DISCLAIMER: IF YOU HAVE NOT READ MY STORY—THE SONIC PROJECT—BEFORE COMING HERE, PLEASE READ THAT STORY FIRST AS THERE ARE STORY ELEMENTS AND PLOT DEVICES THAT TIE DIRECTLY BACK INTO THIS STORY. YOU MAY FIND YOURSELF LOST AND CONFUSED AS TO HOW THINGS WORK IN THIS A.U. IF YOU DO NOT READ THE SONIC PROJECT FIRST.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
CHAPTER I – BLUE ON BLACK
MONDAY, OCTOBER 31ST, 2016
Kids across the city had the week off from school, and tonight was their week's climax. This was their night. It was their night to be the terrors that their parents pictured them as. Ghosts were abundant in Knothole. Mummies dotted the landscape in North Res. South Res had its demons. Goblins ran amok in Amusement Mile. Angel Island was peppered with cloaked reapers. And of course, the Industrial District had more wizards than Waverly Place.
But they weren't the most popular costume of choice. Every other kid trick-or-treated in the streets as its city's hero. The would-be heroes ran amok demanding caramels and chocolate all the way from the Echidna Tribe National Forest to the southern-most point of Mobotropolis. All that sugar would turn them into the stuff of parents' nightmares. Calling those sucrose-savvy rugrats "heroes" was an insult to the word. Cerulean speedsters on every block trying to barter with those giving out the goods that they needed all the candy to give them the energy needed to protect the city. The Blue Blurs swore that it was necessary.
All but one Blue Blur.
He was the only one not taking in that night's festivities. Well… not in the traditional way. Where he was doing his trick-or-treating was going to give him the biggest payout, the kind that kids have nightmares about. His target had a shipment of "goods" coming in tonight. With everything else that's been going on in the city, he knew how crucial this delivery was.
The target was one of a dying breed. The three above him in the city's pecking order were gone. One was dead. The other two he got in Amusement Mile on a poor, casino floor. This shipment was his last stand. It had to be. With the kind of cargo coming in, he knew that this snake was going to make his move. His intel's intel said so. He figured that there was some sort of symbolism in play with this going down at one of the city's dumps. Crushed cars, an industrial magnet at the heart of the complex, and other decaying pieces of urban life were all around him. Mercifully, the normally thick stench of metal and death was getting blown out towards the Central Sea.
"Are we in position?" he whispered into his mic.
"We have officers patrolling the entrances and Allegheny Passage, S," his first compatriot said. "They confirmed the boat has entered the river and will dock momentarily. We have our warrant on standby."
"The news team is en route," his second conspirator said. "ETA at the west end is 20 minutes."
"S, C, and I are ready when you are." His third partner remotely flipped on his Detection Vision.
Panning from left to right, he saw just how many of them there were. All across this godforsaken dump were armed guards a-plenty. Their bodies came across as orange under his vision, signifying whether they had firearms or not. Orange meant yes, blue meant no. He counted them all. The biggest surge of blue and orange came from around and inside the giant hangar. Whatever his cargo was, it was just coming into view of their dock. There was a lot of blue in a very confined space. Their smaller skeletal structures indicated that they were noticeably young. It fit with his modus operandi, and that made him angry. No one like should have their lives ruined like this. He knew what that felt like, and he'd be damned if anyone else had to deal with an equally horrible fate.
Knowing he was getting worked up about the situation, he looked across the river way were the bright lights of the city to calm him down. Wow… the view was beautiful. You could see it all from North Res to Knothole. Old Trafford's lights were on as the Spectres hosted the Central City 49ers. Monday Night Football in the heart of the city. What else could be better? Well… besides the fact they would host the Shamar Raiders in six days for Sunday Night?
Everything in the last few months that he and his team did seemed to make the city shine brighter. Crime was down. Criminals were running scared, though they could never outrun him forever. To the media, he ushered in a new age in Mobotropolis, arguably the safest time the burgh has seen since its inception. He, however, was never one to the take all the credit. He admitted that his friends and partners were just as important as he was. He couldn't what he could do without his team. And now? They were all ready. Three were down, there were two to go, and one was going down tonight.
First things first. He needed to clear the path. The big, ugly target could wait for a few minutes. From the awning he rested on, he leaped into action, shooting out a line from his wrist grapples to stop him behind a mound of scrapped garbage. Anyone who made a false move here most probably looking at a tetanus shot in their near future.
All four guards at this door were well-armed and keeping their eyes trained on the gate. If he was going to be stealthy, he couldn't just go in and zip around like he usually did. The kind of wind he could generate would tip them off. That all changed though when a strong gust from the southeast pelleted him in the face. The wind had changed directions.
"That's how I'll do it," he whispered. Now it was just a matter of waiting for the next big gust. Waiting… and waiting… and waiting… and waiting… and waiting….
WHOOSH!
Showtime.
Matching the gust step-for-step, he quickly disarmed the guards and tossed their guns aside. Their confusion was short-lived as Sonic crushed two of the guards' skulls into each other and placed a pair of roundhouse kicks to the remaining duo. Four big guards… sleeping with massive headaches. Oh, they looked so cute with their big, bruised faces!
"South entrance is clear, R," he said. "Headed to the west."
"Noted."
"So, what about the broad? Did you get ridda the body?"
"I dunno how she's looking with a chain and 50-pound weights attached to her legs. I do miss her T and A, though. I really miss those big things."
"That answers—. Wait, what did you mean by that?"
"I mean that I dunno how much of her fine body she's lost to the sharks."
"Oh. Then just say she's sleeping with the fishes."
"I'm not about that cliché life, boy."
"Will you both shut it?" a third gunman asked impatiently. "I'm losing brain cells listening to you losers."
"I ain't no loser!"
"Says the guy who just said a double negative."
"Oh, you think you funny with them grammar jokes, fuckboi?"
WHOOSH!
"I think he's funny," a different voice said. The moment that caught their attention, the attacker did a repeat performance with the guns and crashing skulls. The one gunman left was too scared to move after he trained his semiautomatic. Sure as hell, he saw exactly who this guy was. The light-post shone down in a yellowish hue, but there was no mistaking this guy. He had personally sent his buddies in on stretchers. Some were crippled for life. The others would be staying in prison until Judgement Day.
