Sonic, Shadow, Tails, and Knuckles were all geared up as they drove in the red echidna's car. They took it down to the main pier of Green Hill. Not wasting time, they hopped into the silver and neon blue emergency craft-styled boat marked with no roof and the G.H.P.D. logo on the side.
"Can anybody here drive a boat?" asked Sonic as they stood at the pier.
"I'm a planes and helicopters guy," said Tails. "This ain't my forte."
"And I stick to ground level for a reason," Knuckles shrugged.
Shadow hopped on. "Come on. How hard can it be?" He glanced around at the controls. "It looks like a car, but standing up."
"Want to take a swing at it?" Sonic asked.
Shadow ignored him, looking to see the ignition on the boat. It had a pair of keys, courtesy of Green Hill Police Department. The black and red hedgehog shrugged and turned it, the engine of the boat roaring to life.
"Hop on!" Shadow called.
The other three did so, hanging on to the rails at the side as Shadow pushed his foot down, speeding through the water. Sonic began wobbling a bit from moving back and forth, but soon managed to hold himself up.
"You okay?" Tails asked him.
"Huh?" Sonic said. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just not too used to being on a boat."
"Same here," Knuckles said, also sliding around a bit. "Do we have a GPS on this thing?"
"Indeed we do," Shadow said. "GPS, set sail for Aqua Lake City."
"Set sail?" Tails said. "Really?"
"Want me to throw you overboard?" Shadow asked. "Because I will do it."
"Just get us to where we need to go, Aqua-Hog," Sonic said.
Shadow chuckled. "Aye aye, first mate Sonic."
"Shame we can't put on some tunes," Knuckles said. "This is the kind of situation where we need music to get ourselves pumped up."
"Yes, because that's the most important part of this whole thing," Tails smiled sarcastically.
"Just saying," Knuckles shrugged. "Maybe we'll get our own boats one day. And maybe I'll take one of those boats for my own and bring all my albums with me so that none of you guys can listen to them."
"That's a very long-winded threat," Tails said. "You been working on that one?"
"Only a little bit," the red echidna smiled. "Still, it's been a weird-ass week. I never thought that I'd wind up on a boat at any point during our time as freelancers. Hell, I never even thought that we'd become freelancers."
"Well, if the pay is good, then why not?" Sonic said.
"I don't think we've been paid once, actually," Tails said. "Maybe we could talk to Avery when this is over?"
"Yeah," Knuckles said. "Good plan. I mean, if I had to guess, I'd say that we have our own bank account separate from the usual law forces, but it's just a guess."
"You know how money works?" Tails asked.
"If I weren't a now ex-policeman, I probably could have become a banker," Knuckles shrugged.
"Well, we do need someone to handle our finances at the new base," Sonic smirked.
Knuckles smiled. "Nice try. I'll stick to being the muscle of the group, thanks."
"I guess that leaves me with the real work, as always," Tails chided.
The others laughed at that as they soon approached the dock of Aqua Lake City. Despite the fact that they could see the smoke of the earlier commotion, they took in how the city looked; the crystal clear water surrounding it was a stark contrast to the deeper blue of the rest of the sea, and the buildings themselves were often painted to reflect that theme. The city itself was known for its more environmentally conscious take on things, hence why it keeps its look as clean as it possibly can.
"All right, here we are," Shadow said as they hopped off the boat and onto the pier.
"Let's make a beeline for those buildings," Sonic said as he kept walking.
The others agreed before they all soon came across a pair of police officers, both human. They wore a teal blue uniform shirt with dark blue slacks and black shoes, and the initials A.L.P.D. read underneath the logo on the left breast of the shirt. The logo itself was a small, clear blue waterfall being faced from the front, and some of it splashed over the initials.
"Are you the freelancers?" asked one of them with a Hispanic accent. He had black hair and brown eyes.
"Yeah," Sonic replied. "We got here as quick as we could."
"Nice place, by the way," Knuckles said, looking around and whistling.
"Well, it doesn't feel like it," said the other officer, with black hair and dark blue eyes. "We have reason to suspect that it's a terrorist attack."
"Which one of you two is Brookes?" Tails asked.
"Neither," replied the first cop. "I'm agent Mendez, and this is agent Wallace."
"So, what's the full story?" asked Shadow.
"We'll tell you on the way there," said Wallace. "We can't waste time."
The others nodded and followed the two officers before arriving at their car, which was teal blue and dark blue to match the uniform colours. It had the A.L.P.D. logo over both of its front doors, and Knuckles took time to admire it before getting into the car with the others.
