"So..." Sonic started, "what's the lowdown? I mean, I know what it is, but, what is it exactly?"
Tails turned to his friend. "Dude, slow down. Just take a breath and keep it cool."
"He knew what I meant," Sonic said, gesturing to Avery. "Right?"
"Of course I did," the Commander replied. "There's no need to worry, Sonic. Everything you need to know will be up on the screen." He then turned to press a button on the remote, bringing up an imageof a bright white circular tablet with small specks of teal blue on it. "No doubt you're all familiar with this new drug. It's called Fokus, spelled with a K and not a C."
"Apparently, the creator didn't focus on the spelling..." Tails mumbled.
"We read up some on it at the Academy," Knuckles said. "What do we know about it so far?"
"That's the thing," said Nicole, sitting up. "This drug hasn't even started being pushed yet, so we're not completely sure."
"How do you know about it, then?" Sonic asked.
"A little birdy by the name of Nack the weasel, otherwise known as Fang," Avery said, pressing again to bring up a picture of the weasel in question. "Despite the fact that he's a weasel, he's been known to be one of the biggest rats out there right now. He has his fingers in everything, and somehow, he always keeps them clean. He's so willing to sell out others he works with, and by the time anyone gets to him, he gets out of dodge fast."
"Where was he seen last?" Shadow asked.
"Spring Yard City. Our boys over there were so close to catching the bastard, but he managed to slip through our fingers."
"Not that this isn't interesting and all," Sonic said, "but where is he now?"
Avery pressed another button, showing Nack just under a sign that read Green Hill Subway Station, with the purple weasel walking out from the subway level, holding a brown hat over his face in the hopes to cover his identity.
"He thought that he could hide," Simian spoke. "The hat and duster coat was a nice touch, I'll admit. But he can't hide that bucktooth forever."
"That tail is kind of hard to miss too," Tails added. "And that's coming from me."
"When was this taken?" asked Knuckles.
"We don't know, but eyewitnesses around the train station said at least three days ago," replied Ash.
"Anything else that we need to know?" asked the echidna.
"Only that, if you hear rumours about Fokus being pushed somewhere, don't call it a coincidence," Ash smiled.
"All righty," Sonic smiled. "When do we go catch this son of a bitch?"
"When we have a lead on him," Avery replied. "Which we don't. In the meantime, I'll be more than happy to show you your weaponry."
"I've been looking forward to this..." Knuckles grinned.
Avery pressed a button on the remote, bringing up a picture of what appeared to be a standard looking Walther P99, but it looked a bit bigger, its paint job was a sleek, smooth black, and there were tinges of teal blue integrated into the design of it.
"These are your basic pistols. They're a lot more powerful than the ones you trained with at the academy," Avery said. "Our boys that worked on them have nicknamed them Stunners, and for good reason. Each bullet has traces of small electrical spikes which give off a small charge when they hit anything electrical, on top of doing the normal damage that a bullet would. If they hit a somebody that has no metallic parts whatsoever, then it just hurts normally. However, you manage to sling one of these at someone with cyber parts, it will shut them down from the inside."
"Aw, that's just cool," Sonic smiled.
"Will all of our weapons be like that?" asked Tails.
"They'll have some elements of them, yes," said Avery. "Unfortunately, we don't have any fancy nicknames in store for the others. I'll be more than happy to show you them, though."
And so he did, bringing up more images of other weapons which included a SPAS 12 shotgun, an M16A4 assault rifle, an M24 SWS sniper rifle, and finally, a Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machine gun, all of which had similar designs to the handguns that were brought up earlier.
"All of the weapons have very much the same function as the Stunner when it comes to the bullets," said Avery.
"You guys really went all out," said Knuckles, impressed.
"That's not all of our weaponry, either," pointed out Simian. "We do have more. But we just stick to the basics for now, which should help you all greatly since you're new here."
"Anything else?" Sonic asked.
Avery pressed another button, and instead of another gun, some form of grenade appeared. Much like the weapons before it, it had black paint covering it with bits of azure thrown in, and the grenade's shape was spherical, but rather large.