"Y-You—! You're Sonic—!"
He didn't finish. The speedster disarmed him and slammed the butt of his gun into his now-broken nose. The trauma from the strike sent him flopping down. No way he's waking up anytime soon.
One band left before he could go at the big boys.
"West is clear, commish, (Sonic the Hedgehog: Roger Craig Smith)" he whispered to his comrades before hopping on the next gust and clearing out one final small group. At the end, 14 unconscious bodies laid helplessly on the filthy earth. Flipping his Detection Vision back on, he retrained his focus on the building. It didn't look like the cargo had been taken off yet.
"S," T began, "There's skylight up top that you can use to get in."
"Aww," Sonic feigned disappointment. His partner on the other end wasn't amused. "But the front door's right there!"
"And an easy way for you get shot. If you gimme a minute, C and I can hack into the building and cut the lights."
"Got it. R, the east is open."
"My officers are taking their positions. Good luck."
Sonic took in a breath and jogged to the tall hangar. Yeah, the warehouse full of Robotnik's cash that he torched was bigger. Comparatively, Eggman's old building was the size of a mansion compared to this duplex condominium.
With everyone ready, he shot off a line and zipped up to the roof. He had to be careful when moving on this thing. A metal roof with a lot of armed baddies just below him? This could go south at a moment's notice if they heard him.
Carefully walking, he made his way to the skylight and looked through the glass. Dozens of 'em. All armed in some way. There had to be 30 of them at least. A half dozen patrolled the catwalks on the upper levels with the others were on the ground.
The building itself was specially built. The enormous back wall could split into two and separate themselves down the middle. The bottom parts of the big doors were mounted on tracks in the river, ensuring that no one could get in via the passage. As an extension of the Mobotropolis Waste Management and Disposal plant, this place handled the big garbage like totaled automobiles, hence the big, honkin' magnet outside in addition to other filth Sonic sniffed outside. And like its sister location, this place was a hotbed for more dubious activities.
The inside of this building was dedicated to sorting out the waste by rubber, oil, metal, fiberglass, and other automobile pieces. But tonight, it was going to be resting place for a snake's criminal empire.
As the large doors opened and rattled the complex, a door swung open, garnering the attention of everyone. He literally slithered his way out of the office. His skin was bug-juice green. His eyes were as yellow as a black cat's. The way he slowly moved would unsettle the most hardcore of horror enthusiasts. But Sonic noticed something off with the crime lord. He was not looking… healthy. His scaly skin was normally a more robust verde. It looked sickly. The fact that he was coughing sporadically was the kicker. Sonic knew one sure thing from that skylight: Lyric the Ancient was indeed looking ancient.
The serpent heralded himself as a being of hundreds of years old when he 82 and officially named Boomer Schlange. Sonic had to respect his theatrical commitment. He was undoubtedly the oldest of the city's big five crime lords, even older than Eggman when he was still alive. But make no mistake. His age was a number. A sickly Lyric still posed a physical challenge for any species, much less supersonic hedgehogs.
He claimed that his "centuries of existence," combined with his over-reliance on technology, made him as close to immortal as one could get and a force to be reckoned with. It wasn't the most over-the-top "backstory" of the big five. Eggman was really Dr. Ivo Robotnik, and the likes of Mammoth Mogul and Ixis Naugus proclaimed their dark magic kept them young (when all they did to prove their "magic" was nothing but slights of hand, ridiculous parlor tricks, and a lot of plastic surgery—especially for Naugus). Those two were more street magicians than anything else.
"He isn't looking good," C commented.
"I'll make him look gorgeous when I'm through with him. How're those lights comin', T?"
"Just a few more seconds." With the boat docked, the metallic doors began to shut, creating a shrill sound as it was obvious that the metal hadn't been lubricated recently. "See if you can hear what they're saying."
"On it."
Before embarking, he turned on his Detection Vision, scoping out the inside. He had guessed 30, but there were actually 40 hostiles in there. All but one was armed, that being Lyric. Of the other 39, six of them were patrolling the catwalk up high. Deal with them first, and rest of the room would not be a problem. With the harsh metal-scraping around him and goons below, Sonic was able to run on the roof without anyone having a chance to hear him.
The yacht backed in slowly as all but one person waited patiently. This was his most important shipment. It wasn't the girls, it was what was coming with his new, young escorts. Made by a genius metalworker, it was going to be his ultimate lifeline. And with it, it would be his enemies' downfall, particularly for a so-called "hero".
The anchor dropped. The large doors began to shut, although their slow pace made the rusty, creaky metal even more unbearable. Unbeknownst to them, they didn't see a new fly-on-the wall zip in before they shut the doors.
The men aboard the vessel then let loose a small stairway that landed on the nearby platform. The Ancient slowly slithered his way to the dock's edge to meet the captain. The way he moved made the captain and his reprobate crew nervous. They knew this was an act. He could move his tail like a bullwhip but with deadly force. The captain kept on a smile on, trying his best to act the part of a legitimate criminal.
"Lyric!" the burly grizzly bear said with a thick accent. "Is good to see you, friend!" He opened his arms as he walked down to meet him. "S'been long time since—." The snake was in no mood for pleasantries. In a swift flash, he slithered to the bear and wrapped him violently with his tail. The salmon the captain had for dinner was nearly squeezed out of him. His crew immediately aimed their semiautomatics at the lord, but one wicked glare and deathly rattle from his tail was more than enough to convince them otherwise. "Ly… Lyric? Friend?" It was a small miracle that he could breathe, much less talk since the bind was so tight. "What… what is—?"
"Is it here?! (Lyric the Ancient: Patric Zimmerman)" the snake asked hastily.