They quickly took off driving and Wallace spoke into the car's mic. "This is Wallace to Brookes. Are you there?"
"I'm still here!" Brookes said with a panicked tone.
"Just try to stay calm. The freelancers are here, and they're going to help us out, okay?"
"Are the fire department there yet?" asked Mendez.
"They're on their way!" Brookes said. "But we still need help!"
"We're on it," said Wallace. "Just stay put and try to remain calm. Help whoever you can. We'll be there soon. Over and out."
"He seems pretty worried," said Sonic.
"He's known to be quite skittish," said Mendez. "But with two random bombings in a row, you'd probably be skittish too."
"Not wrong there," Tails agreed.
"Did any of you guys do any bomb training?" asked Mendez.
"Fluffy boy did," said Sonic. "He passed through the bomb tests with flying colours."
Tails shrugged. "I grew up into that lifestyle. My parents are mechanics themselves, more so my dad, and they taught me everything that I know."
"Looks like we got a wiz kid," Wallace smiled. "I passed those tests too."
"Did you disable the bombs quick enough to save the civilians as well?" Sonic asked.
"Um... how much time are we talking?"
"About a minute and a half left," Tails shrugged. "So many wires in those bombs. And they're fake and full of paint."
"Yeah," Knuckles agreed. "That'd be a bitch to wash out of your twins."
"I got gum stick in them once," Tails winced in remembrance. "Didn't turn out so well."
"Not that this isn't riveting conversation," said Mendez, "but we're almost there. Get ready."
"Right," Sonic nodded. "Will we need weapons?"
"You didn't bring anything?" asked Wallace.
"We've got pistols and grenades," said Tails. "Anything else?"
"We've got some shotguns in the trunk," said Wallace. "Take them just in case."
"It seems to mostly be a rescue operation," Shadow said. "You guys have a fire department, right?"
"Of course we do," said Mendez. "They were called first by Brookes before he contacted you guys."
Shadow was about to reply, but he spotted something from the corner of his eye. He looked out of his window to see a firetruck making its way to them. "Looks like they got here just in time."
As he said that, he and the others saw a bunch of people running across the road, with one of them stopping in front of the car and slapping on the hood in a panicked manner. In response, Mendez poked his head out of the window.
"What seems to be the problem, ma'am?" he asked.
"Th-There's going to be another attack!" she screamed.
Mendez nodded. "Get home safely. We'll take care of it."
The woman shook her head. "You won't have time!"
"What do you-"
Before he could speak, another loud boom sounded off, and it was quite close to them. The sound of the explosion caused the panicked woman to run away as fast as she could, and Mendez stepped on the gas, speeding around the corner to try and find the source of the commotion.
"Oh, you have got to be shitting me..." Knuckles said, dejectedly as he saw the source.
The others looked with him, seeing a freshly burning building with some people escaping as others began burning inside it. Without needing to see any more, Sonic and the others quickly rushed out of the car and ran over to the people, helping along those that were lucky enough to be alive and trying their best with the burning victims.
"HELP!" one of them screamed.
Sonic rushed up to him. "Stop, drop, and roll!"
"He's burning to death, and that's your advice?!" Wallace asked.
"You got any better ideas?" Sonic replied.
The man burning followed Sonic's advice, and soon he'd put the fire out on his own before standing up and rushing off in the direction that the other civilians had gone. The blue hedgehog brushed his quills back with both hands before hearing something through all the commotion.
"H-help..." a weak voice said.
Sonic was curious and went to the source of it. He found himself at an alleyway between the burning building and the one next to it, and saw a pile of rubble just barely moving as the voice cried meekly for help again.
Sonic ran over and tried to lift one of the heavy pieces of fallen brick, but he found himself straining too much. He quickly turned around and called. "Knuckles!"
"I'm on my way!" the red echidna replied, being in the midst of helping a child find their parents before turning to the source of Sonic's call. He soon joined his friend in the alleyway. "What's up?"
Sonic gestured to the pile of rubble beneath him. "I can't lift these. I need your help. There's someone under there, and they may not have much time."
Knuckles nodded, not needing to hear any more. He placed his hands on one of the large grey bricks and lifted, moving it to the side after some straining. The next one took less effort to pull off, and soon he'd found a good groove for moving the rubble.
Soon, he spotted a hand reaching out. The removal of more rocks and bricks revealed an arm, then eventually the head of a male with dark hair and grey eyes, but a face partially covered up in ashes. Sonic quickly grabbed the man's arm as Knuckles lifted a couple of bricks on the man's back. Sonic pulled him out with ease, breathing a sigh of relief.
