CHAPTER IX – BRIGHT LIGHTS AND THE BIG CITY
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH, 2016
"'Old Trafford' is ready to begin the second half. Everyone's finding their seats as their hometown Mobotropolis Spectres lead the Shamar Raiders 20-14 to start the 3rd quarter. Michael Allens along with Collin Christen here on Sunday Night Football. We'll hear from Madeline Tafton in just a moment, but Ron Summers has the ball teed up and is ready to go. Summers takes his run-up and kicks it back to the Spectres, and we're back underway again from Mickey Trafford Stadium."
If it wasn't the Mob United-Mob City matches that drew a crowd like this, the Spectres were a close second. The entirety of Times Square looked on with eager anticipation as their team looked at make it a (7-2) start to the season before their upcoming bye week. Not a single, magnificently sized screen at Times Square had anything else on its many LED screens. Normally an international tourist hotspot, tonight bright lights shown upon the Spectres football team in more places than one.
"Good," thought Sonic as he rummaged past the sports-drunk maniacs in his Shadow disguise.
"First play of the half for Aaron Fervor and the Spectres as they line it up from their 32-yard line. Empty-backfield look on this 1st and 10 from the right hash. Jennings on the top of your screen with Cobb in the slot, Franks and Finley the tight ends on the right, and Jordy Ferguson on the bottom. Fervor will take the snap and drops back. Getting some pressure… Fervor moves up in the pocket, now lets go a deep ball for Ferguson! Ferguson has a step on the cornerback Fields and nabs it in stride! Markus Fields will get burned on a 68-yard touchdown from Fervor to Ferguson! No flags, 26-14 Mobotropolis on the opening play of the 3rd quarter."
The temperature sat at 36°F (2.2°C), but the score brought an eruption of cloudy exhales. Almost like fog, the street was painted in clouds, but only for a moment. When they had cleared, he had bolted away, completely under their noses.
There he went, speeding past the glitz and glamour of Amusement Mile. The bright streets of the numerous casinos and 5-star hotels were all but a blur as he could only take a split second to admire them. As he raised his fist, he jerked his wrist and shot out a line, catching the roof of the Casino Park Building. Like Amy had done so many times as the Rascal, he swung from building-to-building with the grace of trained gymnast.
Reaching his rendezvous, he made it to street level in an alleyway, quickly ditching his disguise as a police van pulled up. Shining its lights twice, Sonic nodded and walked to the hulking vehicle. His friend in the police department had opened the door from the inside. As he hopped in, he shuddered a bit from the chilly swinging. Why did wind have to pick up when skyscrapers were around?
"Spectres scored again," Sonic said as he rubbed his arms to generate warmth.
"We heard," Rouge replied as she grabbed her phone. "Our ground team confirmed that Fiona has arrived. All we're waiting on is Mordred to show his scaly butt."
"Security level?"
"Plenty of heavies around the entryways. We can't get close."
"Luckily you have me."
She quickly pulled up a map on her phone and enlarged a specific set of blocks. "Here," she pointed. "The brewery is on the northside of I-95. All of the entrances in are blocked off by her boys. So that we don't alert her, we'll need you to sneak in naturally."
"Solid Snake style?"
"More or less. There aren't many lights around the lot yet, so keep your Shadow disguise on until you get close."
"And use Detection Vision to find Fiona and give me the 4-1-1 on enemy whereabouts," CREAM chimed in on the earpiece. "The odds are good that she'll be the only lady there. Should make finding her easier."
Rouge put her hand on his shoulder. "I want you to be careful. Who knows what she has in store for you."
"I know, I know. Probably a trap of some variety."
"And don't get too confident," Rouge stated clearly. "I want her brought in cleanly this time. No screwups."
"My brother coming back from the dead wasn't something we could've predicted," Sonic replied flatly.
"I get that, but still. If he knew about Fiona's meeting at the airport, he may know about this one too. I'm not saying he'll show up, but if he does, take him down." Sonic sighed and shook his head. Rouge didn't appreciate that as she grabbed his mouth and hoisted his face up to meet her evil eye. "I get it. He's your brother. But he interfered with a police investigation. And he aided and abetted a known fugitive."
"You think I'm stupid?"
"Not at all. But the last thing I need is to let your emotions fuck this up." Sonic glared at the commish. "Before you say anything, you were one trying to reason with him. Look what happened. Fiona escaped, and he beat the hell out of you. Whatever it takes, finish the job."
"But he's—."
Rouge clasped his mouth shut… violently. "Bring him in first, Sonic." She let go of him. "Watch yourself."
"The operation is about Fiona! Why are we even talking Gre—?!" He stopped himself and groaned. This conversation was just delaying him further. "Fine. I'll be careful," Sonic said to Rouge. Then he turned his attention elsewhere. "C? T? Y'all ready to go?"
"We're ready for action," Tails said.
"Then I'm out." On that, he bailed from the van and shot up a line at one the area's smaller skyscrapers.