"These are our standard issue grenades," Avery explained. "They're called Outbursts. These babies may only have one pin, but there are a few buttons on the side." He pressed on the remote again. "Depending on which button you press will give you the desired effect of the grenade. You've got your basic frag and smoke, along with flashbangs, incendiary, and stun options."
"Our best work in terms of grenades, however," said Lupe, "comes from our EMPs. Now, as we all know, they give out a pulse that shuts down anything electric within the area. But our grenades do things a bit differently."
"How much differently?" asked Tails.
"These ones not only give out a pulse, but they even give out a small burst of electrical energy too. That way, not only does it shut down electrical systems, but it damages them also, and the effects of the basic EMP will last longer as a result!"
"Well, that's a lot differently indeed," said Knuckles.
"We have to be prepared more than ever when we go out into the field," said Nicole. "You never know what kinds of bad guys might have what kinds of implants."
"Luckily, we do have options if anybody is stupid enough to try and fight us more physically," Ash added.
Avery grinned and pressed the remote once more, bringing up a pair of weapons; on the left was a double-edged knife, and on the right was an expandable police baton, and instead of sticking with the tradition of the guns before them, these weapons had more of a faded silver colour, with no tinges or hues of anything else.
"These are your melee options, should you choose to use them," Avery said. "Not only are they both effective on their own, but there's a little button on the bottom of the handle of each weapon. You press this thing, it'll surround the weapon in electricity, doing more damage and helping shut down the bad guys that much quicker."
"Does any of this stuff have a time limit?" asked Tails.
"How do you mean?" Simian asked.
"Like, will the bullets run out of juice and the thing that got hit returns to normal? Does the same go for the knife and the baton?"
"Ah. Well, yes, they do eventually," said Avery. "The bullets all have a fifteen second time limit, and the melee stuff has ten seconds because they're more effective on their own anyway. It's the EMPs that get the lion's share, though. Thirty seconds maximum."
"And we should point out," said Nicole, "that while each of you will have your assigned handguns, the other weapons will be available should you need them."
"Yeah, you carry the whole bunch in the backs of your cars," Avery added. "But the pistols stay with you. They're pretty much an extra part of your uniform."
"Speaking of the uniforms," Tails said, "will we be getting any body armour?"
"You will indeed," said the Commander, pushing in another button that brought up two images.
"The one on the left is the G.H.P.D. uniform with the body armour, on the right is just the armour itself," Simian explained. "The body armour itself is your basic black, but it goes well over the uniform. It's made of reinforced Kevlar with shock-proof coating to stop other bad guys from using your own weapons against you."
"We know that none of you have any implants," said Ash, "but those bullets and knives are still going to hurt like hell either way."
"Even with the vests, it's still painful," Sonic said. "Those endurance tests at the academy were a son of a bitch to get past. Even Shadow looked hurt."
"Well, what did you expect?" asked Knuckles. "We had to stand there with the armour on while they shot us. Granted, they were rubber bullets, but those still hurt a lot!"
"Trust me, we know you've all got the bruises to prove it," said Avery. "But when you're done, I'd like to move on."
"Our apologies," said Tails. "So, what's next?"
"Well, what's next is very much what's last." Avery pressed another button, bringing up an image of a police car. The paint of the body was a shining, polished silver, and the tyres were your typical black colour whilst the wheels were more of a pale white. Along the left side of the car read "Green Hill Police Department", and on the right side was the bear logo. To top it off, quite literally, was a row of neon blue lights, all together in one long bar with the exception of the middle part being a bright white cover with the word "Police" engraved in black block capital lettering.
"These will be your cars," the bear continued. "Capable of reaching speeds of up to 150 mph if need be, made from a light titanium to keep a good balance of durability and speed, and equipped with a wide range police radio, this thing is the true workhorse of the force."
"Hehe, that rhymed," said Knuckles.
"So, that's most of the outside covered," said Sonic, "but what about the rest of the inside?"
Ash smiled. "It's equipped with a holographic computer, options to drive manually or go on autopilot, has a weapon's compartment in the trunk, and best of all, it has cup-holders! Oh, and there's a pair of built-in machine guns for extra offence hidden in the hood."
"Very nice," Sonic said. "I can safely say that I'm going to like it here."
Simian then spoke up. "There's also the handcuffs. We kind of left those out."
