Ron was sitting on the porch of his house staring out blankly at the rain. Luger exited the house and stared at him "You did the right thing, calling us. I need to know where they're going". Ron finally turned to face him but didn't say anything, "She'll be in incredible danger as long as she's with him" "From who? He protected her. You almost killed her". Luger paused for a moment "I give you my word, her safety is my main concern at this point". Ron stood up so they were eye to eye "You know, it's a point of professional pride with me that I can always tell when somebody's lying. And you are. I don't know where he's going. I know she'll help him if she can" "Then she's aiding a fugitive. And I can't help either one of them". Luger walked away towards a Humvee but "I used to wonder why she never talked about you. Now I know". Luger entered the Humvee and sighs "Where does she find these guys?".
That night during the storm Knuckles carried Su up the mountain and he cautiously a cave. He looked around eratically searching for any threats. He laid her down against one of the rocks and stared at her curiously. Su began to wake up and saw him getting very close, she screamed in surprise. Knuckles backed away quickly and hit the roof of the cave hurting his head. He held his head and turned away from her. Su slowly stood up "Knuckles?". He turned back to her and the two stared at one another for a moment when he suddenly heard thunder outside. He gritted his teeth and ran out onto the cliff side. He threw a large rock up at the sky and roared threateningly. He kept watching thinking something was coming. Su walked out and Knuckles put his hand up telling her to get back when he heard the thunder again. Su raised her hands calmingly "It's okay. It's okay". Knuckles continued to watch the sky, so Su took his hand. Knuckles glanced back at her and started to calm down as she slowly led him back inside "Come here. Come this way. Watch your head". Knuckles moved his head around the rock he hit before. Su sat down and she patted the rock next to her. Knuckles sat next to her. Su was freezing so curled up and put her arms around her legs. Knuckles wasn't cold but copied her which made her snigger. Knuckles heard the thunder again and looked back outside. Su calmingly put her hand on his shoulder "It's okay. It's okay. It's just the rain".
Luger entered the med bay with a doctor "Will he walk again?" "Most of the bones in his body look like crushed gravel right now. I will say this for him. He's got a heart like a machine. Never seen anything like it, outside of a racehorse". They went to a hospital bed where Zavok was lying in a cast with the only visible parts of his body heavily bruised. Luger walked away but as he did Zavok's first began to clench his fists.
Su woke up the next morning resting her head on Knuckles' back. She yawned and started shaking his shoulder waking him up. He was back to normal but heavily disoriented and he felt drained. She took him back down the mountain until they found a Motel.
Luger was back in his office smoking; he had his back to the door and was staring at the wall that was now covered on information on Knuckles. Clove entered "We put out a search for Julie-Su. She won't be able to use anything without getting tracked". Luger continued to stare at the wall and took a puff of his cigar "You keep seeing it in your mind, don't you? The power". Clove paused before answering "Yes" "That shake you up?". She didn't answer so Luger chuckled "You're damn right it did. Shook me up when I first saw it" "It was… outside my training. An enemy has an agenda, and we fight to stop it. But that… that had no agenda". Luger smirked "Major, a great writer once said 'There are clefts in the rock where we see the back part of Gaia and tremble'. There's no training for what you saw out there. Because it's not an enemy that confronts us it's a new power let lose. And how many times do you think that's happened in human history. Fire, chaos energy, that hedgehog with his power rings. The universe unveils a secret and people recoil. Cowering in fear and aw. And then comes the person who stops trembling, who steps forward to face the flame. And then seizes it and says this I will master and use you". He reaches out as if it were actually in front of him "A civilization's history is written by those men". He finally turned to face Clove "Major, we've glimpsed the back part of Gaia and for our nation and way of life I intend to put a harness around it. And history will say at this moment we have confronted our fear". Luger noticed that Clove looked more scared than excited "You're a good soldier, Clove. If you want to quit the mission you go with nothing but my thanks". Clove considered but "I'd just be worrying who was screwing up in my place, sir".
Knuckles was in the shower resting his head against the wall taking a deep breath. He faced up to the shower with his eyes closed. Feeling relaxed by the water hitting his face. He slowly opened his eyes when the image of the helicopter's minigun flashed for a moment. Knuckles fell back in fright and lied on the floor of the shower trying to keep his heart rate down. Su entered the motel room and heard Knuckles gagging in the bathroom. She put down some bags and walked to the door "Knuckles?". The door opened and Knuckles walked out looking fine and brushing his teeth "Oh, hey" "Are you okay?" "Yeah. I actually feel a lot better. I just had to get my data back". He held out the USB which Su stared at "You ate it?" "With a lot of struggle". Su went over to bags "I got some food, grapes, water and here". She threw him a new watch to monitor his heart.
Luger was watching a news report on the campus battle "Rumours continue to swirl about a violent clash between forces of the US military and unknown adversary on the campus of Angel University earlier today. Sophomores Jack the Hedgehog and Jim the Cayote witnessed some of the battle". The two were being interviews "He looked like a normal echidna, but he threw a car on its side like it was nothing".
Knuckles was sitting on a chair with Su standing behind him trimming his dreadlocks "Not too short" "I've done this before you know". She nearly finished "I don't know how you did all this on your own" "With clippers usually". She laughed and put her hand on his shoulder which he took. She leaned down and hugged him. She kissed his cheek, there was a pause and Knuckles slowly turned to face her. He stood up and they started to kiss passionately until they fell back onto the bed. The kissing got deeper when Knuckles heard his watch beeping. He stopped "Wait. Wait" "What?". Knuckles sighed "We can't" "It's okay. I want to" "No. I can't. I can't get…". He looked embarrassed "I can't get too excited". The beeping finally stopped "Not even a little bit?" Su asked. Knuckles sighed and lied down next to her. She smiled "It's okay".