Her simian bodyguard was getting impatient. Nothing from his boss's new partner. Nothing from his boss's international opposite number. Even his boss wasn't the most talkative save for a few comms checks and updates. The silence in the limousine was maddening. His hand was draping over his sidearm, something he usually did when he was itching for the show to get on the road.
"Anything yet?"
"No," Fiona responded quickly.
The simian waited with crossed arms. "Anything?"
"Sergeant, shut it. What are you so antsy about anyway?"
"You aren't? We're all but inviting Sonic here. And we're partnering with someone we barely know!"
Great, this again. The vixen groaned as she rolled her eyes at her bodyguard. "We're partnering with someone who knows him inside and out."
"We barely know him! We can't trust him!"
"I know we can't, Simian," she hissed. "You think I don't know that? You think I'm some idiot?"
The massive monkey quickly backtracked. "I didn't mean it like—!"
"You're full of shit, and you know it. I understand that it's a risk, but for—. Oh, forget it! I've already said it enough today."
"And there's nothing—!" In a flash, she grabbed his head and smashed into the car window, nearly cracking it. The big monkey grabbed his throbbing head.
"Now, shut up!"
BZZZZZZZ!
With a loud sigh, she whipped out her cell and opened her most recent messages. "Thirty seconds," she said.
"Thank Chaos," Simian said as he took out his sidearm and inspected it. One in the chamber. A magazine that was fully loaded.
"Get ready," she said into her communicator.
"And right on time," her green partner responded. "He's just arrived."
His Detection Vision was on the whole way there. It made him uneasy that there wasn't a single sniper looking over the meeting. Even in the unfinished buildings, there was nary a soul armed with serious firepower. Everyone in question had a pistol at best. There were enough armed bodies, sure, but the smaller scale on a supposed "goods" deal was not a common sight. It fit the idea of a trap for him to a T.
Keeping up with the plan, he chose a cold, steel girder about five stories above the heart of the complex. Looking down at the idling limo, he saw the various colored skeletons waiting for their international guest of mystery to arrive. The only one that wasn't armed was the only one with a pelvis unlike the others (pelvises of females differ from those of men, FYI). Considering he could hear one other car getting closer on the otherwise empty streets was enough to deduce that the meeting would take place any second. He clicked his Fluff and retracted the nanobots inside them to show off his true, blue form again. He didn't need it since the only light around them shown down on Fiona's limo. It was also because of that that he turned off his D.V. and got himself set.
"R?" he asked.
"Update me, S," Rouge replied.
"I can hear another car coming in. Probably Fiona's date for this chilly evening." WHOOOOOOOSH! "And windy evening," he said with a shiver.
"Can you see them?"
"She's in her car waiting. I can see their jaws moving. That's about all I can say."
"Can you hear them?"
"From this height? You're joking, right?" As the car drove onto the construction site's grounds, Sonic asked, "Why so little weapons for a trap for moi?"
"What do you mean?"
"All I can see for weaponry are 9-mils and .380s."
"You said that it's too easy." Sonic panned across the area and saw nothing but the foreign limo coming and whole bunch of steel and dirt from the rest of the construction site. "Think she's got a secret weapon?"
Then a thought had crossed his mind. "What if the other night wasn't an accident? What if he meant to screw up the op at the airport? What if—?" The very thought of it made it flinch. What if it was true? What if, indeed.
"S?" she asked again.
"I think you're right," he responded. "I just hope I'm wrong about it."
The sound of rubber rolling over gravel coasted to about 20 meters from the group below. Quickly flipping his D.V. back on, he saw that Fiona and her muscle had turned their heads to see the newly parked car shut its engine off. Fiona rolled the window down about halfway and eyed the other vehicle. Chevrolet Suburban. A dark grey coat of paint GM had been calling "Tungsten Metallic." It flipped its bright lights twice.
"And there's our signal," Fiona said as she got out. Quickly followed by the Destructix, she led them toward the SUV. The Chevy's passengers did the same and promptly exited their vehicle. The burly bodyguards seemed to have someone older following them. The steel girders got in the way of Sonic's line-of-sight at first, but he eventually got a good look at the foreign boss-man in question: Lord Mordred.
The description seemed to match. He was a king cobra, but more in line for the shorter height of an animal Mobian, unlike his cousin Lyric. His most distinguishing feature? The cybernetic suit he was rocking. Much like his kin, it gave him mechanical arms, although his suit had robotic legs to boot. Most importantly, the suit was keeping Spagonia's kingpin alive in his older age, just like Lyric, but his design was more conservative and practical than his cousin's.
The groups had finally met. Mordred's posse were subtly commanded to part like Moses. The cybernetic serpent then walked up to the fox and bowed. She nodded and extended him that same courtesy. He gently reached out for the lady's hand and respectfully kissed it, a common tradition from his and hers ancestral motherland.
"Buona sera, signorina Fox [Good evening, Miss Fox]," he greeted.
"È un piacere conoscerti finalmente, Lord Mordred [It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Lord Mordred.]," Fiona greeted. "Come vanno gli affari a Spagonia [How is business in Spagonia?]?" she asked as she gestured for him to walk toward him limo.