"We've got you," said Sonic.
"W-Wait..." said the man. "Are y-you... the freelancers?"
It was then that Knuckles noticed the man's clothing; an A.L.P.D. uniform. "Brookes?" he asked. "What the hell were you doing under this last building when it blew up?"
"I... I didn't know..." said Brookes, choking a bit. "I... I thought th-that I was safe w-where I was..."
"Did you see the guy that did it?" Sonic asked as they brought Brookes out of the alleyway.
He shook his head. "N-No... they were inside the buildings when they blew them up..."
"Suicide bombings?" Knuckles said. "Fuck..."
"Did they have other people with them?" Sonic asked.
Brookes nodded. "A few... but they managed to find some safe areas during the explosions... I don't think that any of them were even in the buildings when it all went off..."
Sonic nodded, then his ears twitched as he heard a wailing siren. "Oh, thank god."
Knuckles couldn't hide his own smile of relief as he looked to see the firetruck finally arriving. It was the traditional red, but had the Aqua Lake logo on the side, with the initials of A.L.F.D. instead of A.L.P.D..
"Aqua Lake's bravest are finally here!" said Sonic, walking up to them as the truck stopped.
Tails, Shadow, Wallace, and Mendez soon caught up, with the yellow fox speaking first. "What'd I miss?"
"We found Brookes," Knuckles said, holding up the man who called them to Aqua Lake in the first place.
"Did you get everyone away from the perimeter safely?" Sonic asked.
"We got as many as we could," said Shadow. "There might be others inside the buildings."
"We'll get to that when the firemen are all done," said Sonic, turning to one of the firemen. "We got word that some more bad guys might be inside still, so don't feel bad about getting any of them wet."
"You got it," the fireman said with a smirk, untangling the hose that he'd pulled from the side of the truck. "All right, turn it on!"
"Do we have any extras for the other buildings?" asked another fireman.
"The hoses should be long enough to go past the alleyways!" said the first one. "Take them as far as you can, and hose down whatever you find!"
"Yes, sir!" The other fireman repeated those orders to others on the truck, and they followed suit going about grabbing spare hoses and helping to wash down the other buildings that were attacked.
"What can we do?" asked Sonic, getting a better profile of the fireman. He appeared to have greying black hair and a beard with the same colours, and dark green eyes.
"You guys can wait," said the fireman. "I'm Daugherty, by the way. I'm the head of Aqua Lake's fire department."
"Do you know who we are?" Knuckles asked.
"Um..." Daugherty shrugged his shoulders after giving them a once over. "I know that that's not Aqua Lake uniform."
"They're freelancers from Green Hill," said Wallace.
"Ah. We wouldn't know," said Daugherty. "We don't run into the police side all that often."
"We really only work together when we bump into each other," said Mendez.
"You guys are the jocks, and we're the true heroes," said Daugherty.
"I guess that makes the nurses and doctors a bunch of nerds," said Sonic. "Hot nerds. Hot nurse nerds."
"Well, now we know what Amy's Halloween costume is going to be this year," Knuckles teased.
"Just for Halloween?" Sonic asked. "Nah. That's going to be a special occasion outfit."
"You guys just started going out," Shadow said. "It's a bit too early for that."
"Yeah, you're probably right," said the blue hedgehog.
"When you guys are done talking about your fantasies in public with people that need to be saved," Daugherty spoke, "you want to maybe get your asses in there and see who you can help?"
"Sorry about that," said Sonic. "Let's all split up, actually. Three groups of two, one building each."
"Who's with who?" Wallace asked.
Mendez looked a bit spaced out before shaking his head and blinking his eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm still kinda stuck on the nurse thing," he admitted. "What's happening?"
The blue hedgehog looked at Mendez drily. "You're with Knuckles."
"Sweet," he said. "I get the big guy."
"Strength isn't everything," Shadow reminded.
"True," Sonic spoke. "That's why you're going with me."
"That leaves me and fluffy," Wallace said, looking at Tails.
The yellow fox shrugged. "I'd prefer to be called fluffy than twins."
Sonic smiled. "All right, here's the plan-"
"Whoa, wait a minute," said Mendez. "Since when are you running this operation?"
"Sorry," Sonic replied. "What's your plan?"
"Me and Tails will take this building," said Wallace. "Sonic, you and Shadow take the second one. Mendez and Knuckles get the last one."