"Let… let… *cough cough* go… *deep breath* of me!" His brown-furred face couldn't hide his now-blue muzzle. As desperate as he was, the bear was of no use to the Ancient if he expired now. Hissing and showing off a gnarly set of poisonous fangs, he released the bear who franticly gasped like a fish out of water. A few of his crew ran down to aid their captain, and he was held up by both shoulders. Now that he was straight up, oxygen to the lungs was now much more accessible. "Is… Is not looking… *cough* not looking good for… you… friend?" Now it was the snake's turn to cough. Unlike his comrade's, the phlegm and spit of Lyric's was slathered in blood. You can bet that the amount of dark red that showered the concrete caught the grizzly's attention. "Oh… is very bad," he said with worry.
"Is… it… here?!" Lyric yelled again.
The grizzly nodded slowly. Then he smiled as he dug out a switch from his coat pocket. With the press of a button, everyone went silent and looked to the yacht as a secret door on the underside of the bow began to open. Much to their amazement, a secret hatch was opening down into the water, followed shortly by a small platform from the inside that landed on the dock, bridging the compartment to the dock. A secret room on a criminal's yacht? It was a smuggler's gold mine… and the Coast Guard was none the wiser.
As the hatch stopped moving, more of the ship's crew set foot on the land and aimed their weapons inside the dark room. Everyone heard panicked screams as the light peered in as the guns were trained on them. The voices from inside sounded more than frightened. There was confusion, fear of the unknown.
The captain whipped out a semiautomatic and clicked in front of his partner. Walking to the opening, he yelled out, "Выйди из лодки сейчас, черт побери! [Get out of the boat, damn it!]" As he turned on the flashlight from his gun's scope, everyone finally got to see who was down there. As they slowly made their way out, the plethora of vile men began to wolf-whistle and evilly laugh as very young women nervously walked out.
Every kind of Mobian species was on full display. Not only did they all look different, but they each spoke in a different tongue. None of them looked a day over 16 years old, and some were not dressed well if at all. It was the kind of shit that would make any sensible person vomit. The worst part of it was that Lyric would funnel these girls into the city on a regular, monthly basis. There was doing something wrong, and then there was what Lyric had been doing. This had been going on for years, and Lyric was the city's worst pimp, though calling him that would be an insult to other pimps.
Not happy with their pace, the grizzly fired off a warning shot that went towards the roof, getting everyone's attention, especially the ladies. "Чертовы шлюхи! Уберайся немедленно! [Bloody whores! Get out now!]"
The frightened adolescents hurried themselves out of the yacht and onto the cold concrete floor of the dock. They looked around at the sea of criminals as they licked their chops like wolves do to sheep.
"这是什么地方?! [What is this place?!]"
"ここはどこ？これは私の家ではありません! [Where am I? This is not my home!]"
"나는죽었으면좋겠어! [I wish I was dead!]"
"แม่! พ่อ! ช่วยฉันด้วย! [Mother! Father! Help me!]"
This was just a few of the many languages and cries for help these young women pleaded to their captors. The sickly snake watching it all was not amused with the ladies.
His grizzly cohort turned to Lyric, gesturing to the "quality products" with a sick smiling. "Good women, yes?"
Lyric bluntly told him, "I don't care about the women right now! Is. It. Here?!"
"Is here, friend! Your cousin delivered big-time! Is behind where whores were!"
Sonic had enough. The near-naked teenagers made his stomach summersault at least five times.
"T? Are you in yet?"
"One second… got it!"
"Kill the lights!"
Everyone heard that and stopped in their tracks. The one who looked the most worried was Lyric. The fear of Chaos was in his eyes.
The moment the lights went out, everybody started to panic. The foreign females all cowered. The gunmen gripped their guns fiercely. And Lyric's fear and hatred levels were at all-time highs.
"No!" the serpent screamed. "Not him! Not now!"
The sound of something running rapidly across metal made a few of the more frightened criminals to shoot wildly at the ceiling. The fact that they were firing into the darkness made them less hopeful that they got him. If only it were that easy.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Sonic yelled. The darkness made for great cover in the echoing building. No one knew where he was. He was really on the catwalk with the half-dozen guards that had been patrolling. They were all nursing horrible headaches at the moment. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called 'life!'"
"Is it ready?!" Lyric asked the grizzly, obviously frightened.
"Just slip in!" he replied.
"And miss out on the fun?!" Sonic asked.
The next thing the criminals knew was that they were disarmed by a ferocious zephyr. The collective splash that ensued gave them the idea that their pistols and semiautomatics were tossed into the Allegheny Passage.
That was when it stopped. There was nothing. No noise. No light. No wind. No Sonic. Just the guards and the abducted women. Lyric himself was noticeably tense. Everyone knew that shit was going to go down in a matter of seconds, but the tension terrified them to no end.
ZOOM!
"AHHHHHHHHHH!"
CRACK!
There went one, and it sounded like a crushed pelvis.
"One down, several to go!" Sonic yelled as he began to blast around the complex. One at a time, the gangsters fell, never knowing what hit them. One second, they'd be trying to get their bearings. The next, they were out for the count with a broken arm if they were lucky. Sonic was wasting no time with these yahoos. Come hell or highwater, tonight would mark the end of another empire.
It was all enough for Lyric as he barreled through the women and into the cargo hold. "Yes… this will do nicely!" the snake cunningly hissed.
The speedster was not getting challenged in the slightest. None of them could touch him much less hurt him. With a handful left, he started getting fancy with his takedowns.
Seven left. One with a knife to a girl's throat. The other six were in a readied position, ready to attack. They could barely see the speedster, but they saw him enough. Surveying the situation, Sonic knew he'd need to be careful. One false move, and the youth was dead.
"I don't want you to take another step, hero!" the knife-wielder barked. "I'll stab this cunt if you come closer!"
He needed a distraction. Something, anything! Where was a bright and shiny object when—. That's it!
"Gimme some light," Sonic said under his breath.
"C, you heard him," T said.
"Let there be light!" C said as she flipped the switch.
The sudden flash distracted the group enough to look away from the overhead lights. The misdirection worked to perfection as a small wind came and went. When the criminals regained their composure, they saw Sonic playing with something sharp.
"Nice dagger," Sonic complemented as he looked more closely at it. "Y'know, the craftsmanship is flawless on top-notch, especially since it's an obnoxious butter knife. Stainless steel?"