"Sarebbe meglio se non fossi turbato[It would be better if I was not upset.]," he replied. "Lyric... non eravamo d'accordo su tutto, ma non cambia il fatto che siamo ancora sangue. E il sangue cerca vendetta. La mia famiglia lo fa da generazioni. [Lyric... we do not agree on everything, but it does not change that we are still blood. And the blood seeks revenge. My family has done it for generations.]."
"Questo è il modo in cui mio padre ha fatto, Caos riposa la sua anima [That's how my dad did it, Chaos rest his soul.]." She took a moment to wish her deceased father the best. She wished he was here. He'd know what to do.
Mordred put a hand on her shoulder. "Tuo padre era un brav'uomo. Ma parliamo di affari [Your father was a good man. But let's talk business.]."
Thank goodness Tails had put a translator program into the contact lenses. Sonic shook his head the gratuitous amount of foreign tongue being used.
RING! RING!
Sonic turned his attention back to the vixen who pulled out her phone. After looking at the name and number, she looked back at her guest. "Parla del diavolo, Mordred. Un momento [Speak of the devil, Mordred. One moment]." Then she pressed the green button on screen. "Yes? … Oh, is that so? I'll relay the message." She then hung up and returned the cell to her pocket. "Non siamo soli, Mordred. Il nostro altro ospite è direttamente sopra di noi mentre parliamo [We're not alone, Mordred. Our other guest is directly above us as we speak.]."
Aw, damn. The translation didn't lie. Sonic was compromised.
"Who the fuck saw me?" he asked himself. Then that idea popped up in his head again. "Please be wrong about this…," he thought.
The vixen looked up at the unfinished building around her and noticed the whistling, November wind around them. He was somewhere up there.
"Come on out, Sonic!" she commanded as her voice echoed. "There's someone I'd like you to meet!"
With a heavy sigh, he swallowed his pride and asked, "Do I go?"
"I have faith you can handle yourself down there," T said, although his tone matched his friend's: the voice of disappointment.
Shooting off a line at the girder he stood on, Sonic slowly rappelled down into the light and sight of the gang members. The Destructix began to draw their weapons, but one look from Fiona and a raised eyebrow from Sonic told them to stop in their tracks.
"Now, now, boys. We all know what Sonic could do to you in less than five seconds."
Sonic jerked his wrist and let the cord retract. With all eyes on him, he landed in a kneeling position. The Spagonian cobra immediately felt the sheer gravity of the situation knowing that he was in his presence. This was the hero that he had heard so much about.
The first thing Sonic did was look toward the vixen and her merry men. "Five? Imagine what I could do in less than one." His words were to-the-point. It was high past time to end this charade.
"Nice of you to drop in," she shot back.
The hero rolled his eyes. "How'd you know where I was?"
"We can discuss that later. Sonic, I'd like you to meet Lord Mordred."
The older viper walked his way and briefly glanced the man head-to-toe. "Direi che è un onore conoscerti, ma sarei pieno di merda se lo dicessi," Mordred said.
"He said—."
"I know what he said, Fiona," Sonic snared. "He said, 'I'd say it's an honor to meet you, but I'd be full of shit if I said that.'"
"Hmmm… impressive. You speak Spagonian?"
"What's it to you?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, nothing," she said in valley-girl tone. "Mordred here is—."
"Ian Schlange. He's Lyric's cousin here for revenge."
"However, you are impatient. Yes, you surmised correctly. He's here because his family was wronged."
Sonic then turned to the cross-armed, cybernetic snake. "Your family has destroyed plenty of other families from what I understand. Pushing all kinds of juvenile sex from every corner of the globe," he started as he slowly circled the snake, "racketeering, blackmail, drug-running, extortion, and ol' fashioned murder… just to name a few 'civil acts.' That, and investing in your cousin's life to prolong his 'civil acts.'"
"Non posso voltare le spalle alla mia famiglia, Sonic. Diversamente dal tuo, evidentemente. [I cannot turn my back on my family, Sonic. Unlike yours, evidently.]. GAHHH!" It didn't take long for Sonic to grab the viper by the throat and apply a little pressure on his larynx. Like the snake's fangs, Sonic's eyes showed off a dangerous venom in those emerald green eyes. At that moment, the sound of a dozen firearms cocking drew Sonic's attention away despite his fierce grip. "Uomini, abbassa le tue armi [Men, lower your weapons!]!"
"Put 'em down!" Fiona commanded her men in their language. Eventually, they all did as they were told.
"Don't you dare say anything about my brother, you sack of trash," Sonic hissed.
"Sonic, there's no need to throw a fit," the vixen said. Sonic looked her direction and shoved the foreign boss into his guards before getting in Fiona's face. "We're all adults here. Start acting like one."
"Alright, how about this? Fiona, you're coming with me. We have plenty to discuss."
She chuckled. "Better, if not a bit straight-forward. But you seem outnumbered at the moment." Sonic then zipped away and returned with one of Mordred's men's guns. The fast act garnered their weapons to be pointed at Sonic once again.
"Not outmatched," Sonic replied.
