Chapter 7: Touch Down
Rouge the Bat stands inside a massive warehouse she uses as a storage unit, this time keeping the second piece of Tails' transportation device that Charmy gave to her at his party.
Her footsteps echo through the hollow interior as she makes her way across the concrete floor, hearing a loud beeping sound coming from the machine. She opens her phone to call Charmy, but there's no need as he walks through the front door, along with Agent Warwick.
Rouge looks back "Charmy? What're you-"
He sighs angrily "Ah, he tracked the receiver and found it..."
Rouge pulls out a concealed weapon and aims it at The Suit, so Warwick's team raise their assault rifles at her in return
"Come on, it's over, put your gun down, Rouge, don't embarrass yourself" Warwick says "...I mean it. Drop it"
She grudgingly puts her weapon on the ground, but stays near Tails' machine.
Warwick makes his way over, picks up the gun and gets a good look at the tall machine
"...I told the kid we'd find it, and look at that. Safe and sound with another one of Sonic's thief friends"
"This machine is better off in our hands than the governments, douchebag" Rouge says
"This machine is compromised of stolen G.U.N technology and unlawful possession of such equipment is a federal offence, which means you two are under arrest-"
Rouge jumps up to kick Warwick in the face, her boot heel striking his mouth and instantly draws blood as he falls down. Two officers detain Charmy, while the rest run over to subdue Rouge.
She flies around the warehouse to avoid the tasers, while counter attacking as she weaves in and out of their clutches. She races back toward the machine and presses a red button on the console, then proceeds to get tackled by Warwick's team.
"Arrest her! Hurry up!" Warwick orders as he gets back to his feet
A blinding flash of light gets everyone's attention and they freeze as Sonic, Tails, Amy, Manic and Mammoth Mongol appear on the platform of the transportation device.
"What the hell is that?!" Warwick shouts in disbelief
Sonic and his friends fall to the floor, all affected by motion sickness, but Mongol appears unfazed.
The metal walls and ceiling begin to stretch as the 22 foot tall Mammoth stands up. He roars angrily as he breaks the metal beams holding the structure together and kicks through the rest of the warehouse. He breathes in the cool night air and looks over the rest of Green Hill.
"...finally. Home"
Warwick pulls out his pistol "Whoa, whoa, HEY! Put your hands up, big guy! Don't move!"
Mongol looks down at The Suit, then sees Tails laid out a few feet away from him, so he decides to pay him back for what he did to Maine.
"Stop or we WILL shoot you!" Warwick orders
Mongol lifts up his leg and goes to stomp on the fox, so Warwick and his team open fire. Their bullets can't penetrate his thick fur coat, but they do cause some damage and hurt the beast, if only slightly. Mongol roars out and kicks at the officers, knocking a few backwards but they don't let up.
Warwick grabs his com and calls headquarters "Shots fired, we need backup at the compound on Grand and Third! Send everything you got!"
The dispatch officer acknowledges "Roger that, SWAT is on the way. What is the suspects' description?"
Mongol growls as he continues kicking at the officers
"...it's a 20 foot tall mammoth! He's got armour!"
"I didn't catch that, come again?"
"A fucking MAMMOTH! A mammoth with some kind of bullet proof armour! Bring all the artillery you got here, guns aren't cutting it!"
Mongol kicks at the ground and sends Warwick flying backwards until he crashes into a metal retaining wall. Within seconds, the entire town is woken up by blaring sirens and gunfire erupting. Residents look out their windows to see what is going on, while news stations scramble to cover the action. It takes only 2 minutes for SWAT teams and task forces to surround the compound and box in Mongol.
"Take these idiots to the best holding cells you got! We don't need them causing us any more problems than they already have!" Warwick orders as he gets back up
Rouge and Charmy are taken away by Warwick's men, while other officers take Sonic, Tails and Amy into custody.
"Wasn't there a forth one?" one officer asks
"Ah shit, he's long gone by now. Let's just haul these ones in"
Manic uses his Medallion's energy to race through town, careful to avoid being caught by the police. He reaches a hilltop near the edge of town and looks over the carnage Mongol has caused in the few short minutes he's been here.
The Green hedgehog decides to turn and run, trying to break his friends out of custody is a losing battle, even with all his enhancements. Right now, he needs a plan.
After 5 minutes of being shot at, Mongol decides to ditch the police as well, and get out of the city while he still can.
"...you little worms never learn. Your firearms are not the solution to every problem..."
Mongol takes off in a sprint through the downtown streets, clearing a path as he kicks up police cars and asphalt along the way. Helicopters shine spotlights on the behemoth as he stomps through town, trying not to lose sight of him.
Mongol leaps 30 foot gaps efficiently and soon he's left Green Hill, and the cops, behind.
Warwick grasps his ribs and leans against a police cruiser "...you tell those choppers to stay on his ass, don't lose track of him!... We're gonna need ALL divisions of G.U.N for this one. And I wanna talk to Sonic, first. See what he's got to say..."