Then it hit him. The knife-wielder looked down at the lady's throat. There was no sharp steel there anymore. Son-of-a—.
As the man processed the revelation, Sonic flung the metal at one of the mobsters, nailing him in the knee. He fell to the ground and screamed in agony. The scene distracted the group again, and Sonic blasted into one of the brutes sending him into the yacht's hull. Another was stepped on and drilled in the crotch for a painful and ego-bruising knockout. The third one charged Sonic. Big mistake as Sonic grabbed him by the collar and spun him around like a tilt-a-whirl from hell. To knock out number four, he threw the third man into the fourth, crushing their ribs on contact. The fifth one grabbed Sonic from behind and put his big arm around Big Blue's neck. No problem, though. That big arm of his was a big target for a bite.
CHOMP!
"ARGHHHHHHHHHH!" the criminal yelled as he let go of Sonic.
"Tastes like chicken!" Too bad for Sonic that he took a bite out of pork. Sonic rushed the swine and picked him up, stunning the last of the group. With a simple toss, the pig landed onto the last two criminals. Discombobulated, but not knocked out, Sonic took the opportunity to punt the pig in the head, slammed his combined fists into another, and for coup de grâce, the former knife wielder was dragged away by Sonic and let go out of nowhere. Not wanting to find out why the hero let him go, he got up and ran away. Sonic smirked.
"Got him!"
Raising one arm, he shot out his grapple. It was a perfect shot as Sonic soon zipped behind him, tackling him. The force made the two summersault for a bit before Sonic kicked the man up in the air. The flailing man saw his life flash before his eyes as he saw Sonic get up and let loose a mighty roundhouse.
WHAAAAAAAM!
The thug fell unceremoniously to the concrete turf. With a small chuckle, Sonic surveyed the carnage around him. Many were out cold. A few were crying their hearts out as Sonic had ruined more tore more than one ligament. The doctors were going to be busy with these guys.
Turning around, he saw how the ladies stared in awe at the royal blue speedster. He was everything they heard about. Fast, handsome, and one hell of a showman. But most importantly to them, he was their hero.
"こんにちは, [Hello.]" Sonic greeted.
"ソニック！[Sonic!]" they exclaimed. They may not have been from the city, but everyone these days knew about the Sonic the Hedgehog. Like the many girls who chased him through town, they flocked to their hero and tried to glomp him in a hug. However, when they did dogpile him, it was unnecessarily uncomfortable to him, the reason being that not all of them were wearing much in the first place.
The shy and grossed-out hero couldn't get out of the pile-up fast enough. When he was clear, and when he signaled the ladies to not tackle him again, he phoned a friend. "R, you're clear."
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! CRASH!
The ladies were scared as the loud metallic crashing came from outside the complex. They were even more tense when a squadron of armed guardsmen flocked in and started pointing their guns at those who Sonic didn't knock out. To no one's surprise, they cowered behind the hero, all of them having nightmares of when they were taken by force from their motherlands.
"それは警察だ！あなたは大丈夫でしょう！ [That's the police! You will be fine!]" Sonic reasoned.
Then she came into the room. She had a respected presence that could only a secretary-of-state could rival. They were all at attention and at ease as she walked toward the hero and the flock of adolescents behind him. Actually, it was more like a saunter, something that fit her build to a T. The boys on the SWAT team, for good reason, would never whistle her way. She had gutted the worst sort of scum from the division and rebuilt the team from the ground up. She was once G.U.N.'s top black ops agent. And now, this white bat was the youngest commissioner of the Mobotropolis Police Department.
"Thanks for the translation, T," Sonic remarked into his earpiece.
"Figured it'd be calming to them in their native tongue," the genius shot back.
Stopping at the hero, she looked around at the terrified women. Her face softened when she caught their eyes. Turning back to the hero, she said, "Looks like you've got a new fan club."
He scoffed. "They're young enough for consideration, that's for sure," Sonic joked. "Everything secure, Rouge?"
"We've got more trucks on the way for the rest of these creeps. (Rouge the Bat: Karen Strassman)"
"Good to hear. And the girls?"
"A few of my old contacts will be in town in shortly to help them get home."
"Good to hear, commissioner," he said as they shook hands.
Rouge looked all around to survey the damage her colleague had put in. Her fellow officers were humming along as they cuffed the criminals and lead them out to get loaded up for prison bars. Rouge whistled lowly at the spectacle. "You sure know how to crash a party." But there was one problem. The more she looked, the more her face soured.
"What's up?" Sonic asked, a little unsure of the situation.
"Where's Lyric?"
Aw, crap.
PSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
The two went wide-eyed as they looked nervously at the yacht's secret opening. "What was—?"
PEW!
"Hit the deck!" Sonic tackled Rouge out of the way as something large and metallic shot toward them at breakneck speeds. As soon as it was shot out, it was reeled back in.
CLUNK!
The moment Sonic looked up, the large object clocked him in the back of the skull. The incident made the young women freak out and the SWAT team to draw their weapons.
"Get the girls out of here!" Rouge barked to her team.
"Yes, commissioner!" they said in unison as they began to lead the women out of the complex.
Sonic finally came to and shook his head. He might as well have been seeing stars, because his vision was screwed up for the moment.
"You okay?" Rouge asked as she kept her eyes on the opening with her 9mm drawn and aimed.
"F-Fine, I think."
"Oh, how wrong you are, Sonic!" The voice sounded more mechanical than anything.
PEW!
Sonic wasn't 100%, and he didn't dodge the shot this time. Rouge was too surprised to get a shot off but saw exactly what the object was. It was a huge, steel hand… and it had a harsh grip on Sonic.
"Gyahhhh!" Sonic yelled as he struggled to get out. Then the hand began to retract quickly into the dark crevice with the hero along for the ride. "Whooooooooooooooooooa!"
"Sonic!" Rouge screamed as she drew the pistol again. She clicked off the safety, but she got an earful the moment she did. Sonic was the only one listening to T and C.
"Don't shoot, R!" C begged. "You might hit him!"