"Except… for one." Suddenly, a crooked smile appeared on her face, thus making Sonic raise an eyebrow in response. Fiona looked up at the seemingly barren girders above. "Our guest of honor's arrived! And you haven't made your presence known yet?"
Sonic's ears then perked up as the sound of small jet engines began whizzing around the steel with the autumn wind. He couldn't see where it was coming from though. It was moving around too fast.
"Wait," Tails said into the mic, "that sounds like—."
SLAM!
The crashing of mass behind Sonic made the dried dirt quake. The look on Sonic's face was pure surprise, but not in the good way. He knew it was a man with the flight right behind him breathing down his neck. Unable to bring his thoughts to his mouth, it was agape for a second or two until it bowed down along with his head. Sonic knew full well who was behind him. With a sharp breath, he conceded that his worst fears had been realized. Eventually, the gloves would get thrown down. Now it was just a matter of time until Scourge or Sonic started round 2.
"That's how you saw me," Sonic said in a low tone. "Is he wired? Pfft. Do I even need to ask?"
Scourge chuckled and came into the light, showing himself off once again with his twin's flight suit. By the sound of it, Scourge seemed to have gotten to handle the basics of the contraption. When he stopped in front of Sonic, Mordred lightly laughed. And Sonic? He didn't take his eyes off Scourge for a moment. He still had those blue eyes, but his pupils still weren't the same size. One was more dilated than the other. Sonic noticed that the other night when they battled at the airport too, and for one reason or another, Sonic felt that something was not right with his brother (other than the obvious).
"A bit late to be out on a school night?" Scourge probed.
"Maybe I'm just looking for those out past curfew," Sonic shot back as he eyed up the flight suit over his brother's jacket. "Or I'm looking for people who steals from others. How'd you get past the cops?"
Scourge chuckled. "Could you get by them undetected?" Sonic opened his mouth but then closed it in defeat. "C'mon, Sonic. We were trained since childhood to do stuff like that. Anything you can do, I can do."
"Sonic," Fiona started as she patted the supped-up backpack, "brothers take stuff from each other all the time. One of the quirks of being in a family." She looked at the modern marvel with an odd grin, and Sonic saw the wheels turning in her head. She was gonna spit out something real profound, wasn't she? "Gotta say… Miles really knows how to build some amazing contraptions." Involuntarily, Sonic jerked up an eyebrow in surprise but tried to hide it. The vixen saw that little movement and chuckled.
"Shit!" he thought. "Wait. How does—?"
"Leave it to the two-tailed freak to make something this slick. How is Miles by the way? Oh, that's right. You've probably got him in your ear now." He didn't immediately respond with a rebuttal. However, he did hear Tails on the other end curse under his breath.
Unsure where this was going, Sonic said, "What are you talking about?"
She clicked her tongue and put a pointed finger on his mouth, one which quickly swiped away. "Oh, don't act so coy. If I recall, Tails was mentioned on the news, by his real name no less, as one of the people who helped you end Eggman, correct?" Silence. She had him there. "And the wrist grapples? Those over-sized golden hoops? I remember when he was building the first prototype of those things back in high school." She paused to look at Sonic. Not the greatest with poker faces, Big Blue wasn't sure what to think or say at that time. "Hold on… they never told you?"
Wait a second….
"'They?'" Sonic asked.
"S-Sonic?" the genius fox forced out.
"Tails, what's the meaning of this?" CREAM queried with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
"Well, how's that for trust?!" Fiona said giddily. "The only guy on Mobius who can build this tech—and I'm sure helps you on nights like these—and he never told you that we know each other?" Sonic's jaw started to twitch. "In that case, let me tell you the best part. Actually, there are two."
"What are you getting at, Fox?" Sonic growled trying to avoid the obvious.
She gave him the biggest shit-eating grin he'd seen in months. "Miles once had a crush on me. Thought my body was sculpted by Chaos himself. Those were his words, not mine." The hero heard his partner's hands hit and hide his face in embarrassment. That was the least of their worries. "Oh, yeah… I developed earlier than other girls. I remember catching him staring at my chest, ogling my ass." SMACK! "Y'know, the usual things boys do when they go through puberty." It made her night to see Sonic so conflicted (if not grossed out). The only other person enjoying Sonic squirm more was Scourge. That wicked smile of his was as bad as Fiona's. "Oh, I can imagine what's going through your head right now. How could your friends keep such a small detail away from you?" The hero's hands began to shake. They slowly balled themselves into fists, giving more ammunition for Fiona to use. "Are you mad at me or your friends?"
"Liar!" Sonic barked as he blindly swung. Scourge got in front and blocked the punch and drilled his brother just above the beltline, right in the spot that hadn't recovered fully from Lyric. "OOOF!" Sonic exclaimed as he doubled over momentarily.
"Hahahaha!" Fiona belly-laughed, soon being joined by Mordred and her men. Scourge too because he was sadistic like that. "Oh! I almost forgot! Amy Rose? Y'know, the pretty one with the pink fur that you hang around with? Did Ames ever tell you that we were best friends for years? How we slept over dozens of times? Movies 'til 4 in the morning? Trying on each other's clothes? We had a good time trying to get her clothes to fit on my Aphrodite body. I stretched and ruined countless shirts of hers."
