear. However Aurora was determined not to give up until her friend dated her brother. Although Marianna was listening to the twins' advice by letter, Miles never looked like being attracted. The only progress was that he once called her cute. Later that day, with Aurora's help Marianna arranged to meet Miles for a drink at night. They spent the whole day trying to find the combination of clothes and beauty that would attract Miles for sure.
"Are you sure this is ok? I kind of feel awkward wearing it" Marianna stated after one more try.
"Marie I promise you Miles will be head over heels for you."
"Aurora can't we just let her do what she thinks will attract him? Maybe we have been taking the wrong way all along."
"No I'm sure" she insisted "Miles won't resist this time. The plan is 1000% foolproof."
"Marie are you sure about this?"
"Yes but if it doesn't work I'll do things my way."
"Your way?"
"If this doesn't work I'll just tell Miles I like him."
"NO! That will scare him off!" Aurora tried to tell but Marianna was determined.
"Aurora I appreciate all you've done but honestly I just want to get this off my chest. I have tried pretending to be cute, pretending to be sexy even tried to make Miles jealous. I no longer give a heck about the result."
"Oh I see. Sorry."
"It's ok."
"Aurora we better get going. Mom said to be home in an hour."
"Ok. Marie I'll be expecting a 1000 word essay on how it went."
"Very funny."
"Bye" the twins said leaving.
"Bye girls" she answered. Afterwards she picked up her phone and arranged a date with Miles.
Later that day after Miles left for his date, Sonic took Amy to their bedroom to talk.
"What's so urgent?"
"We have to find that Tikal the echidna."
"The girl that barely survived the encounter with the rider of justice? What for?"
"I need her to tell me if the rider's runner had the letters MTH on it."
"MTH? Aren't you a little specific?"
"You know what those letters could mean do you?"
"Sonic the hedgehog if you are meaning what I think you are meaning!"
"What do you think that I mean?"
"If you mean that the letters stand for.."
"Miles the hedgehog."
"OH MY GOD! YOU ARE ACTUALLY ACCUSING OUR SON OF BEING THE RIDER OF JUSTICE?"
"Amy please listen. Do you remember when Miles asked us whether criminals should be executed or not?"
"Yeah what's wrong with that? I believe it."
"I'm not blaming you or Miles for believing it. But… 2 days after they returned from Belgium… when the cops came to our house…. When I opened my gun two bullets were missing…"
"But you haven't touched it in years."
"That's what I'm saying!"
"Oh my god! No! My baby boy is…" Amy said breaking down in tears.
"Ames relax. This is just my theory. We need to find this girl."
But Amy's eyes widened.
"Oh no! The feeling I had. That we would have to fight again. We have to fight our own son!"
"It's gonna be ok. I promise you. We won't lose him." Sonic said hugging her.
"Sonic?'
"Hm?"
"You remember when we found Miles at that hangar with 3 dead bodies?"
Sonic's eyes widened as well.
"Oh god! Do you think that…"
"He killed them on purporse?"
Sonic jumped immediately and grabbed their car's keys.
"We're going to find that girl now!"
At the same time Miles and Marianna were drinking their drinks and discussing about random things. Of course Marianna didn't listen Aurora's advice to pretend a cute girl again. However her appearance change clearly had an effect on Miles.
"So yeah I defeated this guy and then kept driving until it was time for us to meet."
"You can't wait to race others in the grand prix huh?"
"No I really want to."
"Oh did you see the morning news?"
"No."
"You should have. It was very important. The police finally discovered a clue about the rider of justice's identity!"
Miles almost spilled his drink in his shock.
"What?! Really?! How?!"
"Yes! Apparently after his last kill, the rider attempted to murder a witness but she survived and escaped. She provided the police with the info that the rider is a young male and rides a white runner. Hell the police may even suspect you." She joked.
Miles however knew that Marianna was smart and wouldn't take a long time to find out the truth. He decided that he had to try and get her by his side.
"What do you think about the rider's beliefs?"
"I can't say that death is a fair penalty. But honestly when I hear what criminals do I wish they are executed."
"So you believe he is right?"