Avery chuckled and flicked through the screen with the remote before landing on the object in question. They were black, like most of the rest of the stuff, but instead of full handcuffs connected by a chain in the middle, it was just two halves of a handcuff placed separately.
"How are we supposed to lock up bad guys with those?" Knuckles asked.
"Ah, patience is a virtue, my friend," Sonic said.
Tails then chimed in. "Now, Knuckles, I want you to consider who just told you that..."
The blue hedgehog playfully swatted at his friend. "Yeah, very funny, twins," he said with a chuckle.
"Ahem..." Shadow cleared his throat, getting the attention of the other three.
Avery then spoke. "If I may continue... these handcuffs may not look that impressive at first, but when you place them on someone's wrist, an electrical circle will sprout out to complete the handcuff. That way, not only does it have the effect of normal handcuffs, but if they move too much, it will give them a gentle shock as a warning."
"Me and the guys at the tech division worked hard on those," said Ash, then turning to Sonic and his friends. "I can only hope that they pay off when you guys need to use them."
"You bet we will," said Sonic. "If you guys went through all of the trouble of making all this stuff, then the least we could do is put it to good use."
"I'm so glad you said that," said Avery. "Because it's finally time to get to the mission."
"Is it anything related to Nack?" asked Knuckles.
"It could be. There's been rumours of a possible shipment of Fokus down at a local car auto-shop." A picture popped up on the screen of the inside of said auto-shop. "Witnesses have said that they've seen mechanics and others who work there taking more and more breaks recently, and coming back from them looking different."
"Where are the deals being done?" asked Shadow.
"From what we can tell, somewhere around the back of the shop," said Lupe. "We don't know if it's inside or outside, so you'll have to find that out yourself."
"The shop's open all hours as a rule, so you don't have to worry about dropping in at the wrong time," said Avery. "Just try to make sure that it's when they're on their break, which could literally be at any time."
"We'll stop whatever they're doing," said Sonic. "When do we start?"
"As soon as possible," said Avery. "Simian will take you down to the armoury to get you what you need."
The gorilla stood up, as did Sonic and his friends before Tails spoke. "What about our cars?"
Ash stood up also, and looked somewhat regretful. "Pretty much everyone else is spoken for at the moment, so there's not really many free cars."
"We could take mine," said Knuckles. "It's not exactly an armoured machine of police level design, but it'll get us there."
"Huh..." Avery smiled. "That's some good thinking. In fact, I think that I might have a plan..."
"What does this plan entail?" asked Sonic.
"Well, simple. You just go undercover," the bear chuckled. "Since none of you are in your uniform yet, that will help. And since Knuckles will be taking his own personal vehicle, that'll be a good incentive to be allowed into the auto-shop."
"We can't all go in at once though, right?" said Sonic. "They might suspect something's up."
"I got an idea for that," Tails smiled. "I'll tell you on the way there."
Avery nodded. "Good. The name of the shop is Gear Steers, and it's on the west side of the city, not too far from here."
Sonic smiled. "Thanks." He turned to his friends. "Should we get going?"
"Yes, we shall," Knuckles replied.
"Let me lead. We've got to get you your guns," said Simian as they all started for the door.
"Well then, all I can say is good luck," Avery spoke, causing Sonic to stop and listen. "It might be your first mission, but don't expect us to go easy on you. We saw how good you all were at the academy."
"Hehe... then I guess we'd better prove it," the blue hedgehog replied as he left through the door, following his friends.
They made it to the stairs, not needing the elevator as the armoury was one floor down. Simian lead the group to the top right corner of the floor, and into a decently sized room where a crocodile was sat behind a desk, his black trainers perched up onto the desk itself as a pair of black headphones blasted music into his ears. He was wearing a dark grey hoodie and black jeans.
"Vector," Simian said as they entered.
The crocodile turned his head to see the gorilla and pulled his headphones down to his neck. "Hey there, ape man. What can I do you for?"
"It's not me you need to do something for," Simian said, gesturing to Sonic and the others.
"Ooh... so these are the rookies, huh?" Vector sat up more, his feet now on the ground. "I saw some of the footage of you guys at Green Hill Academy. Very impressive stuff." He then looked over at Shadow. "Especially you with that sniper shot."