"And save anyone that you find," added Mendez. "Or shoot them, depending."
Sonic smiled. "All right, let's grab those shotguns that you were talking about."
Mendez chuckled, and soon they did just that, going back to the Aqua Lake vehicle to grab the weapons in question. However, there were only two shotguns, which Mendez reached in for and handed to Tails and Wallace.
"Why us two?" asked Wallace.
"Because," said Mendez, "Knuckles' strength is going to help us out a lot, and Sonic's strength will help him and Shadow."
"I don't have super strength," said Sonic. "I lifted the small rocks. Knuckles lifted the big ones."
"What can you do then?" asked Wallace.
"I've got super speed," the blue hedgehog said. "And Shadow can teleport, so he might be able to get into hard to reach spaces."
Wallace nodded, turning to Tails. "And what about you?"
The yellow fox spun his tails around and hovered in midair for a few seconds. "That answer your question?"
"Well, that settles that," Sonic smiled as Tails landed back down. "Let's get moving. We're wasting time."
The others agreed, with Tails and Wallace slinging their shotguns onto their backs as the whole group moved to the buildings, soon splitting apart into their planned bundles for their respective buildings.
Sonic gave a quick thumbs-up to the main fireman hosing down the second building. He looked it up and down, seeing a store with an extra layer on top, complete with an upstairs area of its own.
"Kinda reminds me of Jade Mountain," Shadow said.
"I don't even want to think about that place not existing," Sonic shuddered, shaking his head. "Come on. Let's get inside and see what's up."
Shadow nodded, and the two walked into the building. It appeared as a small convenience store, with several fridges, shelves, and a counter with two parts to it. Of course, that's what it would have looked like had it not been blown up earlier that day.
Sonic looked past the counter and saw some stairs, but he heard some whimpering. Shadow heard it too, and both turned to see a small girl with red hair tucked in the corner of the counter, curled up into a ball and crying her eyes out. She was wearing a light pink hoodie, dark blue jeans, and turquoise sandals, but much like her hair, they'd been tarnished by the ashes.
"Hey," Sonic said, going over to the girl.
She looked up at him past her arms, backing away as much as she could. "G-Get away from me!"
"We're not here to hurt you," said the blue hedgehog. "I'm a freelance law agent." He then hooked a thumb to point behind him. "This is Shadow, my partner."
"Y-You look j-just like the g-guys from earlier!" she said.
"What guys?" Shadow asked.
"Get out of here!" the girl yelled.
"Whoa, calm down," said Sonic. "We're only trying to-"
It was then that a shotgun sounded off, and Sonic and Shadow immediately ducked under the counter. They then heard laughter, followed by a pair of footsteps that slowly approached the kitchen counter.
"So, the cops finally showed up!" the voice said gruffly.
"And just who might you be?" asked Sonic.
"I just might be the guy who kills you," the voice replied.
"Are you associated with the people who blew up this building?" Shadow asked.
"What kind of fucking nerdy shit is that?" the voice laughed as he reached the counter, leaning over to see Sonic and Shadow. Both looked up to see a Mobian hedgehog with dark green fur and purple eyes, wearing all black and not bothering with a mask. His face was grizzled, with his muzzle covered in matted fur, possibly from the hosing of the building. He simply pointed his shotgun at the two hedgehogs. "That little girl tried to warn you to get away." He cocked his gun. "You should have listened..."
Before he could fire, another gunshot sounded, this time from the girl having picked up a gun and fired it. It didn't hit the criminal directly, but it hit his gun, causing him to growl and look over at the girl.
"I told you to be a good girl," he grunted. "But you couldn't keep your fucking hands to yourself!"
He went to point his gun at her, but Sonic jumped up and grabbed the bad guy's gun, pulling it back and then pushing it forward hard enough to make the criminal lose his grip on it. Before the bad guy could follow in, he was tripped from behind by Shadow, hitting his head on the floor as he fell.
"Ooh..." he groaned in pain. His hand moved to his pocket, but Shadow stepped on it quickly.
"Whatever you reach for next, please don't make it another weapon," the black and red hedgehog said. "We may just have to use it against you." The criminal replied by spitting at Shadow, but it fell just short and landed on his shoe. Shadow shrugged. "I mean, not a weapon, but-"
He cut himself off by moving quickly to deliver a harsh kick to the Mobian's side, causing a load moan of pain. Before the criminal could move again, he heard a shotgun cock, looking up to see the muzzle of it pointed at his head, with Sonic holding it.