"ENOUGH!" He quickly threw another right cross at Fiona with the might of a thousand storms. However, Scourge saw it right away and put a boot in Sonic's kidneys before anyone else could blink. Big Blue held his midsection in pain again only to be made worse when Scourge rammed his boot there again, holding him down by planting his foot on his head.
She clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Kinda fitting that people as secretive as Amy and Tails would be hush-hush about their past. Did Amy ever tell you that I offered to help avenge her parents' murder? All she needed to do was say the word." Then her face turned from cynical joy to that of frustration. "But she was determined to do it on her own; to do it 'the right way.' The 'right side of the law' and all that sentimental horseshit." She sighed as her smile faded. "But that was the last I saw of her. We didn't have a pretty split."
Sonic growled and closed his eyes. "You're lying," he hissed. "Amy would never lower herself to befriend a trashy whore like you."
Goodness, Fiona did not like that remark. Not one bit. But she decided not to kick a man he was down (literally). Instead, a thought raced across her mind that would no doubt do a number on Sonic's trust issues. If he wouldn't listen to reason, he'd have to see it.
"Don't believe me?" She scoffed and spit in direction, just narrowly missing his right eye. "Guess I can't blame you. However, I'm feeling generous and will prove it to you. That spare bedroom of Amy's. It's got a lot of books on the far shelf. Mostly scrapbooks. But if you can find a dark green one with metallic gold striping on the covers, just take a peek and look for yourself." The scowl on his face wouldn't subside. He hated her for toying with his mind like this. But… if she was telling the truth…. "But somehow I doubt you'll get that far." She paused and looked toward Scourge. "Have fun with him."
Sonic narrowed his eyes. "Not yet." Sonic hurled his brother's foot off and immediately went to work disarming everyone in the area and tossing Mordred's men into a few steel beams and finally their limousine. All this was done in less than five seconds. Those poor souls thought they'd been sucker-punched by a bullet. Next were Fiona's Destructix. Sonic started with the dawg and put him down, dislocating his hip in the process. The lynx was next as his foot was crunched by Sonic. As he yelled in pain, Scourge went in to break it up. Sonic had his brother in his peripheral vision and grabbed his arm, spun him around, and chucked him aside for later. The lynx didn't stand a chance as Sonic shot out a line and caught the big cat's whiskers. With a quick jerk, he pulled out his sensory hairs and sent him face-first into the gravel. The simian then charged and grabbed the hero from behind, crushing down on his smaller frame. Sonic yelped in pain as his constriction from the other night came back out for a curtain call, making his body freeze. Too bad the ape didn't know he'd just sent Sonic's adrenaline levels into overdrive.
"Don't like hugs?"
Sonic didn't say a word. He just vibrated in place and started to physically burn the ape's hair off his arms from the high friction. The sergeant dropped Sonic and found—not one—but two lethal roundhouse kicks and a rocky bed when he hit the turf. Next was the white wolf. He snarled and showed off his teeth, but Sonic wasn't buying it. Instead, he grappled to the wolf's blue suit and zipped over him. The wolf shouldn't have turned around to find Sonic, because all he found was a lightning-fast haymaker that caught him on the left side of the jaw. Sonic smiled as he knew he'd given him more than hairline fracture in his mouth. Finally, there was the frog who had climbed to top of Mordred's van and leaped off in surprise attack. Funny how the world works as he was surprised that Sonic caught him and tossed him up like a softball. All he had to do was wait for him to fall down to earth and grab his leg. In one swift motion, he violently threw the amphibian into Fiona's limo, smashing through the front window as shards peppered the hood.
Mordred looked on in horror as his and Fiona's men had been gloriously taken out to pasture by one man. The kind of resolve that Sonic had just mustered up? That was how he beat Lyric, and now his cousin had seen it firsthand.
Sonic cracked his knuckles and turned right at snake-boy. With a wicked sneer, he began walking his way. Mordred panicked. No back-up. No bodyguards. Just him and one ticked off vigilante. But he saw who was gearing up behind Sonic, and that made Mordred smile.
"What?" Sonic asked lowly having seen the gesture.
WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIR!
That was the sound of machinery charging up.
WHOOOOOOOOOOSH!
"Shit." Sonic sprang into the air, narrowly dodging Scourge's flying charge. He landed perfectly as he dashed into Mordred, sending him into the Chevy's grille with a hard crash as his suit took the brunt of the impact. At least he got one. But now he had a new problem. Where was Scourge? He looked all around the construction site with no Scourge in sight. "Not good." He could strike at any time and was trained to get the drop on his prey.
Fiona shook her head at the now-tense hero whose eyes were darting up and down and all around. Taking the opportunity, she tried to wake up one of her downed Destructix cronies. Sonic saw what she was doing in his peripheral vision and sped to her, startling her.
"You aren't going anywhere," he stated.
WHAM!