"Partially yes."
Miles was pleased by her words.
"So what would you do then, if I was proven to be the rider?"
"I'm totally with you. They deserve to pay."
Miles got up immediately and paid for their drinks.
"Come." He said.
"Where?"
"I'll show you."
They left immediately and headed for a bad rumored neighborhood.
'Miles what are we doing here?"
"You'll see."
They eventually reached in front of a warehouse. Miles saw light from the windows.
"Great they are here."
"Who's here?"
They looked from the windows and saw 4 young men sitting on a table playing cards. In front of them were large amounts of money.
"These people are the gang known as devil's gamblers. They steal money from people on the street or rob homes and then play cards while gambling the money to please their gambling mania. They have destroyed so many lives." Miles said with hatred on his face.
"What are we waiting for then let's call the police." Marianna said while taking out her phone. But Miles took it from her hand.
"Miles?"
"Why give them to the police? They will go to prison for several months or in the best case scenario, up to 5 years and then they will be released back into society. And the same thing will happen again. You think this is ok?"
"It's not ok Miles. But what can we do about it?"
"See? We are agreeing. So there's only one choice left." He said revealing a gun.
Marianna looked at the gun frightened and in shock.
"Where did you get that?!"
"I took it from the house of my last victim!"
Marianna felt like she was collapsing.
"Then… you… you are…"
"Exactly! The rider of justice!"
"No. This can't be! Tell me this is all a big joke!"
"It's not Marianna!"
"But… why? Why stain your hands with the blood of 50 people?"
"People?! They were animals! They deserved to pay! You… you said you understood me."
"I do but.."
"But what?"
"I thought you were joking."
"I was not."
Marianna couldn't process the new info. But then Miles grabbed her and immediately kissed her, sending her in shock once again.
"I know you like me Marie. I like you too. That's why I believe that my purpose should be our purpose. We both want a world without crime or pain. We can create it. Together." Miles said after breaking the kiss.
Marianna looked at Miles in the eyes. She no longer felt shock because of his revelation or fear of what would happen next. She only felt that she wanted Miles and would do anything for him. She nodded positively agreeing to follow him in his mission of death.
"Good girl" he said kissing her again. After they broke their kiss, Miles gave her a spare gun she had. Then they headed for the entrance of the warehouse. Miles kicked the door causing the 4 gamblers to look at them shocked. He immediately shot the first person he targeted on the head, causing parts of it to land on the others scaring them away. Marianna hesitated for a moment but shot another person on the back. Miles who had just shot the third of the gamblers on the head looked at her.
"What's wrong? Why are you hesitating?"
Marianna didn't know what to answer. Miles shot the fourth and last gambler at the leg but he managed to limb out of the door. Miles approached Marianna.
"Hesitation is not allowed here Marie. These people destroyed others' lives. They don't deserve mercy"
He then saw the one that Marianna shot crawling to the door. Miles stopped him and put the gun in his mouth.
"Safe trip to hell!" he said pulling the trigger and destroying the second guy's head.
Marianna knew that she had messed up big time by allowing herself to show mercy. She couldn't lose Miles.
"I'm going after the last guy!" she said and ran out of the door.
Once she exited the building she saw traces of blood on the ground leading to an alley. She entered and saw the last guy standing on the wall with a duel disc activated.
"If you have…." He said weakly "One bit of honor duel me. If I win you leave me… alone."
"Deal."
"DUEL!"
"I draw. I summon gouki suprex in attack mode. Then I activate its effect to special summon gouki bearhug! Appear! The circuit of power! Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning conditions are 2 warriors! Circuit combine! Link summon appear! Link 2! Isolde, two tales of the noble knights! Next I activate the effects of my 2 goukis that were sent to the graveyard as well as isolde's effect. With the goukis I add gouki rematch and gouki headbatt. Then with isodle I add gouki suprex rendering it useless for the rest of my turn."
"I chain with droll and lock bird to your adds. Now you can't access your deck anymore in terms of adding cards to your hand."
Miles had just arrived at the entrance of the alley and saw the duel currently in progress. He wondered how Marianna would face one of the best decks in the entire world.