It didn't take long for Sonic to come out. But he was literally thrown out.
"Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooa!"
CRASH!
Rouge was lucky she didn't accidentally pump a round into Sonic's hip as he landed directly on her. Groggy and hurting all over, he slowly got up and helped up Rouge.
"That hurt!" he said as his body sang beautiful songs of pain and suffering.
"What… was that?!" the bat screamed.
"Me!"
The source of the voice slithered out from the shadows. The two watched in horror as Lyric snaked his way out of the yacht's secret compartment. But that was the least of their worries. He was different. Snakes didn't have arms, but he sure did! From the chest on up, there was a hulking crimson and silver apparatus clinging onto him. It was a cybernetic torso with large arms and a ball-joint shoulders that could now allow him to punch through anything with ease. The creation's hands only had three "fingers", but Sonic knew that their grip was lethal. To top it off, Lyric's face was protected by a glass dome that did wonders for his lifeless eyes.
Rouge took a few steps back in shock as he inched closer to her and Sonic. Her weapon was still aimed at his head. "Lyric, you are ordered to stand down!" He kept moving toward her. "Last chance, or I will shoot!"
"Go ahead!" he goaded as his robotic apparatus made his voice sound more robotic and sinister.
"Hold it, Rouge!" Sonic said as he zoomed toward him. The snake anticipated this and whipped his tail, drilling Sonic and sending him skidding across the concrete.
"Sonic!" Rouge yelled. That was it. No more Miss Nice Girl!
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Her shots were placed perfectly at his skull, but the bullets ricocheted off his glass dome. The dome was not without a few nicks, but it was still very much intact. She couldn't believe it!
"Bullet-resistant glass, commissioner," Lyric said sharply. "Unbreakable, even with your SWAT team's guns." The snake then hissed and charged the bat.
"Rouge, get out of there!" T screamed.
Rouge yelped and sprinted toward the exit. He was gaining on her and gaining fast. She needed a miracle to get away, because she wasn't getting to the doors before him.
FLING! BONK!
The snake stopped and rapidly turned to his right. Taking full advantage of the distraction, Rouge slipped out. The snake hissed again as he eyed the hedgehog up. Sonic had perfectly tossed one the guard's flooded pistols and caught the snake right in the glass dome.
"Fancy suit you got there, Lyric," Sonic said. "Does it come with cup-holders?" Then he quietly muttered, "T, what am I dealin' with here?"
"Running the Detection Vision now," T replied. Suddenly, Sonic's line of sight turned blue to the cyan skeleton of his enemy. With a prompt pointed at the snake's exoskeleton, T ran the diagnostics.
"This suit was built so that I may survive," Lyric said venomously. "It feeds me a steady supply of oxygen. I'd be dying if it weren't for this machine!"
"Come on, snake-boy. Death's natural. Do us all a favor and just let it happen!"
"Oh no, Sonic!" The snake then began to make his way toward Sonic. "You and I have unfinished business."
With an unholy hiss, Lyric charged the hero. Sonic, against his better instincts, did the same. The moment the snake lunged his arm, Sonic flicked the wrist and grappled up. That was what the Ancient wanted him to do. He cocked his other arm and—.
WHAM!
Sonic flew like an errant puck and slammed violently into the steel siding of the door, leaving an imprint of the metal.
"Okay…," Sonic forced out through a grunt. "Bad idea."
"Gimme another second on that scan, S!"
"Take your time, T!"
Sonic peeled himself off, but the moment he did, Lyric shot off a grappling hand of his own, clutching onto the hero and bringing him back in. Sonic tried his hardest to struggle out, but Lyric's grip was too much. He brought the hero closer and said, "Nice grapples, eh? Hope you don't mind that I borrowed the idea from you!" Cruel irony aside, Lyric went back to work as he tossed Sonic pitcher-style, sending him skidding across the concrete. Before he got another dose of metal, Sonic shot off a line to catch himself before getting back up.
"Grahhh!" the snake barked as he charged again. This time, Sonic just sidestepped the snake as Lyric's momentum sent him barreling through the steel door and out into the scrap yard. The officers manning the gates took note of the snake and shined a light on him from a SWAT truck. The brightness blinded the snake momentarily.
"Lyric, this is your only warning!" a SWAT officer yelled from a megaphone. "Surrender, or we will shoot!"
The snake smirked and shot off a hand, knocking out the searchlight and hurling it back at them. With no time to get away, they cowered and braced for the worst. But a speedy angel got them out of harm's way before any of them could be hit. Couldn't say the same for the SWAT truck. That thing was toast.
"You okay?" a battered Sonic asked.
"Y-Yeah. I think we're okay."
"S, Lyric's suit is made of a steel-titanium alloy. 90% steel and 10% titanium!" C told him through his earpiece.
"Fine and—." That sounded like a car whizzing through the air. "Whoa!" He zipped everyone out again in the nick of time as a ruined Buick crashed around them, shattering the generic sedan to pieces.
"You have to take the fight away from the cops, S!" T said urgently.
"Noted!" Sonic replied as he zipped back toward the fight. As he charged the snake, Sonic took a note of how his upper half was all but impregnable. His lower half would have to be his focus. Lyric swung at the turf, but missed badly as Sonic zipped past and quickly stopped behind him. With a quick rev, he let loose and pinballed into the crime lord, knocking him off-balance. He shot off a pair of lines and grappled to the head of Lyric, but he stopped his grapple the moment he cleared his head. He was trying for a grappling suplex, but Lyric regained his composure and stopped Sonic midflight. With the flick of his tail, Sonic crashed into a pile of rubbish. Moaning amid the pain, Sonic tried to shake it off. A tetanus shot was undoubtedly in his future.
"You're no match for my suit, Sonic!" Lyric bellowed. "I've got the edge here!"
"Any ideas?" Sonic asked nervously.
"Use the environment to your advantage?" C asked. She didn't sound very convinced that it'd work.