Sonic was the unfortunate recipient of a mobile, five-knuckle shuffle that sent him and Fiona down. Big Blue shook his head and rubbed his sore face only to see Scourge barreling down quickly for another attack. He dove out of the way, but he realized mid-jump he did not have to. Scourge for some reason turned off and—. Fiona!
One look back and she was gone, out of sight and out of mind. Now he wasn't sure what to expect next. The unconscious bodies surrounding him were his only company as he used his senses to try and find Scourge. Couldn't see him. Couldn't hear anything besides the chilly wind in the barren rafters. Couldn't even feel his breath.
"D.V. on," Sonic commanded. Great, this wasn't helping either. He looked high and low in front of him but to no avail. All he saw were limp skeletons. But there lied the rub. He was looking in front of him.
Something fast was barreling down from behind. Sonic sighed since there was no way around it. He had to fight him. Sonic flipped his vision off and swung madly with his right fist. He'd have nailed his brother square in the face if he hadn't slid under the attack and tripped him up. Scourge was the first to his feet and attempted to stomp Sonic's guts, but Big Blue rolled away and shot a line at Scourge's chest. The line pulled Sonic up in time for Green to get a face full of red sneakers.
Angered, Scourge unfurled the steel-tipped wings and charged. Sonic knew he'd try for a slice or two. Slash left. Slash right. Right. Left. Right. Right. Left. Both. Sonic avoided them all and tried countering with a roundhouse that missed. Scourge re-countered by grabbing the leg and hurling Sonic into an upright beam. But Sonic turned around in midair and sprung off to tackle Scourge and pin him.
"Enough! I don't want to fight, Green!" Sonic pleaded.
Scourge chuckled and hit the switch on his hand gauntlets. The sound of whirring was followed by Sonic hanging on for dear life as the suit skidded on and off the rocks. Scourge kept an eye on where he was going, avoiding every beam while Sonic struggled to keep his grip. That was then tested further when the evil twin pulled off the stony turf to go airborne. Sonic yelped and let go, shooting out a line and surviving the trip as he grappled to a stable position.
Scourge took the opportunity to quickly circle around and try to spear Sonic. Big Blue saw the look he gave him. With a sigh, he readied himself. "This is gonna suck."
At that moment, Sonic shot a line above and started to go up. But that wasn't his plan entirely. He jerked his wrist to recall the line halfway and took aim at the suit. He had to judge where Scourge would be perfectly. Luckily, Sonic's aim was true. The moment it connected, Sonic followed his brother throughout the construction yard all while hanging onto him for dear life and subsequently gaining ground. The sudden addition to Sonic's weight on the pack made Scourge fall for a moment as the pack had to put out more power to compensate for the added drag. It took Scourge a few seconds to figure out what his brother was doing. When he did, he laughed and decided to have some fun.
Like Sonic predicted, Scourge began weaving in and out of the beams with him missing the upright steel narrowly. When he was high enough, and when he knew he couldn't avoid the next one, he retracted the line again to free himself, leaving Scourge to go soar out of the building-in-progress. With all the upward momentum, he grappled up to the highest beam. Without stopping, he tracked Scourge and ran along the beam and shot out another line at the pack. Another direct hit and another wild ride for Sonic who was ready to get out of the new brewery.
The sudden change in carried weight made the suit dip a bit with Scourge still inside. Looking down, he saw why. Sonic was fast approaching on the retracting line, and with his arms spread out, Scourge was a sitting duck.
WHAM!
Sonic's big boot nailed Scourge on the way up and forced him to double over mid-flight. Scourge involuntarily disengaged the jets and luckily tumbled onto a nearby rooftop with his brother. The impact threw Sonic off too, rolling along until he harshly stopped against an A/C unit. When he came to, his vision was blurry, but he saw Scourge run at him and drill him into the unit again, denting it severely. Scourge then grabbed Sonic by his quills and bashed his face into the machine twice before Sonic stopped by catching the machine and springing himself away.
"Get back here!" Scourge yelled as he jabbed right but had it blocked away. Another jab, a left cross, a missed strike at the midsection, even something like a slap to the face Scourge would miss because of a well-timed dodge or block. He had to admit that Sonic was good as ever, but not persistent enough to try and strike him. In the air was one thing since that was to try and ground him. But in close-quarters combat? All Sonic was doing was countering and blocking. He had to attack at some point. Finally, he lunged at Sonic only for Big Blue to quickly drop down and kick him away and over him, landing on the tarred roof. Groaning viciously, Scourge snapped, "Enough with this aikido bullshit!"
"Green, just stop for one second, will you?" Sonic stubbornly pleaded. He got his answer when Scourge activated the flight suit's battle mode. Metal-encased fists made Sonic curse under his breath. "Oh, for fuck's sake."
Scourge marched forward, prompting Sonic to ready up and follow suit. Scourge swung again drunk on anger, but Sonic still blocked away each strike. It was impressive seeing as how he was having his head bashed in a moment ago to be thinking clearly and combatively like this in the heat of it all. But then Scourge got an idea. Sonic was always the cleaner fighter of the two growing up.