Shadow just shrugged.
"Thanks," Sonic smiled, before gesturing to Shadow. "Trust me, he's smiling on the inside."
"So, I'm going to go out on a limb here and just assume that you guys need Stunners, cuffs, and possibly a grenade or two?"
"Just the Stunners and cuffs," said Sonic. "We doubt a grenade will be too necessary for where we're going."
"Maybe an EMP then?" Tails suggested.
The blue hedgehog thought about it for a few seconds, then shrugged and nodded. "Sure. Oh, and those batons, too."
"Running me ragged already," Vector playfully scolded. "All right, I'm on it." He stood up and went to the back room, calling a name. "Yo, Charmy! I need four handguns, eight EMP grenades, four batons, and four pairs of handcuffs!"
The person in question he was calling was a small bee, who flew over to Vector with the items in question. He wore a striped red and orange t-shirt with three buttons on the collar, a pair of green cargo shorts, and orange shoes.
"Are these the new guys?" Charmy asked.
"That they are," answered Vector.
Knuckles looked closely at Charmy. "How old are you?"
"I turned 17 last week," the bee replied. "Why?"
"Eh, you just seemed a bit younger is all," Knuckles said. "Sorry if I said anything stupid."
"Just ignore him," said Tails. "Most of what comes out of his mouth is stupid anyway."
Vector chuckled as he walked over, handing them their weapons. "I take it that Avery and the rest of the higher-ups already told you how these babies work, huh?"
"Yes they did," Sonic replied.
"Well, you'd better take that knowledge with you. There's a lot more to firing a gun than just pulling the trigger."
"Vector getting serious?" Simian chuckled. "I never thought I'd see the day."
"Just trying to give our latest recruits some sage advice," the crocodile shrugged.
"Says the Academy drop out," Charmy said with a grin.
"An Academy drop out with great music taste and an awesome smile," Vector retorted.
"Regardless, we should get going," said Simian. "Thank you both for your help."
"Eh, anything to help the force," Vector shrugged, turning to Sonic once more. "Have fun shooting at people."
"I'll try to show restraint, if you'll pardon the pun," the blue hedgehog chuckled.
Simian smiled and turned around. At first, the others followed him for a few feet before he stopped and turned around. "You guys had better get to that repair shop. We don't know how much time we have."
"Thanks for your help," Tails said. "We'll do our best."
The gorilla smiled. "It's Avery that you have to convince, not me. But I do have faith that you'll do well. As does he, I reckon." He then walked up the stairs to the third floor.
"Elevator?" Sonic asked.
"Elevator," Knuckles answered.
The four walked over to the elevators, pressing the button and waiting, and as it opened, they saw Antoine on the other side, who smiled and stepped aside for them to get in, which they did, smiling in thanks.
"You going down to the ground floor too?" Knuckles asked.
"I am indeed," Antoine replied. "I hear that you've got your first mission?"
"Yeah. Got a deal to shut down at Gear Steers," said Sonic.
"That's that auto-shop, right? I've heard about that," Antoine said as the elevator opened. He stepped out with the others before continuing. "In fact, Bunnie went there to get some repairs done on our car the other day, and besides the fact that the car itself came back worse, she noticed how strangely the people that work there were acting."
"Is this the first case of that happening?" Tails asked.
"As far as we know, it's one of them," Antoine replied. "Bunnie's not the first, and I doubt that she'll be the last."
"Well, don't worry," Knuckles smiled. "We'll find them and take them out, then we'll bring them in."
"Let's hope so," the French coyote replied. "With the rumours of Fokus going around, it could give us the lead that we need."
"We'll get it," Sonic assured. "Don't worry."
Antoine nodded. "Best of luck to you all."
"Thanks. We may need it."
With that, Antoine nodded and headed to the far right of the ground floor while Sonic and the others walked to the front doors of the building, exiting through them as they headed to Knuckles' car.
"Shotgun!" Tails called.
"Dammit..." Sonic muttered under his breath. "Well played, my furry friend. Well played, indeed."
Knuckles laughed at that as he pressed the button on his keys to unlock his car, with everyone getting into their seats. They strapped on their seat-belts as Knuckles hooked the key to the ignition, turning on the car's engine.