At the same time Sonic and Amy arrived at the house of Tikal the echidna. Her mother opened the door and was not pleased with their demand to speak with Tikal.
"My daughter faced a serial killer and barely survived! I don't want her to recall that."
"Listen! We can't tell you why we want to speak with her! But it has to do with our son! Please. I beg you! You are a mother you understand what it means to want to protect your child." Amy begged her.
"You should also know that if Tikal carries this burden in the future it will only cause her pressure and sadness. If she faces it now it will be a lot better in the future." Sonic said.
Tikal's mom thought about it for a second and then lead Sonic and Amy to Tikal's room. She knocked the door.
"Tikal dear. Someone wants to talk to you."
No respond was heard. Mrs the echidna opened the door worried but it turned out Tikal was just asleep. Mrs the echidna attempted to persuade Sonic and Amy to come another time but the looks on their faces showed her it was a matter of life and death. She went to Tikal's bed.
"Tikal dear. Wake up."
Tikal opened her eyes and looked at her mother and then at Sonic. She immediately got up.
"You are…!"
"Sonic the hedgehog. The duel king."
"Wha… what are you doing here?"
"Mrs the echidna could you please leave us alone with Tikal?"
"Sure" Tikal's mom answered "I'm gonna be just outside if you need me."
Then she left. Sonic wasted no time.
"We need to ask you something about the rider of justice."
Tikal's eyes were instantly filled with fear as if something terrifying was ahead of her.
"No. I can't go through this again! I was barely able to give the police the evidence they now have. I just wanna bury it and move on."
"You can't move on by burying the past. You move on by facing it. I need you to remember something specifically."
"I… I.. I'll.. try.."
"Ok here goes. I want you to tell me if on the nose of the rider's runner were the letters MTH."
Tikal closed her eyes and tried to relive the moment. The terror of that man's head being ran over. The blood. The rider's maniacal comment. However she suddenly remembered the letters on the nose of the runner that she couldn't remember before.
"Yes. There were 3 letters on the nose of the runner. MTH."
Sonic and Amy's eyes widened in shock. They got up immediately.
"We gotta go. Thanks for the info. I want to ask you one more thing. Promise us you won't tell anyone not even your mother about the letters."
"Why? They can help catch him right?"
"It is more complicated that that Tikal. But we have a good reason to ask you that. Please." Amy said.
Tikal thought about it for a moment and nodded positively in the end. Sonic and Amy thanked Tikal's mother and left the house. However when they entered their car, Amy burst into tears.
"My Miles…. He… he is the rider.. oh my boy how did this happen to you!" she screamed while crying. Sonic hugged her as she hid her face on his chest.
"It's ok baby. I promised you we won't lose Miles. Let's call the rest of the singed ones and fast." Sonic said. One second later Amy had stopped crying and they both started dialing numbers.
Back at the alley the duel was progressing in Marianna's favor.
"I activate isolde's effect. I send one equip spell from my deck to my graveyard to special summon a warrior from my deck of the same level. I send divine sword phoenix blade."
"I chain ash blossom and joyous spring to negate the effect of Isolde!"
"I chain with my called by the grave! I banish you ash from the graveyard and negate its effect!"
"No you don't! I chain ghost belle and haunted mansion to prevent the activation of called by the grave and destroy it!"
"NO!"
"Anything else?"
"I banish suprex and twistcobra to add divine sword to my hand. Then I equip it to Isolde increasing her attack to 1900. I end my turn."
"I draw. I activate the spell card foolish burial goods to send metalfoes fusion from my deck to my graveyard!"
"I chain my own ash blossom and joyous spring!"
"Too bad! I have a called by the grave myself!"
"Oh come on!"