"Is that any way to treat the two people who hold your life in their hands?" Sonic asked. "Now, we're going to ask you some questions. If you don't answer them, then my buddy Shadow is going to kick you in a lot of your body parts."
"I'm not telling you coppers a damn thing..."
Shadow smirked and kicked him in the side again. "We're not cops," he pointed out. "We're freelance."
"Which means," Sonic added, "that we don't abide by any specific authority except for our own. And right now, my own authority is telling me to shoot you right in the head and paint the floor with your brains, but I'm feeling generous today."
"Do people like you even have the stones to get rid of people like me?" the Mobian criminal asked.
"We've been putting away people like you for a long time," said Sonic, pressing the muzzle against the criminal's head. "And I'm about to do it again if you don't speak."
"All right, if it'll shut you up," said the criminal. "What do you want?"
"I only want to know if you have other people here," Sonic said.
"What, you don't think that I came here alone?"
"Well, we got reports of suicide bombers being those who blew things up," Shadow said. "Normally, a suicide bomber dies too when they, you know, bomb something. And you still look like you have all of your body parts attached."
"Which could be changed very quickly," said Sonic.
The criminal started laughing, a gleam in his eye. "I thought that cops were supposed to have eyes in the back of their heads..."
"What are you-"
Sonic was cut off by a squeal as the girl from earlier was picked up by another criminal, also a Mobian. He held a gun against the girl's head as he backed away upstairs, with another man behind him.
"If you follow me, I'm going to blow this little bitch's head off!" he warned.
The criminal that Sonic and Shadow had taken out kicked Shadow's legs from underneath him, causing him to fall forwards. Sonic turned to his friend, but was kicked down himself as the bad guy picked up the shotgun that was taken from him and aimed it at Sonic. He went to pull the trigger, but Shadow shoulder charged him at the last second, crashing him against the wall.
"I'll take care of this guy!" Shadow said to Sonic. "You go upstairs and rescue that little girl!"
The blue hedgehog nodded, hopping over the counter and moving upstairs as quickly as he could. Sonic decided to keep his pace moderated; he wanted to rescue the girl, but he didn't want to move to quick in case he gave himself away and the bad guys lived up to their promise.
'I've got to keep a cool head about this,' Sonic thought to himself as he moved further up.
He peeked around the corner, his hand resting on his own shotgun as he turned past the corner, aiming the gun. He came face to face with nothing, but kept the gun up as he looked around. He took a few more steps and looked at the floor beneath him, seeing a bunch of shattered glass and suddenly noticing that the top half of the building was more damaged than the bottom, with more chunks of it missing and even the roof completely destroyed, letting the midday sun beam through the top of the building.
'This must have been where the bomb went off,' he thought. 'Makes sense; start from the top, and fire will spread down below.'
Sonic kept looking around, being careful not to tread to sharply on the glass before a flapping noise startled him. He kept calm, looking up to see a pigeon land on the what very little was left of the roof.
Sonic jerked his gun at the bird before moving it sideways, mouthing, "get out of here". But the bird stayed where it was. So, Sonic grunted and took another step forward, but was suddenly flung forward onto his face as he felt someone's weight on his back.
"We warned you not to come up here," the bad guy said. He punctuated this with a punch to Sonic's side, earning a groan of pain from the hedgehog.
Sonic quickly spun around, turning onto his side and scooting his hips before winding up on his back. The bad guy above him just grinned evilly and began raining down punches onto the freelancer, mixing up shots to the body and the head as Sonic couldn't cover both at once. More and more punches began to rain down, with one of them causing Sonic's head to bounce off the ground, dazing him.
The bad guy saw this and pulled out a knife from his pocket, holding the blade against Sonic's neck. "Let this be a lesson to do what you're told."
Just as he was about to cut Sonic's neck wide open, he was struck from behind, instantly going out cold and beginning to fall forward, but Sonic's saviour managed to grab the bad guy and pull him off of Sonic, allowing him to get up.
"Thanks, man," Sonic said to Shadow. "How'd you knock him out so easily?"
"Shot to the back of the neck," said the black and red hedgehog. "Knuckles might be the best fighter of our group, but I know about accuracy. I studied a lot about weak points and pressure points."
"Nice," Sonic smiled.
"If I wanted to, I could incapacitate you within about three seconds," Shadow followed on.
"Less nice," Sonic said. "Come on, let's go rescue the girl."
"Don't you fucking move!" said the bad guy from wherever he was.
"Where are you?" Sonic asked.