"I'll try anything!" Sonic then grabbed various pieces of trash and tossed them at the snake's glass dome. Lyric batted the first few away, but a piece of what used to be a motor struck him, blinding the snake temporarily with oil. Chance in hand, Sonic revved up again and went for the lower body. With another successful hit, he did it again, winding up in front of the snake. As Lyric recovered and tried to clean his dome, Sonic attempted to run up the snake's steel arm, though Sonic wasn't entirely sure where he was going with this. Improvising against a cyborg snake wasn't his usual thing.
However, Lyric felt the weight of the hero on his left arm. Like trying to kill a mosquito, Lyric swung his right arm down at Sonic. Big Blue saw it at the last minute and jumped out of harm's way. Sonic grappled up to the roof of the building and noticed how Lyric nearly ripped his own arm off with that attack. That hand-to-arm strike left a massive dent.
Having cleaned enough of the oil off, Lyric snorted at Sonic and grappled up to meet him. Surprised at this, Sonic found himself of the ironic position of running away. The building's roof creaked at the combined weight of the two started to weigh on the building's structural integrity.
There was an industrial magnet at the center of the complex. Sonic shot off a line, but Lyric shot his own at Sonic, catching him mid-grapple. Leaping off with hedgehog in hand, Sonic was violently tackled and left stunned on the filthy ground. Before he knew, Lyric issued a death rattle and surrounded Sonic with his massive tail. With lightning-fast movement, Sonic found himself in the last position he need to be in: in a literal bind.
The snake's lower body wrapped tighter and tighter around Sonic, doing a severe number on his core. He muscled one of his hands free and tried to escape, but it only grew worse on the hero. He struggled to breath. Oxygen was now a luxury to him. He couldn't take in enough as he tried to break out.
"Sonic!" T and C screamed. "Sonic, get out of there!"
"Little *gasp* busyatthemoment!" Sonic didn't know how he forced that out.
Then the binding stopped. Lyric then moved his upper body close to Sonic. A sadistic grin was painted on his face as he eyed the crushed hedgehog. With a sinister chuckle, Lyric said, "You've lost, Sonic. This is where I crush you!"
Amid the gasps, Sonic said, "Nice *gasp gasp* pun, loser!"
Angered, he flexed his lower body muscles again, making Sonic scream out in agony. Lyric simply laughed. "I am no loser! The people will fear me now that I've killed you, Sonic! You hear me?! They'll fear me!"
"You sure *gasp* don't know when to *gasp* shut up, do ya?"
Instead of binding him again, Lyric laughed. "Why? Don't like it when I talk?"
"It's my thing. *gasp* Not yours."
"Well then, I guess it's something that I will take from you." He gripped him harder again, nearly popping out the hedgehog's guts. "Any last words, Sonic?"
Sonic could not keep this up for much longer. He needed an escape, and he needed it now. He couldn't vibrate himself free because of the sheer pain. He couldn't keep Lyric jawing for much longer either. Look around, he tried to find anything to help him. That was when it hit him. The super-magnet. He still had one free hand. It was a good thing that Sonic had been field-testing his friend's newest gadget for the last few weeks. He knew what it could do. It allowed him to walk on metal walls if need be.
Looking up to the snake with a wink, a cocky grin, and a raised arm, Sonic said, "Gloves on!"
Suddenly, a stout magnetic field enveloped the two, and Lyric's steel chassis crashed into Sonic's hand. The pull was so strong and so sudden that it dazed the snake for a minute, but his bind never wavered. When he tried to pull away, Lyric knew something was gravely wrong.
"HEY!" the snake exclaimed as he pulled and pulled. No dice. Sonic was smugly smirking despite being blue in the face. "Get off of me!"
"Bite me!" Sonic gasped.
"Get! Off! Of! Meeeeee!" The snake pulled with all his strength. Harder. Longer. He didn't even notice what he was doing to Sonic. The more he pulled, the more Sonic caught his second wind. "GET. OFF!"
PULL!
YANK!
POP!
Sonic escaped the bind and hung onto the steel body until he yelled, "Gloves off!" The magnetic field stopped as Sonic flew through the air, shooting off a line and zipping around the corner of the building. Lyric saw him swing away and gave chase to the now-freed hero. However, Sonic wasn't there when Lyric turned the corner. Gone like the wind.
With a growl, Lyric blared, "Show yourself!"
On the other side of the building, Sonic kept eyes on Lyric's position through the D.V., following the serpent's cyan skeleton. With him looking around feverishly, it gave Sonic the moment he needed to reel from the tight bind. His ribs had been crushed. It wouldn't surprise him if a few broke. But the rest of his body screamed in agony at the sheer amount of pain and the joy of blood running through his veins. Unsurprisingly, Sonic gasped for air and tried to get as much oxygen as possible, but his pinched lungs made that near impossible.
"S?!" T screamed. "Sonic?! Are you okay?!"
With a harsh cough, Sonic looked down at his shoes and gloves. "Magnetic *gasp* gloves and shoes. *gasp* You saved my life again, T."
"Thank me later. You need to retreat!"
"No."
"'No?!' Sonic, you will die if you don't come home! Rouge can—!"
"You saw what *gasp* I saw. She unloaded a magazine *gasp* and barely scratched his glass. The cops can't touch him. I have to end this now."
"Stop your egotistical preaching for one minute! You can't beat him head-to-head!"
"Then I gotta out-clever him."
"Sonic, you are in no shape to fight," C added. "Get back here, and we'll look at you."
"No. I'll figure out a way. Just get some painkillers ready, would you?"
"Sonic for the last time, come home!"
"Sorry, C. This has to end tonight. We'll never get a better chance at him."
T and C weren't going to convince him otherwise. With a loud groan, T said, "Fine! Then we better figure out a way to beat him if you're willing to continue your death wish."
Sonic peered around the corner to see Lyric still turning over every stone trying to find the hero. His frustration was visibly apparent. Now he was looking next to the small tower in the heart of the dump. He took a look at his dented arm and snarled at it, getting angrier at Sonic for somehow damaging it. Looking up, Sonic saw—. Wait… magnets! He used them to get free, and—.
"I have an idea."
"What've you got?" C asked.
"R, I need you. You *gasp* there?"
"I read you, S. You okay?"
