Cyber Riders

by MadeInNowhere

A new Sonic story set in the far future which features our heroes as cops at Green Hill Police Department. In this world, a majority of the population have cybernetic implants to give them unique abilities. So what happens when Sonic and his friends are forced to follow suit if they want to keep up with the rest of the world? Read and review. Please, no flames.

34. Fight For Freedom

So, here we are! The final main chapter of the story of Cyber Riders. I know that it's been a long time coming, and I'm sorry for not working more on it, but I would like to thank everyone who has read it and is all caught up, because this chapter is going to be pretty big. I mean, it's the finale, so it has to be a big one, right? Of course! With that said, thanks once again, and let's just get to it. I'll see you guys at the bottom.

---

Sonic's emerald green eyes shot wide open and he took several breaths. "Man... that hurt like a bitch..."

Avery breathed a sigh of relief, but was still confused. "How... how are you still alive?"

Sonic unbuttoned his shirt slightly, pulling a knife from his holster that had a bullet dent in it. "Shadow shot me right there," Sonic replied, readjusting the holster back to normal. "It was just in case the armour wasn't enough..."

"And did he mean to do that?" asked Simian.

"Yes," Sonic nodded, pulling out his phone and tossing it to Avery, who caught it. "Read it."

Avery cleared his throat, seeing a message thread between Sonic and Shadow. "We need to stop and pull over. I have a plan..."

"What is it?" Simian asked, speaking for Shadow's part.

Avery was a bit bemused by that, but carried on, reading for Sonic. "First, you need to be quiet. Open the side door and let the others out to hide behind it." He looked up at Sonic. "So, that's why he did that."

"Indeed," Sonic nodded. "Carry on."

"What's the next step?" Simian read.

"Well, I'm going to try and negotiate all of us over," Avery read out. "If they accept, then we can get them to leave the others alone."

"But they won't, will they?"

"Nope," Avery read. "That's why I have another part of the plan. It's super risky, though."

"At this point, risky is all that we have. Hurry. We don't have a lot of time left."

Avery breathed as he read the next part out. "They've probably got a sniper somewhere. I want you to teleport up and take over, and kill one of the dudes in Brooke's car. That way, when Brookes is distracted by me, you're going to shoot me in the chest, right over my right pectoral. I'll have my knife under to protect me."

Simian seemed confused as he kept reading. "But won't that kill you?"

"Not if you hit the right spot," Avery replied. "It's all you."

"And then what?"

"Then," Avery said, his eyes widening. "Sonic... this... this is insane..."

"Look, I was strapped for time, and I didn't have much of a choice," the blue hedgehog replied. "Keep reading. I'm going to make sure that the others are safe."

The commander shook his head as he kept going. "And then, you, Knuckles, and Tails are all going to join Brookes. Wherever he takes you, you go. Just make sure to keep the GPS on in your phone, and I'll be able to keep track."

"All of our phones?" Simian read.

"No, just yours. If it happens with all of you, then the bad guys will catch on. We can't risk that."

"And we're leaving our weapons behind?" Simian read.

"You are," Avery read. "But I'll bring them back to you. Don't you worry about that."

"Got it," Simian read, taking note of the smiley face. "For now, we should stop and get out of here before Brookes gets trigger happy. Over and out."

"Over and out," Avery finished.

Sonic had gotten the last of the cops out of the convoy, checking over them. "Some got some shrapnel wounds, but nothing too serious. They're all fine."

Avery nodded, handing the phone back to Sonic. "Hell of a risk with that plan."

"That's kinda my style, it seems," Sonic said, checking over his phone. "All right... tracking the signal... looks good..."

"As much as I admire the utter insanity of all of this," Simian spoke up, "I do have one question to ask."

"Shoot," Sonic said, still waiting on the signal.

"How the hell are you going to get everything back to wherever Brookes is without being caught?"

"Well, simple," Sonic shrugged. "I'm going alone."

"Alone?" Avery asked. "With all of those weapons?"

"Hmm... maybe not..." The blue freelancer couldn't fight his grin. "Say, does it violate the district rule if I request an airdrop from a police force outside of a city?"

"Technically, no," said Avery. "But the airdrop has to be a one and done job. Can't stay for too long. Why?"

"Gather up all of our weapons and take them back to the department. Get a chopper set up, but don't come for me until I tell you to."