Luger was in his office when Clove ran in "Sir, it's Zavok". She took him to the infirmary "Has anyone found out if he has next of kin or family?" "Ask him yourself". They entered a room and saw Zavok sitting on the bed looking better than ever "Sir?". Luger stared at him fascinated and slowly walked up to him "Good to see you back on your feet, soldier" "Thank you, sir". Luger smiled "How do you feel?". Zavok grinned "Pissed off and ready for round three".
Su's emptied her handbag "Well, you've been on the run longer than I have. What can we use?". Knuckles examined the pile "Well, you can take the glasses, watch and uh, the lip gloss" "Thanks. Our troubles are over" she joked. Knuckles looked through the rest "We can take the rings, but we can't use credit cards, ID or the phone. You can't even turn that on". Su nodded "Okay. But how are we going to get to Station Square with 40 rings and no credit card?". Knuckles didn't have an answer for this so Su removed one of the silver rings from her arm "We could sell this" "No. No those are all you have left from her" "Well, we'll have to try and get it back".
Clove and Luger were speaking to a room of personnel "Federal is already monitoring phones, plastic and Dr Su's web accounts and local PD have been placed on alert. They'll pop up somewhere and when they do, it comes straight to us". Luger stepped forward "They're not gonna just pop up. He made it five years and got across borders without making any mistakes. He's not gonna use a damn credit card now. If he was trying to escape, he'd be long gone. He's not trying to escape this time. He's looking for help and that's how we're gonna get him. We know what they're after and we know he's been talking to somebody. You'll all have copies of the correspondence. The aliases Mr Red and Mr Blue have been added to the GUN Operations Database. If he comes up for air, we'll be waiting. If he makes a peep, we'll hear him. And when he slips up, we'll be ready".
Clove was sitting at a computer waiting when "Match found" opened the symbol for the Guardian Units of Nations. She opened the file, a message was sent to Station Square with the words Mr Blue talking about being sent data. The final words were "It's time to meet". The match was a blue desert rat called Charlie. He was a Doctor at Thornton college.
Knuckles just bought a used car from a shop. He was about to get in when "Hey". He turned and saw Su holding a camera "Smile". Knuckles did and she took a picture before they both got in the car and drove away. As Su drove she noticed Knuckles staring out of the window "What is it like? When it happens". Knuckles thought for a moment "It's not like a new mind or anything. It's … You know when people are in fights, and they say they get so angry that they don't actually control what they're doing they just sort of fight on instinct". Su nodded "Do you remember anything?" "Just images" "But if it's still you-". Knuckles shook his head "No. It's not. It's just instinct. It's animalistic" "I don't know. In the cave, you still recognised me. You even listened when I tried to calm you down. If your mind is still in there then-" "I don't want to control it. I want to get rid of it".
Zavok was back in the operating room with Luger "Are you ready?" "Let's even the playing field a little". He lied down on the bed as the doctor prepared to administer another dose of the red serum.
Knuckles was dreaming of the fight on campus when he heard a car horn "Knuckles, wake up". Knuckles opened his eyes "What" "There's something going on". Knuckles got out and looked ahead, there was a stop where police officers were checking people "We got to go. Walk toward the back. Just don't move to fast". They got out and calmly walked away and across one of the bridges. They made it to a dock and got a boat to take them into Station Square. They had to get downtown but Knuckles thought the subway probably would be too risky especially being in the most aggressive city in the UF. They decided to get a cab, but the driver was a lot more aggressive than they preferred which resulted in Julie-Su getting into a heated argument with him. Knuckles began to understand why he listened to her in the cave. They made it to the university and Su went ahead. She ran up to a blue rat wearing a white shirt and black glasses "Excuse me, Doctor Charlie" "Yes" "I'm sorry to bother you. I'm Dr Julie-Su". Charlie thought for a moment and then remembered "Oh, Doctor Su. Yes" "I have someone who'd like to meet you". Knuckles stepped forward "It's Mr Blue, isn't it?". Charlie's eyes opened wide "Mr Red?".
They were now in his office listening to him "I got to tell you, I've been wondering if you were even real. And if you were, what would it look like? A person with that much power lurking in him. Nothing would surprise me more than this unassuming man shaking my hand. But look. You have to know this won't be easy. Even if everything goes perfectly, if we induce an episode, if we get the dosage exactly right, I don't know if it will be a lasting cure, it might just be able to supress specific incidents. There's also the fact that too much will be toxic". Su sat up straight "You mean it could kill him" "Possibly". Knuckles frowned "You should know that there's a flip side to this, too. If we miss on the low side, if we induce me and it fails, this will be very dangerous for you". Charlie laughed "Look. I've always been more curious than cautious, and that's served me pretty well. So, are we going to do this?".
Zavok was alone in the locker room of a base. He was staring into the mirror at his own reflection. His eyes narrowed when he noticed his horns and tail have grown slightly longer. His blue claws are sharper and along with his fangs as well as his blue hair. He could even feel a weird pain in his back as if his spine was shifting. He went outside and into a hanger where he boarded a helicopter with more soldiers. As he sat down the armadillo opposite him thought he looked sick "How you feeling, man?". Zavok raised his head, he was grinning with a mad look in his eyes "Like a monster".