"I'll survive. I need you to do something for me."
He continued to fling crap all over the place. Totaled cars were turned over. Broken windows broke even more. Where on Chaos's Mobius was he?!
"Rah! Where are you, weakling?! Fight me like a man!"
"If that's what you want." Lyric turned around and stared down the hero. He was breathing heavily, but he was somehow standing upright. Then Sonic chuckled. "Right here, big guy."
Taking aim with one of his hands, Lyric shot one out, but Sonic quickly dodged by grappling up and over the tower. The way Sonic eased through the night air upset the snake more than he already was.
"Up here, worm!"
Sonic could swear he saw steam coming out his nose. "Worm?! I. Am. A. Snake!" Recklessly aimed up high and shot out a hand at Sonic. Rather than feel the hand's crushing grip, Sonic countered by shooting out a line of his own and grappling up to the hand. He smiled before jumping off again. Lyric yelled and shot off the other hand at Sonic. The hedgehog did the exact same thing again. And again. And again.
"You sure know how to bat things in the air!" Sonic boasted. "You'd make a fine kitty cat! Oh, I know! You can be my little ocelot!"
Lyric was more than angry. He was out for blood. Every time he shot up, Sonic grappled on and leaped off. Every time he landed, he mocked him. First it was a Cossack dance. Then put an open hand to both sides of his head and stuck out his tongue. The winner was when he bent over and slapped his blue butt. Lyric wasn't hurting the hedgehog at all. He was juggling Sonic like a circus act, and Lyric was happy being clowned around.
"Wise guy! I'll show you!" Lyric yelled as he shot out another line from his left arm. This time, Sonic grappled onto the hand, but he didn't jump off. He rode the grapple all the way down and hopped on the bewildered Lyric's left arm. He didn't expect Sonic to be right here. The sudden change in tactics messed with the snake.
Sonic took his right pointer finger, grabbed his eyelid and moved it down as he stuck out his tongue. "Nyah!" That was the last straw.
"Why you—!" Lyric wound up his right arm and tried for another Sonic squat. But this was different because Lyric got everything he could into it. Problem was that like last time, Sonic moved out of the way, and Lyric did more than just dent his arm.
SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP! CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAK!
Lyric was stupefied. There was no way he just did that. Sonic wound him up so hard that when he had Sonic that close, he swung down madly on his arm. And what happened? Lyric broke his own arm off. The metallic appendage flopped to the ground in a scene with sparks painted on the ground.
"NO!"
Sonic took full advantage of the situation. He revved up and shot out his grapple, perfectly placing it on the elbow of Lyric's right arm. He stopped his grapple and spun in the air around Lyric dozens of times. T had built these lines to hold a half-metric ton. What Sonic also found out about the strong line was that it could double as an unbreakable rope. The more Sonic whizzed around Lyric, the more the snake was wrangled up. Unable to move, his arm, no matter how hard he struggled, Sonic got rid of the wrist grapple and shot off one last line to the top of the tower. He landed and looked into the tower's cockpit.
"Now!"
With a nod and the flick of a switch, a magnificent magnetic field turned on, courtesy of Rouge. Poor Lyric knew exactly what was going to happen next, so he tried to slither away. But it was already too late. He slithered and slithered, but he only went backwards and finally flying through the air as he screamed, "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
THUD!
Sonic pumped his fist the moment he saw Lyric strung up like a piñata. The junk yard's industrial magnet held Lyric in place, unable to scurry away. Rouge let out a loud holler, and patted Sonic on the back the moment he walked in. Problem was that he was still in a great deal of pain.
"Owwwwww!"
"Oops, sorry, S!" He raised up his hand to tell her that it was fine. He would just need a minute… or ten.
"No!" Lyric yelled. "No! Noooooo! Let me go, you fucking bastard! Let me go!"
Sonic peered down at the ground and measured up the crime lord. Rouge and Sonic looked at each other and smiled.
"Hey, C?" Sonic asked. "If we were to… oh, I don't know… drop Lyric from this height?"
Lyric heard that, and he nearly shat out a brick. "No! You don't have the guts!"
"I can confirm with absolute certainty that the fall will not kill him," C said mischievously into Sonic's ear.
"No!" Lyric shrieked. "This is police brutality!"
Sonic smirked. "I'm not a cop. I just work with them."
The snake then glared at Sonic, regret and panic in his eyes. "Sonic, I'll give you whatever you want! Money! Women! Men?"
Sonic chuckled and walked up to the controls. "There is… one thing I want from you."
"Name it!"
"I want you to tell me if this hurts."
FLICK!
There went the magnet. And there went Lyric, falling to the turf like a sack of potatoes.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Hey, buddy!" Sonic yelled downward. "You asked for it!"
THUD! CRASH!
The commissioner and hero got out and looked down at the groaning snake. The fall did a real number on him. He was able to take a few bullets to the glass dome, but the nicks the 9mm left were enough to partially crack the glass. And that weakened glass shattered the moment Lyric bounced off the ground.
With a high-five, Sonic and Rouge made their way down the tower. Rouge had made a page for her SWAT team to come in, and many an officer trained their semiautomatics on the fallen crime boss. They knew they had him. Chalk it up as one more crime boss that was no longer a threat. The poor snake looked like he had passed out from the fall.
"How far the mighty have fallen," Rouge said.
That made Sonic laugh, but it also made him double over in pain. Sonic had to take a knee as the pain of Lyric's bind had really messed him up. He gripped his chest harshly, trying to subdue the pain, only he made it worse.
"Whoa, cowboy," Rouge said as she consoled him. "You need anything?"
"An ambulance."
"I'll call one for you. Just stay put."
As Rouge pulled out her phone, Sonic stayed on the ground clutching his body. He tried to breathe normally. In and out. That too was difficult. Looking to his right, Sonic saw the fallen crime boss start to stir. Lyric had come to, and he looked at the back of Rouge wickedly. He quietly snarled and hissed. He started to show his fangs, and—. No!
Lyric hissed and lunged at the distracted bat, ready to take a bite out of—!
"NO!"