"Since when do you boss us around?" Simian asked.

"Since I became a freelancer and wound up doing ninety nine percent of your job for you?" Sonic smirked. "I know that it's a dangerous risk, but since you guys won't be breaking any rules, you won't get into trouble."

"Yes, but you might," Avery noted. "You can't just go to a different city alone. You must have backup requested before you can go there."

"Does the backup have to be from a cop of that city?" Sonic asked.

"It does," Simian said bluntly. "One of the other freelancers can't just call on you and then it'll all be okay."

Sonic shrugged. "Well then, in this case, fuck that particular rule."

"Well, at least let us give you a lift there," said Simian.

"No," Sonic said, turning and walking back to the truck he was in. "For one thing, if you get caught helping, you could get into trouble. For another, you've got people here to help. So, help them."

"Then how are you going to get there?" asked Avery.

"Just give me a second, and I'll be right with you," Sonic replied.

The bear shook his head and waited as he heard Sonic looking around for certain things. After a good thirty seconds, Sonic walked back out, now wearing his freelancer uniform and body armour, having a shotgun slung over his left shoulder, an assault rifle over the right shoulder, a pistol on his left hip, several grenades on his right, and a knife next to the pistol. He was also holding a blue board in his left hand, and a red one in his right hand.

"So, I know that I'm repeating myself, but how will you get there?" Avery asked.

"I'll give you three guesses," Sonic chuckled, walking to the other truck. "And the first two don't count!" He soon came back with Tails and Shadow's boards, handing those and Knuckles' boards to Avery and Simian. "Can you make those part of the airdrop too?"

Avery smiled. "Consider it done."

"Awesome," Sonic smiled. He put his board on the ground and watched as it floated for him, allowing him to step onto it as the straps stuck to his feet, keeping him on the board. "All right, I'll see you guys later."

"You seem confident about that considering that your friends are trapped," Avery pointed out.

"They're trapped because I told them to be," Sonic shrugged. He then heard a sound from a van, and Avery went over to it.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Hi, this is Martin of the Westopolis Police Department. We've got a huge problem!"

"What is it?" Avery smirked, turning to Sonic.

"Some guys with a lot of cars and some guns. Some of the cars are from your department, I believe," Martin replied. "But I don't trust them... I'm scared!"

"We'll send someone out to help," Avery replied. "Can you hold out until then?"

"We'll... we'll be fine," Martin said.

"Good," Avery said. "Over and out." The radio then hung up, and he turned to Sonic. "Did that feel too... convenient to you?"

"Doesn't matter," Sonic shrugged. "I'm going there to save my friends anyway."

"You know that it's a trap, right?" asked Simian.

"Of course I do," Sonic smirked. "But, luckily, I've got a trap of my own waiting in the form of a big red echidna, a fluffy two-tailed fox, and an edgy hedgehog who listens to more metal than the rest of us."

"Then get going," Avery smiled. "You've heard the call. Go and answer it."

Sonic just nodded in reply, giving a parting two-fingered salute as his board sped off. A smile on his face, he enjoyed the breeze in his blue quills as he headed in the direction of Westopolis, using the GPS of his friends' phones to find his way. 'I'm coming for you, guys...' he thought to himself.

Back in Westopolis...

Brookes chuckled as he looked back over the convoy that he led before turning to the other three in his car. "Welcome to Westopolis, boys!"

"I don't see a red rug," Knuckles shrugged. "Not feeling too welcome."

"If you need a long streak of red to feel welcome in Westopolis, then maybe I should have set up some poor fucks to be shot to shit," Brookes said. "That's enough blood to qualify for a rug, I feel."

"Or we could just skin Knuckles," Tails playfully suggested. "He is big enough."

"That's what all the bitches say," the red echidna smiled.

"You guys sure are fitting into this role quite well," Brookes said. "Considering how well you guys did at Aqua Lake, I'm honestly surprised by the sudden heel turn. Was he that bad of a boss?"

"Not really," Shadow said. "But we were short on cash. We should have been getting paid way, way more than we got considering that we did twice the work of the fucking police."

"Twice the work and crappy pay makes us all dull boys," Knuckles smirked.

"Getting as many people as you did out of the shit-show Aqua Lake was still pretty impressive," Brookes carried on. "An island city, known for being peaceful, and you braved through three buildings that were almost burned to bits. And yet, you still saved people."