"So," Sonic said to Tails, "what's this little plan that you've got?"
Meanwhile, at Gear Steers...
"What are you talking about?" said a human male, obviously distraught and angered as he stood next to his car. "The damage on the side wasn't my fault! Some drunken jackass hit me from the side last night!"
The person he was talking to, a Mobian polar bear, shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, buddy. Your car, you've got to pay with your cash."
"I did pay you! You're just refusing to fix my car!" the human replied.
"Look, dude... you just stay here for a moment, okay?"
"Where are you going off to?"
"I need a smoke. I'm sick of dealing with your bitching. If you want that car fixed, go take it somewhere else." The polar bear then added. "Oh, and the gas refill is going to cost you extra too!"
The human growled and hopped back in his car, backing out of the garage of the shop, flipping a middle finger at the polar bear as he drove backwards. As he pulled out, he turned his head to see Knuckles driving forward past him, who noticed that the human looked a bit stressed.
"Everything okay, buddy?" the echidna asked.
"No, nothing is okay! Word of advice: don't go in there."
"Kind of need to. My car's low on gas," Knuckles shrugged.
"Well... don't say I didn't warn you."
The human then drove the rest of the way out, going on his own way and giving Knuckles more room to drive into the garage before hopping out of his car and walking around to the front of it, entering the centre of the shop.
"Hello?" he called out. "Anybody home?"
From around a nearby corner appeared a small green duck sporting dark blue coveralls. "Hey there."
"Hi," Knuckles replied. "How much is it for gas?"
"About fifty cents a litre."
"Damn. No wonder that other guy got pissed," Knuckles said as he went to the gas pump. "Am I free to do this on my own?"
"Yeah. I won't bother you," the duck said. "I'm Bean."
"Knuckles. Nice place you got here."
Bean smiled. "Thanks, man. Oh, you didn't see someone else here not that long ago, did you?"
"I saw some fat bald dude get mad because you were charging him way too much to do way too little," Knuckles shrugged.
"So, you think that we screwed him out of some money?" Bean suggested.
"Um... yeah, I kinda do."
The duck shook his head. "You're lucky I'm in a good mood today."
"Oh, yeah? Why's that?"
"We've got a new shipment of car parts coming in around the back." Bean then smirked. "In fact, do you want to come around and see them firsthand?"
"Eh... I'll pass," Knuckles said as he refilled his car.
"Come on, I'll give you a discount," Bean suggested.
"It's not that I'm not tempted. I just know that I'll get better prices at... well, literally any other auto-shop."
Bean squinted in anger and was about to speak when in walked the polar bear from earlier. Bean turned to him. "Bark... thank goodness you're here."
"What seems to be the problem?" asked Bark.
"This red guy has been casually insulting our business and is accusing us of overcharging."
"Huh. Is that right?"
Knuckles grinned and looked pointedly at the polar bear. "Hey, you can spin it in whatever way you want." He then cracked his neck a little bit before pulling the gas hose from the hole in his car. "I'm just saying that maybe you shouldn't charge too much. Even for gas, of all things."
"Well then, how about you take your refuelled car and drive right out of here," Bark said. "Because it seems to me that your car is far from damaged... for now."
"So, now you're threatening an innocent civilian too?" Knuckles said. "Very poor showing for your shop..."
Before either Bark or Bean could reply, they heard a voice calling from outside. "Hey! The shipment's going to be here in a minute!"
"We'll be there!" Bark called, before turning to Knuckles. "You'd better get out of here quick."
"Eh, I got what I came for," Knuckles replied, turning to get back into his car. "Take care."
He then pulled out of the garage, driving backwards and exiting it as the door opened. As he pulled back, he stopped to turn his head, making sure it was clear, before turning left and driving.
After a few moments, he reached where he wanted to get to, smiling as he saw his friends waiting for him. "Good plan so far, Tails. I'm impressed."
The two-tailed fox smiled back and gave Knuckles his gun and ID card back. "I'm more impressed that you managed to pull off the signal without being caught out by those ass-holes at the shop."
"How many guys are working there?" Sonic asked.