Scourge faked a haymaker and stomped on Sonic's foot, distracting the hero for a split-second. It was all the time he needed to shove a metal fist into the stomach, knocking the wind out of Sonic and forcing some blood out. Next, he brought his mitts together and connected on Sonic's face, sending him down. Scourge snarled and jumped on him laying a crucial blow.
CRACK!
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
His already ailing chest was getting another dose of heavy abuse. Now Sonic could add in a fractured rib to the list. However, the adrenaline was released and Sonic reacted by throwing a harsh right fist into Scourge's jaw, nearly fracturing it. As Scourge reeled back, Sonic threw him off and got up. The moment Sonic did, he gripped his right side feverishly. The basic skeleton had seven true/fixed ribs on each side. The lowest one on his right side had been busted. He got lucky that it hadn't punctured a lung… yet. Still, this was going to be a more painful fight than it already was.
Scourge growled and brought up flight mode and took off. Poor Sonic couldn't react fast enough as his brother speared him mid-air again. Remember that rib?
"Owwwwwwwwwwww!" Sonic screeched as Scourge took him off the roof and nosedived toward the street. Sonic turned and feared for what was next, but his brother pulled up and began to toy with his twin. Twisting and turning around city blocks and lampposts made Sonic's torso explode with more pain. The pain his midsection brought on a petrified face of agony as Sonic was thrown off over a busy street. Seeing a taxi coming in, Sonic tried to ignore the pain and focused his attention on the flying Scourge, shooting out another grapple at that flight suit.
CLINK!
Sonic prayed to some higher power that'd in reel him in time! In mere seconds, he'd be a yellow taxi's bitch! And wow! It just pulled him up in time as Scourge struggled to handle Sonic's added weight. But he tried to throw him around again like at the construction site. Sonic wouldn't have any of it as he narrowly avoided hotels and restaurants to smother Scourge as they neared a large crowd. Now on his brother's underbelly, Sonic jabbed Scourge in the Adams apple, prompting his twin to fly higher and higher! About 15 stories up, Sonic got a surprise when Scourge spat on his face and dove down the face of a flashy marquee sign. Then he realized where he was. The big crowd below them? The extra-large outdoor television with the Spectres game on? Sonic about to crash into it!
"Fuck!" Sonic yelled as he disengaged from Scourge and shot out another one at the closest streetlight he could find. "I hope this works!"
The crowd then went into another frenzy as Fervor hit Ferguson on another touchdown catch, this time from 12 yards out to make it 33-17 Spectres. But then they realized what was happening above them. They finally understood that Sonic was coming down fast as went from euphorically disorderly to holding-their-breath at the drop of a hat.
Sonic closed his eyes as his grapples began pulling him down and… he just missed the large screen and… oh, there was a new problem. All the people around that lamppost. If he stayed on his current path, the line he was on with his momentum would wipe them out and injure himself further. He aborted the one line and shot out another to his left toward one of the loudly colored marquees of Times Square, rocketing that way. The speed and momentum were going to take him into its hot, scorching, neon lights and electrocute him, so Sonic aborted that line too and swung from post to building to the edge of the Times Square crowd trying to land as safely as possible so that he might live to tell the tale. Post, building, post, building, post, building, and finally he was low enough where he grappled one last line at a post away from the crowd, but still within their view, and circled around it. He let it go and skidded to stop, but tumbled on the asphalt, further flaring up his rib cage.
The Spectres faithful all gawked as Sonic picked himself up gingerly as he held his aching bone. Many were in stupefied silence with their hands clasped over their mouths as they witnessed their hero struggling and hurting. Sonic switched on his D.V. and looked at the rib.
"S, you have to come home so we can look at that!" Tails pleaded.
Tails.
Oh, he hadn't forgotten that fox's secret.
"T, will you shut up?!" Sonic screamed. "Why should I listen to you?!"
The fox buried himself in his chair with regret. "Sonic, I can explain!"
"Oh, I'd love to hear that!"
A small thud came from in front of him. Guess who just landed and sported a wicked smile?
"Trouble at home?" Scourge teased.
"None of your beeswax," Sonic retorted.
Scourge then blasted his way at Sonic with Big Blue only narrowly dodging. But the dodge put him in an open position as Scourge tried again and nailed Sonic hard in the gut, sending him tumbling down the street toward the crowd. Scourge saw how horrified the people were and was loving every second of it.
"People, watch as I kick the living hell out of your hero!"
Scourge dashed to the recovering Sonic and balled up a fist that slammed him in the back of the head. With a crash, Sonic landed on the black asphalt again, was grabbed by his quill, and thrown into a streetlight. With combat mode engaged, Scourge nailed Sonic in the hip making Sonic yell. The speedster tried to swing that left arm, but Scourge blocked and countered with another blow to the skull. The dizzied and delirious hero floundered on the ground unable to say anything or defend himself. As he got up, Scourge kicked him back down and deactivated the metal fists and kicked down one more time for good measure. All the crowd could do was watch in horror.