With all the strength he had left, Sonic got up and caught the snake's venomous fangs in both hands and caught Lyric's lower jaw with his right foot. Rouge turned around in horror as Lyric now tried to chomp on Sonic, but the hedgehog willed his depleted body to not give out. He struggled, but Sonic was not letting go.
The snake squinted and hissed again, but Sonic knew Lyric was in a compromised position. The hero then chuckled as dozens of police guns were trained on the crime lord.
"Wanna know something, Lyric?" Sonic asked as Lyric hissed. "I could break your jaw like uncooked spaghetti right now. But I have a better idea. You see, you strike me as an 'all bark, no bite' kind of guy."
With just a pair of swift movements….
SNAP!
The snake unleashed an unworldly scream as he jerked his head in every direction. There wasn't an adjective good enough to describe his pain. He would cover his mouth, but now he didn't have the hands to do it.
Everyone looked at Sonic's hands, or more specifically, what was in Sonic's hands. It was another one for the trophy case: a pair of fangs that housed some of the deadliest venom in the world.
Sonic had seen enough of Lyric's flailing. It was so beneath this so-called kingpin of crime. "May I?" Sonic asked Rouge.
"All yours."
Mustering up more strength, Sonic jumped and roundhouse kicked Lyric perfectly upside the jaw, knocking him out instantly, but forcing Sonic back to the ground, writhing in agony.
"Okay, that was dumb," he forced out. "That was very, very, very, very dumb." Just then, a red-and-white van pulled up flashing every known color known to man on the front and top. A team of paramedics ran out of it with a stretcher for Sonic. "Heh," he laughed. "The cavalry's here."
As they loaded him on, Rouge lent a hand in bringing up the stretcher, wheeling it to the back of the wagon. "Prep him for x-ray and an MRI," Rouge said.
"Will do, commissioner," one of the paramedics said.
Hopping into the back for a moment, Rouge smiled and said, "Get some rest. You deserve it."
Sonic then had a mask get strapped onto his face. Before the gas conked him out, he gave her one last thumbs up. "I need… my beauty… sleep."
The commissioner hopped out and slapped the back of the truck, giving its signal to haul ass to the nearest hospital. Placing her hands on her hips, she let out a sigh and turned back to her colleagues. There was going to a lot of cleaning up from this.
As she put her hands behind her head in tight bind, her eyes caught something… or someone from the rooftops. Definitely didn't look like one of her boys. Shaking he head, she looked back up, but there wasn't anyone there now.
She scoffed. "Whatever. Maybe it was just a local."
( watch?v=deedpMSLIHI)
SconnieSA presents
A DeviantArt and Fanfiction-dot-net Production
ROGER CRAIG SMITH
JASON GRIFFITH
THE SONIC PROJECT 2: KNOW YOUR ENEMY
Night falls and I'm alone ... ALSO STARRING:
Skin, yeah, chilled me to the bone ...
You turned and you ran, oh yeah ... CINDY ROBINSON
Oh oh, slipped right from my hand ...
Yeah ... JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
Blue on black ...
Tears on a river ... TARA STRONG
Push on a shove ...
It don't mean much ... KAREN STRASSMAN
Joker on jack ...
Match on a fire ... HALSEY
Cold on ice ...
A dead man's touch ... JENNIFER HALE
Whisper on a scream ...
Never change a thing ... TROY BAKER
Doesn't bring you back ...
It's like blue on black ... DEMI LOVATO
Blind, oh, but now I see ...
Truth, lies and in between ... PATRIC ZIMMERMAN
Wrong can't be undone, oh no ...
Well it slipped from the tip of your tongue ... EMILY ROSE
Yeah ...
Blue on black ... COBIE SMULDERS
Tears on a river ...
Push on a shove ... DAN GREEN
It don't mean much ...
Joker on jack ... with CHRIS PRATT
Match on a fire ...
Cold on ice ... and ROBERT REDFORD
A dead man's touch ...
Whisper on a scream ... "BLUE ON BLACK" IS COVERED BY FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH
Never change a thing ...
Doesn't bring you back ... AND OWNED BY THE KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD BAND
It's blue on black ...
Blue on black ... ALL CHARACTERS ARE THE PROPERTY OF ARCHIE COMICS AND SEGA
Tears on a river ...
Push on a shove ...
It don't mean much ...
Blue on black ...
Tears on a river ...
Push on a shove ...
It don't mean much ...
Joker on jack ...
Match on a fire ...
Cold on ice ...
A dead man's touch ...
Whisper on a scream ...
Never change a thing ...
Doesn't bring you back ...
It's blue on black ...
Yeah, blue on black ...
Yeah, it's blue on black ...
Yeah, blue on black ...
DIRECTED BY SCONNIESA
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I know it's been a long time since I've last uploaded anything. Plenty of you wondered (and rightfully so) if I'd ever get around to this. Well, I have. I know there's no good explanation for why I've been dormant for a few years, but let this be a peace offering of sorts. I'm sorry that this has taken so long, but it's here now.
SP2 HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!
I hope this first foray back into my series has wetted your appetite. I know how popular SP1 was, and the fact that I'm only now finally uploading its much-anticipated sequel is more long overdue than a library's novel. I'm sorry that you all had to wait this long. I had severe writer's block when it came to the story's third act. I'll go into more detail about that fiasco later, but you can thank the likes of One Piece and My Hero Academia for getting my creative juices flowing again (and those of you who kept pestering me about SP2).
I'm kinda breaking my rule of not uploading until the entire story is finished, but I've only got the final two chapters to iron out, and you've been waiting long enough.
So in terms of an upload schedule, chapter 2 will be out next Saturday. Not this Saturday, but the one after (2/6). Chapter uploads will follow a week-and-a-half schedule. So chapter 3 will be released in three weeks (2/16).
With all that said, thanks for checking out SP2! I'll say it again that if you haven't read SP1 first, you are going to probably be lost, especially later on.
As always, the characters used in this story are the property of SEGA, Sonic Team, and Archie Comics. The song used for title sequence is also obviously not mine. Everything in the story is being used strictly for entertainment purposes. And as always, I will talk to y'all later.