The criminal made himself known as he appeared from behind a wall where a door once was, said door having been blown to pieces, presumably by the explosion from earlier. He still had the girl in his grasp as he walked out.
"You know, you two are really bad at listening," he said.
"What was that?" Sonic asked. "I couldn't hear you over how much of an ass-hole you are."
"Cute."
"Well, thanks, but I'm spoken for."
The bad guy growled. "I did tell you that if you came after me, I'd kill this girl."
"Right," Sonic nodded. "And you haven't done this yet because..."
"Because I wanted you to see it with your own eyes."
"Really?" Sonic chuckled. "That's the best cliche that you've got?"
"Funny." The bad guy then aimed the gun at Shadow, shooting him right in the chest, causing him to fall back.
"Shadow!" Sonic cried, kneeling down by his friend, whose eyes were already closed from death. Sonic stood up, slowly turning back to the bad guy. "I'll get you for this, you son of a bitch!"
"Then how about you take a shot at me?" he asked. "Come on, pig! Break that flimsy little moral code of yours and put a bullet in my brain!"
"I wasn't exactly thinking the brain," said Sonic. "I was thinking a bit lower..."
"Straight for my crown jewels, huh?" The criminal laughed. "Sadistic. I like it."
"And then a bit to the left..."
"Thigh?" the bad guy asked. "I mean, it's usually thick enough, bleeds a lot when shot, slow painful death. Not as morbidly hilarious as getting shot in the dick, but-"
"And then a little bit more to the right..."
"Okay, I'm confused," said the bad guy. "Are you going to fucking shoot me already?"
"Oh, I'm not the one that's going to shoot you," Sonic said.
"Then wha-"
He was cut off as a gunshot sounded off and a bullet suddenly found itself lodged in the bad guy's right shoulder, causing him to drop his gun and scream in pain. He moved his other hand to clutch at his new wound, letting the girl run free, who hid behind Sonic for safety.
"Nicely done," Sonic said, turning to Shadow, who was still laid down but had his head and arms up, holding his pistol.
"Thanks," the black and red hedgehog replied as Sonic helped him back up to his feet.
"Still not used to getting shot even with a vest?"
"You don't ever get used to getting shot," Shadow smiled. "Even Knuckles had trouble back at the academy."
The blue hedgehog nodded in agreement before walking over to the person that his friend just shot down. He stood him up and looked into his eyes. "So, I have to ask..."
"Oh, not this shit again..." the criminal said.
"You'd better listen to me," Sonic warned. "The longer we keep yapping, the more that shoulder will bleed out."
"I could just shoot him in the head and put him out of his misery," Shadow shrugged.
"I like your thinking, but no," Sonic said. "But if our next job has to do with kidnapping terrorist dick-bags, you get as many head-shots as you want."
"I'll hold you to that."
Sonic turned back to the bad guy. "So, I'm going to ask you this first; how did you survive the explosions in the first place?"
"I ain't telling you shit..." the criminal responded.
Sonic rolled his emerald eyes and kneed him in the groin, causing him to wince in pain and fall down. Sonic then picked him back up again and slammed him against a wall, growling.
"I will not ask this a third time," Sonic warned. "How did you survive the explosions?" As he began speaking, he heard Shadow cock his gun, training it on the bad guy.
"We... we were all told to wait for our cues far away from where the attacks were happening..."
"How'd you get here so fast?"
"We ran," the bad guy shrugged. "After the explosions happened and the buildings were done being destroyed, we made our move to get here."
"That's two good enough answers," the blue hedgehog said. "Now, my last question: Did Nack put you up to this?"
"Who?"
Sonic elbowed the arsonist in the side of the head, keeping him steady with his other hand. "Did Nack put you up to this?"
"I don't know who the fuck you're talking about..."
"So, who are you working for?" Shadow asked.
"Myself..." the bad guy spat. "I don't have any bosses or employers..."
"So, let me get this straight," Sonic began. "You and a bunch of other pricks decided to just go around blowing up buildings and killing people because you felt like it?"
"Can't a criminal be a criminal without needing a motive?"
Sonic shook his head. "I don't believe that, but you hardly seem like the type who works on their own. This has to have all been planned."
"I just do what I'm told," the bad guys said, closing his mouth with a crunching sound.
"What was-"
Shadow was cut off as the bad guy's mouth opened and he started to gurgle, white foam accumulating at the sides of his mouth as he fell to the ground, twitching with his last few breaths before dying.
"Cyanide..." Sonic said.