The cave is completely silent as everyone tries to make sense of what just happened. Knuckles is the first back to his feet, doing his best to keep all of his emotions to himself, but this whole trip's been a little rough for him. Cam, Hunter and Penelope join the Echidna in shared silence.
Trent walks to him "M-maybe they'll come back for you, Knux"
The Echidna exhales "...I'd really like to believe that, kid, I really would.. FUCK! I hate this shit!..."
"Funny, I feel the exact same way about you..."
Knuckles, Trent and the others look down towards the giant hole Mongol left, watching as Victor is helped to his feet by Spaceman. They are backed up by Raul and his men, outnumbering the enhanced group 30 to 5.
"...the whole time you've been here, there's been nothing but chaos. Anarchy. You, Knuckles, and your friends... I'm the one who runs this place! I rule The Nexus!... I decide if you walk outta here or not"
Knuckles rips off pieces of his torn long sleeve shirt and wraps his bloody fists with it before facing off with Victor.
"Let's go, I've been waiting to slap the bird shit out of your mouth, Vic"
The Eagle shakes his head "You're outnumbered and you ain't got any backup left. I say you won't last one minute"
Penelope steps forward "I wouldn't be so sure about that"
Cam and Trent stand next to her "...you're done playing king, Victor. You were never anything without Mongol backing you up, and I bet your men are re-thinking which side they're going to stand behind after seeing what a coward you are"
The Robotized Eagle chuckles "Yeah, right! Everyone in here knows damn well which side is the winning one, but please, try and turn my men against me. See how that works out"
Nobody says a word, so Victor gestures for his men to attack.
And he gets another long silence as a response.
"This means go attack that freak show over there!"
Raul and the rest of his army slowly turn and face Victor, angering the Eagle.
"Oh, what? You're actually listening to these dipshits?! You don't wanna mess up the arrangement we've got, you idiots! I AM The Nexus! Hey!"
Victor is overpowered by Raul's men and his screams are drowned out by the dozens of other voices shouting some rather unsettling things to the eagle. He is beaten by the army and tossed back down in the giant hole to join Dane, as well as Spaceman and Velocita.
Knuckles exhales and turns to his new allies "...so, we won? Does that make you guys the kings or something?"
Cam looks at his friends, who nod in agreement
"It wasn't ever about being king, Knuckles. We just didn't want that asshole in power anymore. And now, he doesn't rule shit"
The Echidna remembers Victor took his stuff from him and his friends, so he races out of the cave in a hurry
"Where are you going now?" Trent asks
Knuckles looks back "I'm taking my shit back and seeing what else Vic's got inside that castle!"
With nothing else left to do, Cam, Penelope, Hunter and Trent follow Knuckles back to the castle. They walk through the front gates without having to worry about getting shot, and they split up in different directions to explore the courtyard.
Knuckles enters the vault room and begins rummaging through the dozens of crates inside. He finds his cellphone next to Amy and Tails' phones and immediate calls Manic.
"Come on, pick up, you little shit..." Knuckles says as he waits for an answer
After 6 dial tones, The Green hedgehog finally answers "Knucklehead? Is that you?"
"Yes, it's me! You guys left me on this shit hole planet!"
"Well, actually it's a satalite and you got split up from us-"
"I don't give a fuck! You have to do something to get me home!"
"Relax man, I'm working things out as we speak"
Knuckles hears gunfire in the background "The hell is going on over there?"
Manic laughs dismissively "...yeah, shit got complicated once we touched down, Knux. Mongol hitched a ride with us, the cops started blasting everywhere and they took everyone into custody-"
"Except you. 'Cause you ran"
"I had to! Do you know how much heat I've got right now?! Dude, I might as well be The Zodiac! They catch me and I ain't never seeing daylight again!"
Knuckles sighs "...what can you do right now?"
"Well, I'm keeping my distance from Green Hill but not too far... I've got some friends who can help, but right now I'm fucked for options"
"Yeah, same here... wait a second - Silver! He can bring me back!"
Manic pauses to think "...that weird dude with the weed leaf haircut?"
"Yes, him! He can teleport my ass back home AND toss Mongol in a black hole on the same trip!"
"Alright, cool, so how do I get a hold of him?"
Knuckles thinks for a moment "...Shadow, he would know"
"Who?"
"You don't know Shadow? Didn't you meet him a couple months back?"
"I don't know shit, man. A couple months back, I got erased from history, now I'm traveling to space, fighting androids and shit - I've lost track of what the hells' going on!"
"...that girl, Starr"
"What about her?"
"She was with him last, she'll know where Shadow is"
"Okay, slow down a minute" Manic says "...you want me to find the girl who almost killed me, so I can get some Shadow guy to call that Silver dude?"
"No, I don't want you to do that, but right now we don't have any choice! Even if they can't bring me back, they have to stop Mongol! ...Manic, this guy could end the world, so I need you to do this! Come on!"
The Green Hedgehog looks up to the night sky and watches helicopters explode as they pursue the behemoth. The array of military vehicles don't do a thing to stop or even slow Mongol down, making everyone lose hope that they can stop the beast.
"...alright, Knux. I'm on it"