"From what I could tell, at least three. There were two inside, and one voice that I heard out the back, but that doesn't mean that was all of them."
"And the shipment?"
"Just coming in."
Shadow peeked his head around and saw a truck coming in, just turning the corner to get to the back of Gear Steers. "Looks like it just arrived."
Knuckles couldn't hide his grin as he tucked his gun in the back of his jeans. "So, do we go into phase two of the plan now?"
"We do indeed," said Tails, standing up. "Let's walk there."
The others all either nodded or spoke in agreement before Sonic led the way back around to Gear Steers. They all ducked low to keep from being seen, and the blue hedgehog turned with a nod. When he did, Shadow joined up with him, and Knuckles and Tails turned and went around the left side of the shop.
"Remember, we've got to stay quiet," Sonic whispered to his partner, before chuckling under his breath. "Right... I forgot who I was talking to there for a second."
They continued the rest of the way in silence, sticking to their place just behind the corner of the wall as Sonic dared a peek around the corner. As Knuckles said, there was more than three there, as Sonic saw that at least five people that actually worked there, with the remaining three being Mobian wolves, also dressed in coveralls like Bean was. Just a few feet away from them were a couple of humans, both male.
"So, you got the stuff?" asked one of the wolves.
"You know, this isn't the best place for a test run," said one of the humans, holding a briefcase.
"So say the people under Nack's payroll," said another wolf. "What's it like to be working under him?"
"More profitable than it would be if we were to work under you," replied the other human, sharply.
"Look, there's no need for any animosity or bad blood, okay?" said Bark, trying to ease things over. "We've got your money right here."
The third wolf walked over, also holding a briefcase. Before handing it over, he opened up the case, showing the money inside. In return, the human holding his briefcase opened it up, showing several shining silver needles inside, each containing a liquid that looked bright blue.
"Seriously? We're paying this much for that little?" the first wolf complained.
"Trust me... it could be worth it."
"So, you haven't even tested it yet?" the wolf growled. "I smell a rat..."
"Correction: we haven't tested this new version," said the second human. "Our old version didn't have any problems, but we needed to change the positive effects up a little bit to make them stronger."
"What about the negatives?" asked Bean.
"For the most part, almost completely gone. If you want to test it, then go right ahead."
Bark nods. "Well, you did deliver it at least. On three, we trade the briefcases. Deal?"
"Of course."
The polar bear took the money briefcase from the third wolf and walked over to the human, who also took a few steps forward. Carefully, they handed the cases to each other at the exact same time before extending their other hand to shake.
That was when the human looked over to see Knuckles peeking around the corner. Growling, he took a few steps back and reached into his pocket. "And you're the ones who thought that you smelled a rat... I thought we had a fair deal!"
"What are you talking about? We didn't set nobody up!" said the second wolf, surreptitiously reaching into his back pocket.
"Then what's that big red hedgehog doing over the back there?"
"Fuck..." Knuckles muttered under his breath as the two parties kept arguing. "Sorry that I messed up the plan, Tails."
"It's cool. We can carry on anyway."
With that, they both grinned at each other, pulling their guns out and walking forwards, stopping just a few feet from behind the wolves. As said wolves looked around, the humans noticed Sonic and Shadow walking over, also with their guns pointed.
"Freeze!" Sonic called, before smirking. "Always wanted to say that."
"You brought cops?" the humans asked.
"We didn't bring anybody!" Bean claimed. "How do we know that you didn't bring them? You're working for Nack, so who knows how much sway you've got with the feds?"
"You know, this deal doesn't have to go all that south," said Sonic. "You could just hand over the cash and the drugs, and nobody will get hurt."
"What for? So you can use them?" a wolf asked. "You ain't taking us alive!"
"Hey, it's your funeral, pal," said Knuckles, keeping his gun pointed.
Bark then turned to directly face Knuckles. "I should have known that I couldn't trust you."
"Yeah... that's a major issue in our world these days." Knuckles shrugged, holding his gun higher. "Get used to it."
After a few more seconds of silence, the humans began laughing before one of them spoke. "Ah... I love it when rookies try to act all tough."
"What makes you say that?" Tails asked.