"An old classic of bad guys that don't want to tell too much," Sonic said. "Did the guy downstairs kill himself with it too?"
Shadow shook his head. "I knocked him out before he could do it."
The blue hedgehog nodded. "All right. Let's grab the two that are still alive and get out of here." He then felt a tug on his leg, turning to see the girl from earlier. He leaned down to her. "Yes?"
"You swear a lot," she said, somewhat innocently.
"Sorry about that," Sonic said. "Promise to forget what you heard, okay?"
"Only if you let me hug you," she blushed. "For saving me."
"He's got a girlfriend," Shadow said, smirking.
"Doesn't mean I can't hug people," Sonic replied, turning back to the girl. "Sure."
The two shared a hug, with the little girl giggling and softly petting Sonic's quills, causing him to chuckle a bit too. After a moment or so, they stopped the hug, with the little girl looking around at the bodies of the bad guys.
"Will they be okay?" she asked.
"I kinda hope not," said Sonic. "I mean, they did hold you hostage and then try to kill you."
"True," she replied with a giggle. "Thank you for saving me."
"Just doing our job," Shadow said.
"But you don't look like normal cops in the city," she pointed out.
"We're free agents," Sonic said. "We can save people wherever we want without having to worry about what district we're in."
"Why would you have to worry?"
"Because police officers can only work in their respective districts," said Sonic. "Me and Shadow and two other friends actually used to be cops, but we got fired for breaking that rule, even though we never did anything bad."
"Did you catch the bad guy?"
"No," Shadow shook his head. "We missed him, but we came close."
"We did save some people, though," Sonic smiled.
"And you still lost your job?" the girl asked.
"Yeah."
"Well... that's a really stupid rule."
The blue hedgehog laughed. "We could have used you when we went to court. I'm sure that the judge wouldn't have been able to resist a cute little girl like you pointing that out to him."
"Yeah, but then you wouldn't have saved me," she smiled.
"You're a smart kid," Sonic smiled. "Come on, let's get out of here."
The girl nodded, going downstairs ahead of the two hedgehogs. Sonic slapped some cuffs on the guy that Shadow had knocked out earlier, lifting him up and dragging him downstairs on his feet, waiting for Shadow to cuff the other remaining criminal before both went outside.
"There you go," Sonic said to the Aqua Lake police waiting for them.
"Thanks for the help," the officer replied.
Sonic nodded in thanks as Shadow handed over the other bad guy before speaking. "We may need a coroner. There's a third man in there who took a cyanide pill."
"I'll call it," the policeman nodded.
The two hedgehogs thanked the officer again and went over to see Tails, Knuckles, Mendez, and Wallace, with the yellow fox speaking first. "How'd it go?"
"Two out of three," Sonic said. "Third guy committed suicide."
"Cyanide?" Wallace asked.
"Yeah," Sonic nodded. "How'd you know that?"
"It's a typical technique," Wallace shrugged. "I've seen it before."
"Did it happen to anyone else?" Sonic asked.
"No," Tails said. "Two guys for us, we got them both."
"Two for us too," Knuckles added. "No suicides."
"Did you find anyone in your buildings?" Mendez asked.
"We found a little redhead girl," said Shadow. "We didn't get the chance to look around elsewhere."
"We found a couple of people too," said Tails. "They're safe, but one of them got pierced through the leg by a loose rod. Hopefully, they'll be okay."
"Sort of the same," said Mendez. "We found some kids that were nearby, along with their pet German shepherd."
"Aw, that's nice," Tails smiled.
"Where's Brookes?" Knuckles asked, looking around.
On cue, the man in question's head popped up from the side of one of Aqua Lake's police cars. "Was just checking out the bad guys."
"They're completely fine," said Sonic. "Just slightly unconscious."
Brookes chuckled. "I noticed one of them didn't come back out."
Before Sonic could answer that, he turned as a black van with the Aqua Lake crystal blue stripe going around its side pulled up, with the word Coroner on both sides next to the Aqua Lake logo.
"Well, here comes the guy that's supposed to pick that last guy up," Shadow said. Upon seeing Brookes' confused look, he elaborated. "Cyanide. Killed himself before we could get much out of him."
"Ah," Brookes said. "Sorry to hear that."
"I mean, he was a criminal, but..." Sonic trailed off.
"Dude, we've all killed before," Knuckles pointed out. "Not without reason, obviously."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Sonic agreed.
After a few moments of awkward silence, Mendez smiled. "Well, it was a pleasure to have you helping us, but we've got it covered from here."