The police sirens began to go off as Commissioner Rouge and hew SWAT team poured out of their vehicles and tried to get the civilians out of there. Rouge directed the chaotic Mobian traffic and could only look on as Sonic took blow after blow after blow. Each hit was more critical than the last. He couldn't defend himself in the slightest. No energy, no will left in his body. How could he? His own brother wouldn't let him get a word in edgewise.
Looking at where the embarrassed hero was now next to, a manhole cover, Scourge thought it opportune for his coup de grâce. Raising his arms to make a spectacle of himself, Scourge kicked Sonic again in the face. "This is your hero, Mobotropolis!" Scourge bellowed with another kick. "Look at little Sonic! Getting beat up by his little brother!" He paused to lift the cover off the manhole. What came out was a stench of pure, unadulterated horror that plagued both senses of mind and smell. This would be a fitting death, a way to kill and humiliate him.
Leaning over, Scourge grabbed his brother by his rib, sending Sonic into a righteous shock of pain. He didn't have the strength to fight back and screamed again for all to hear.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sonic bellowed into the Mobotropolis night. Both citizens and officers looked on in defeat as Sonic was led to the hole.
"Oh, no!" Rouge said as she charged at Scourge with weapon in hand. "Freeze!" she ordered with her 9mm aimed at Scourge. "Let him go!"
The wicked sibling merely chuckled as he looked down at the origin of the unholy odor. Scourge then turned to catch the commissioner's eye. "If you say so!"
He let go of his rib, and Sonic fell. He landed on the edge of the circle, but his body weight pulled him down deeper. In a matter of seconds, Sonic was gone.
"NO!" Rouge yelled as she sprinted for the sewer only for Scourge to clothesline her to ground. He stood over the commissioner and laughed out loud as he kicked her weapon away.
"Scourge!" a voice told him from a bullhorn as every nearby officer had their weapons trained on Scourge. "Step away from the commissioner and put your hands in the air!" the crocodile ordered.
He roared at that one but did as he was told still laughing his ass off. Scourge then turned to the bereft crowd and yelled, "I killed Sonic the Hedgehog! I killed ol' 'King Sonic!' Hahahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahahahahaha!" Then he turned back to the downed bat. "Hail to the king, baby!"
"Scourge, you are under—!"
ZOOM!
Instantly, Scourge sped off before any of them could pop a shot at him. The crocodile captain immediately came to the commissioner's aid and helped her up. "Boss, you all right?!"
"I'm okay, Vector!" she said as turned toward the sewers. "Get a crew down there now and find him!"
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Finally some action! Thanks for being patient with the other slower chapters, guys. I know some of you have probably chomping at the bit for shit to go down, so here you go.
Scourge certainly knows his way around a scrap. Make that two victories for him to Sonic's... well, he has less wins than that. And good on Scourge for knowing the the ins and outs of that suit. Before you ask about how he got used to so quickly, (1.) Sonic got the hang of it as quickly as Scourge did, and (2.) Scourge had a day or two to get some practice in on the machine.
Choreographing this fight was a lot of fun, but I'll be damned if it wasn't a nightmare either. The brawl takes elements of Batman's fight with Firefly from Batman: Arkham Origins with some fantastic-ly painful spills as inspired by the Harry Potter-Voldemort fight from The Deathly Hallows Part 2. Add in some stuff from recent Marvel movies, and you have this sequence. I hope the other fights can live up to this pedigree because I think I planned it very well. Whether I explained it well enough to make it come across clearly for you might be up for debate, so if I wasn't articulate enough, I'll try to explain further if need be.
Oh, and we aren't just going to gloss over Fiona's reveal. ... Actually, we are for now since it'll be brought up in the coming chapters. But let Sonic's small spat with Tails be a sign of things to come.
Special thanks go out to jurrassicdinodrew, 000Marie198, and FlameShadowDragon again for dropping reviews for chapter 8! I kind of feel like a broken record by saying that since it's really been these three that've been the most vocal with the story so far. Don't be afraid to let me know how the rest of you are feeling about the story.
Before I leave you, I do apologize for this chapter being out a little later than I wanted. Usually I can find time to remotely upload while I'm working, but that couldn't happen today (trying to edit on a laptop while driving a semi isn't the most intelligent idea in the world). That said, editing this chapter was a colossal pain in the buttocks and needed more time to become presentable. Chapter 9 was about as long as the last two parts combined, and when making the final edits, I found that there were a TON of sentences that were lacking an opening noun. My 8th grade English teacher would smack me if he saw the first few drafts of this chapter. Fragments in the heat of battle are fine as it convey tension to a situation, but when characters are just talking like in the early part of this chapter, especially when there's a lot of speaking parts, the fragments I had initially screamed to me that this chapter was less refined than fresh cocoa beans (that stuff goes through numerous stages before it's ready for consumption). And speaking of chapters, number 10 will be out on 4/24 and 11 on 5/4.
As always, the characters used in this story are the property of SEGA, Sonic Team, and Archie Comics. Everything in the story is being used strictly for entertainment purposes. And as always, I will talk to y'all later.