"It's obvious that you're new to those guns, and to all of this. What, they didn't teach you this at the academy while you were ass-kissing your way to the top?"
"Aw..." Sonic playfully moped. "Was somebody rejected from Green Hill Academy for being an unbearable dickhead?"
"Funny. I was about to say the same thing about you."
The blue hedgehog grinned. "Rookies or not, you're coming with us. Now."
"Ah. You must be the fearless leader then," the human said, dropping his gun and remaining unfazed as he looked over at the others. "The midget with the twin tails is probably the smart one. Big, red, and stupid must be the muscle. That leaves the black and red carbon copy, who I'm going to assume is just remaining silent because he likes to think that he's edgy."
"I wonder when you're going to get your psychiatry degree..." Tails muttered.
"It's like Sonic said," Shadow spoke up, "just give us the briefcases, and everyone leaves unscathed."
"And what if we refuse?" asked Bark.
"Then I'd imagine that you'd get very scathed indeed," Knuckles replied.
"That's not a word," Bark replied, almost inaudibly. "But I've got some words of my own to get out..."
In a flash, he pulled out his gun, turning to face Knuckles and Tails, before smiling and firing at them. The fox and the echidna backed away, as did Sonic and Shadow, who were being fired at by Bean and two of the wolves, with the remaining one rushing for the briefcases.
Seeing this, Sonic focused his aim on the wolf, but before he could fire, the two humans shot back at him before then kicking the wolf away, causing it to let out a yelp as they grabbed the cases and rushed back to their truck.
"Those humans are trying to escape!" said Tails, turning his attention to the truck.
"We've got other problems right now, fox boy!" Knuckles replied as he kept behind cover with the fox. "Dammit! We can't both shoot from here!"
Tails looked around, then saw a large dumpster. "I've got an idea! Come on!" he said, running over to the large bin. "Let's move this out!"
"Mobile cover, huh? Nice!"
As the two grabbed it and started to move it, Sonic and Shadow were having a similar problem with their cover before Sonic took note of a car in the parking lot nearby. "I'm going to head for that car! Cover me!"
Shadow nodded, peeking out of the corner to fire as his blue cohort ran as quickly as he could, finally reaching the car in question and ducking behind it before taking a few breaths, peeking out to fire at Bark's group.
"I wish that we brought some grenades now!" said Knuckles as a bullet pinged off of the dumpster.
"We have the EMPs, dude," Tails reminded.
"I forgot about that," the echidna said, peeking out to fire. This time, he managed to hit one of the wolves in the arm, causing the wolf to yelp slightly as blood started to pour from his shoulder. "Now's the perfect time to use one!"
Tails nodded, reaching into his pocket and picking one out. "This would be so much easier if we ever got to wear our uniforms..." he said, pulling the pin before standing up. "Sonic! Shadow! Get to cover!"
The yellow fox then stood up, looked over the dumpster, and threw his grenade, and it had landed perfectly in the middle of the opposing group. Just as Bean had noticed that it was there, the EMP went off. Now, while none of them had any cybernetics parts, there was still the electrical damage that the grenade did that hurt and stunned them, causing their visions to blur and their heads to ache.
"I can't see a fucking thing!" said Bark, wiping his eyes.
"Now!" Sonic called, rushing from behind his cover as he pulled his baton from his pocket, pressing the button on the bottom to surround it in electricity. Likewise, Shadow, Tails, and Knuckles had all done the same, and they manoeuvred quickly through the opposing group. Tails was the first to strike, attacking the wounded wolf with a strike to the stomach and causing it to keel over before he pressed his knees against the wolf's back and prepared his handcuffs, placing them around the wolf's wrists.
"Don't struggle too much," Tails warned as he grabbed the wolf's gun, tossing it away.. "You might feel a little bit of discomfort if you move around too much."
The fox then picked the wolf up and walked away with him, knowing that the smart option would be to keep an eye on him. While Tails was kept busy with his capture, he watched the rest of the fight ensue.
The bad guys had seemed to get their eyesight working again, but the first thing that Bean saw was a black and red hedgehog rush towards him. Instead of using his charged baton, he first kicked the duck in the gut, hurting him before striking Bean around the head with his baton, causing him to cry in pain before Shadow slapped the cuffs on him, disarming his weapon.