"Thanks for letting us help," the blue hedgehog said, shaking Mendez's hand as Tails did the same with Wallace.
"Before you go," Brookes said, "could I take a picture of you guys? As thanks for saving me, I mean."
"I don't see why not," Tails said.
"Do you want all of us in it?" Wallace asked.
"No, just the freelancers," said Brookes.
"Better get my good side," Knuckles smiled.
"You don't have a good side," Sonic muttered with a smirk.
The four freelance heroes stood alongside each other, and Brookes pulled out his phone and took a quick photo as they all smiled and posed, with the exception of Shadow, who simply gave a one-sided smile. As soon as it was done, they broke off from each other.
Before anyone could do anything, Sonic turned to feel a tug at his pants, smiling as he saw the little girl again from earlier. "Hello, you."
"Just wanted to say thanks again," she smiled. "I'm Carly."
"Well, Carly, it was a pleasure to meet you today," the blue hedgehog smiled as he knelt down. "You were very brave. I just wanted you to know that."
"Thank you," she smiled again, hugging Sonic, who hugged back.
"Awww..." the others said, part mockingly and part sincerely.
Soon, the hug broke, and Sonic smiled before speaking. "All right, we'd better get back to our base." He turned to the other cops. "Once again, thanks for having us."
"Thanks for helping," said Mendez. "Take care!"
"We will!" said Tails as he and the others began walking off. "Bye!"
The freelancers waved goodbye to the Aqua Lake cops and went back to the pier, finding their boat and starting it up, with Shadow driving again and setting a course back for Green Hill City.
As they sped back there, Sonic looked thoughtful, which Tails noticed. "Everything okay there, dude?"
"I'm just a bit bummed out that we've had another mission with nobody knowing jack shit about Nack," Sonic admitted.
"Something will turn up, dude," Tails said. "We've just got to focus on helping people for now." He then put a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "But we will find Nack. And we'll all do it together."
The blue hedgehog smiled. "Yeah... I know..."
Back at Aqua Lake, the cops were checking over the buildings one more time to look for any remaining survivors, but found either corpses or nothing else. Wallace and Mendez got back into their car, engaging in conversation.
"Renovating these buildings is going to be a pain in the ass," Wallace said.
"It's a good thing that we're not builders then, isn't it?" Mendez replied.
"Still doesn't mean we can't help," Wallace pointed out, looking to see Brookes. He pokes his head out of the window to speak to him. "Hey, Brookes! Want a lift?"
"I'll catch up with you guys in a minute!" Brookes said. "You go on ahead!"
"You sure?" Mendez asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine!"
Wallace and Mendez nodded and waved as they drove off. Brookes waved back and gave a smile as he did before they turned the corner. When they were out of view, he quickly ducked into a nearby alleyway and pulled out his phone, typing in a number.
"Come on... pick up..." he said impatiently.
"Hello?" the voice on the other end spoke.
"Is this Martin?" Brookes asked.
"Yes it is," Martin replied. "Brookes. Good to hear from you."
"It was a close call there, but I'm fine."
"So, how'd it go?" Martin asked. "Did the trap work?"
"It would have worked better if we could have actually killed some cops, but besides that, yes."
"And the dummy?"
"Lived up to his task," Brookes said. "Didn't tell them a thing, then took his pill."
"He was an obedient son of a bitch, I'll give him that," Martin said. "Anyway, if the trap worked, then you need to prove it."
"No problem," Martin said. "I got a picture of them. I'm sending it to you now." He then pulled the phone away and found the picture he'd took of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow, and sent it to Martin's mobile phone and adding a text saying the names of the four.
After a few moments, Martin replied happily. "Very good work, Brookes. This'll go over real well with the boss."
"Let's hope so," Brookes replied.
"It will," Martin nodded on his end. "Look, I've got to go. Got a meeting coming up."
"With the boss?"
"That's right," Martin nodded again. "The boss."
"Just who is this boss?" Brookes asked.
"That is for me to know and you to never find out if you keep asking about him," Martin said before hanging up.
"Hello?" Brookes asked after the hangup. "Fucking ass-hole..." He put his phone back in his pocket. He then walked out of the alleyway and looked over at the burnt down buildings. "Well, my work here is done. Let's just hope that it was enough."
And another chapter is finally done. So sorry again for taking so long. I've recently been staying up later just to write, and I'm getting back into that flow even though it's messing with my sleep schedule a little bit. But it's all good. I'll find a balance again soon... maybe. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that you're looking forward to the next one. See you all then.