"I now have 3 spells in my graveyard. I activate the spell card sky striker mobilize engage! I add from my graveyard to my hand the spell sky striker mecha hornet drones! Then because I have 3 spells in my graveyard I draw a card. Not good enough. But no problem. I still have metalfoes fusion's effect to return it to my deck, shuffle and draw one card. Perfect! I activate the hornet drones I added with engage. It special summons one sky striker ace token. Now appear! The circuit that leads to the finale! Arrowhead confirmed. The summoning condition is one sky striker non fire attribute monster! I set the link marker with my sky striker token !Circuit combine! Link summon! Appear! Link 1! Sky striker ace kagari! I activate her effect. Hornet drones is added to my hand! Now I activate it again getting a token! Now initiating my normal summon I summon phantom skyblaster! Thanks to skyblaster's effect I get tokens equal to the number of monsters I control. I control 3. So I get 3. Now appear again! The circuit that leads to the finale! Arrowhead confirmed. The summoning condition is one non wind attribute sky striker monster I set the link marker with my sky striker ace kagari! Circuit combine! Link summon! Appear! Sky striker ace hayate! Now since hayate points to my field I can link summon again! Appear once again! The circuit that leads to the finale! Arrowheads confirmed. The summoning condition are two monsters with different names! I set the link markers with my sky striker token and skyblaster token! Circuit combine! Link summon! Appear! Link 2! Knightmare phoenix! Now appear once more! The circuit that leads to the finale! Arrowhead confirmed. The summoning condition is one normal monster! I set the link marker with my skyblaster token! Circuit combine! Link summon! Appear! Link 1! Link spider! Appear now! The ultimate finale circuit! Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning conditions are at least 3 effect monsters! I set the link markers with phantom skyblaster, knightmare phoenix and link spider!" a giant ray of light appeared behind Marianna. "CIRCUIT COMBINE! LINK SUMMON! SHOW YOURSELF! LINK 4! BORRELSWORD DRAGON!"
Miles watched in awe at the birth of borrelsword dragon. He had no idea Marianna had such a card in her deck. His heart started beating fast.
"She.. is… perfect!" he thought.
"Now to end this! Battle! Hayate! Attack him directily!"
"You can't! I have Isolde!"
"Hayate can bypass your defenses and striker directily at you!"
"What?!" (gambler LP 6500)
"Now Borrelsword! Attack Isolde! At this very moment his effect activates! Borrel downbeat! He steals half of isolde's attack points until the end phase!"
"Oh no!"
"Borrelsword dragon! Electric Borrelsword slash!"
"AAAH!" (Gambler LP 3500) "I'm not.. done yet."
"Wrong! This is the end! Prepare to meet your doom! Borrelsword activate your second effect! Zero bullet Fire! It switches the last token I have left on the field to defense mode and enables borrelsword to launch a second attack!"
"Impossible!"
"ELECTRIC BORRELSWORD SLASH!"
"AAAAAAAAHH!" (Gambler LP 0) "No I lost!"
"You know what this means." Marianna said approaching him while loading the gun.
"No please. I promise I won't gamble again. I'll do anything you want please! Please! Please." He was practically begging instead of yelling.
"I believe you" Marianna said causing Miles to look at her surprised. However the next moment she raised the gun and targeted the forehead of the fallen gambler.
"But I never said that this would save you" she said pulling the trigger. The sound of the shot echoed in the whole area. Miles looked at the scene in awe. Marianna walking towards him with blood all over her face, holding the gun at her right hand and borrelsword dragon at her left hand. He approached her as well.
"I… I.."
"Shhh. It's ok. You did what was right Marie."
"I would do anything for you."
"Would you leave with me then? To pursue bigger targets?"
"Yes. I will follow you anywhere."
Miles kissed her surprising her pleasantly.
"From now on, you shall be.. the sky striker!" Miles said once they broke their kiss. Afterwards they returned to their houses. Miles took his stuff and rode his runner towards Jet's house where Marianna was waiting after picking up her stuff. Miles was sure that since that witness survived someone would identify his runner eventually. So their only hope was to disappear. Then they accelerated and disappeared into the dark of the night.
Sonic and Amy returned home hoping to confront Miles before he did anything crazy. However they found both his room empty and his runner gone. They both immediately realized he had left. Sonic managed to calm Amy before she had the panic attack of the ages and called the rest of the singed ones to come over immediately. Sonic feared that this case would prove worse than the god card hunt.