Knuckles dealt with the two remaining wolves. Instead of having to relieve his opponents of their weaponry, they dropped them on their own, knowing that a firefight would be futile by this point. Our of respect, Knuckles switched his stick off and put it in his back pocket. The first wolf let out a growl and moved to attack the echidna, only for him to step to his left and land a right hand to the wolf's stomach, followed by a knee to his nose, breaking it and causing the wolf to fall unconscious. The second wolf then moved, but had about as much success as his predecessor as Knuckles stopped him with a quick punch to the temple, knocking him out in one shot and causing him to fall atop his fellow wolf.
"Anybody got an extra pair of cuffs?" Knuckles grinned as he pulled his own out, deciding to attach one wolf's wrist to the wrist of the other wolf. "That'll have to do for now."
That left Sonic with Bark. Sonic kept his baton switched on, and Bark immediately moved to attack. Before Sonic could move, Bark feinted a punch and kicked Sonic's leg, causing the hedgehog to stumble a little bit. He followed this up with a punch to Sonic's stomach, landing flush.
"Man... you hit pretty hard for a car mechanic..." Sonic said as he panted to recover, dodging a kick from Bark.
The polar bear grinned. "Why aren't your friends coming to help you out?"
"Because they've got to keep your boys locked down," Sonic replied darkly, giving a smirk. "Having all of one side or all of the other wouldn't be fair on either of us."
It was then that Bark's ears perked up, hearing several sirens start to close on. Instantly, Sonic chose to capitalise on this, quickly drawing out his baton and switching it on, delivering a crushing shot to the small of Bark's back, landing him on his hands and knees before adding another shot with the baton.
Just as the blue hedgehog went about cuffing the polar bear, he looked around at his friends. "Which one of you called for the backup?"
Shadow raised his hand, before Tails spoke. "Huh. Sometimes it's the quiet ones that you've got to watch out for."
Sonic grinned and finished cuffing Bark, standing up and keeping him held close while they all waited for the police to arrive. About a minute later, they did arrive, and Espio was the first to walk out of a vehicle, smiling at Sonic and the others as the other officers that came by went about picking up the others.
"Good work," the purple chameleon smiled. "Avery's going to be pretty impressed with this."
"Well, it wasn't a total win," said Knuckles as a couple of officers walked over to extricate Bark from Sonic. "The humans got away with the shipment of what we can only assume to be the Fokus drug, and we didn't get the number plate of their truck..."
"Do you remember what the truck looked like?" asked Espio.
"Just big and black," Tails shrugged. "Pretty nondescript."
"Regardless, you all did a good job here. You stopped these guys from getting the Fokus to begin with, even if you didn't walk away with it yourself to bring back to the station."
"We didn't get the money either," Shadow threw in. "The humans came in here hoping to trade one for the other, but they got away with both."
Sonic then snapped his fingers. "Now that I remember, they did mention that they were working under Nack."
"Nack, huh?" Espio cocked an eyebrow. "That's impressive. He's been in Green Hill City three days and he's already pushing drugs down idiots' throats."
"We can hear you, you know..." said Bean from a car.
"You were meant to hear that one," Espio said, turning back to Sonic. "Come on. Let's head back to the station. Day ain't over yet."
With that, he walked off, making sure that all of the bad guys were locked safely and securely in their cuffs, with the two wolves that Knuckles caught being given their own individual pairs of cuffs. As the police cars started driving off, Knuckles led the way back to his car.
"Shotgun!" Tails called.
"Dammit, not again..." Sonic mumbled.
Shadow shook his head, getting into the backseat with Sonic as Knuckles hopped into the driver's seat. He turned the ignition, and the car rumbled to life before he turned off the corner and spun around to follow the police cars back to the station.
"Well... not bad for our first day, huh?" Knuckles said, smiling.
"It ain't over yet," Sonic reminded. "We've got quite a while to go yet."
So, that's it for the second chapter. There will be plenty more action to come soon, so just stick around. What do you all think of the guns and the weapons? Also, the fight scene? I hope it's all good. Regardless, thanks for reading, and I'll see you all in the next one. I hope that you're all enjoying it so far. Take care, and stay tuned.