"And we're getting sick of saving people," said Shadow. "The more that we save, the less that we get thanked. We're better than that."

"And do you think that coming to the shittiest city in all of Mobius is a step up?" Brookes asked with a smile as he kept on driving.

"Considering where we used to be, yeah," Tails replied. "I'd much rather work for some seedy bastard who's honest about the fact that he's a seedy bastard as opposed to some guy who thinks that he's helping us all but couldn't give less of a shit."

"If he did care," Knuckles added, "he would have tried to get us more out of it too. He's a selfish, spoiled, needy prick. I'm glad that the fucker's dead, to be honest."

Brookes smiled at that, looking in the rear view mirror to see Shadow. "Bet it felt good putting that bullet through his chest, huh?"

"Didn't feel like enough, to be honest," Shadow replied coldly.

"What about the stomping on his corpse afterwards?" the Aqua Lake cop asked.

"That did help a little bit," Shadow admitted. "Not enough, but a little bit."

Brookes smiled. "I kinda felt the same at first when I left my Aqua Lake friends behind. I was already working for Nack anyway, but I had to bide my time until I could break free from that city."

"How did you break free, exactly?" asked Knuckles.

"Well, I was out on patrol with some fellow officers, and we were shooting the shit, as you do. One of them asked about me being on the front-lines during the explosions, and I told him the whole truth." Brookes then smiled into a chuckle. "I then killed the other officers, and told the cops that I work for about it right afterwards before I got the fuck out of dodge."

"And they don't have any traces of you?" asked Knuckles.

"Once you get ex-communicated from the police, they burn your old records," Brookes pointed out. "I should be a criminal in their database, but luckily I pulled all of that shit out myself anyway."

"You're smart enough to do that?" Tails asked.

"I set up three timed bombs to go boom," Brookes shrugged. "It's only a little bit more complicated than getting rid of my records."

"Can you do that for others too?"

"I could, but I don't know if it'll work for freelancers," Brookes said. "You guys aren't technically cops, so you walk the line quite carefully. It's usually up to you whether you want to use lethal force or not."

"I think that we can handle lethal," said Knuckles. "Wouldn't be the first time."

"How much longer, anyway?" asked Tails.

"Not too long," Brookes said. "We're deeper into the city now. I guess that I should take you guys to Manuel's place."

"Manuel?" asked Shadow.

"Yeah," said the officer. "He's basically the main arms dealer of Westopolis, not to mention one hell of a fighter too. The dude doesn't like to get violent, but when he does... well, the phrase "raging bull" is an understatement, let's just put it that way."

"So, he's an actual bull?" asked Knuckles.

"Yep. Nice guy once you get to know him."

"I assume that we're going to get to know him quite well if we're going to be working for him," Shadow said. "And considering how many men there were at that convoy, it's also safe to assume that he trains them well and has high profile weaponry."

"Not just that, but lots of it," Tails said. "Manuel's got a small army on his hands. Or hooves, rather."

"And that small army was good enough to take down a police convoy," Brookes smirked. "And, now that we have three freelancers with us, that army will only get even stronger."

The others chuckled in agreement as the drive continued. It was a long ride to their destination, and they were nowhere close for a long time until they saw other cars get in front of them and drive in a specific direction, seeing some other cars break away from them that they hadn't noticed before.

"What's with the other guys?" Tails asked as they fell into their new convoy.

"Oh, those guys are going to take some shipments to some places," Brookes said. "I'd tell you where, but it's too many to list."

"Try us," the yellow fox dared.

"Well, Green Hill and Star Light are the two most obvious ones. There's Aqua Lake, Scrap Metal, Marble Stone... all the big ones."

"Damn," Tails said. "Nack wants armies everywhere."

"Not just armies," said Brookes. "Guns are one thing, but there's also drugs and hookers."

"Ah, yes," Tails joked. "Let's all fear the armies of prostitutes high on drugs as they try to shoot people."

"They build them tough in Westopolis," Brookes chuckled. "All right, we're about there."

"About where?" Knuckles asked, looking past to see the cars in front of him.

The red echidna kept looking, and soon saw several of the cars disappearing past a large door, soon noticing that said door led to a huge warehouse. They were driven inside themselves, and Knuckles looked around, whistling in approval. He saw the firing range, the many racks of guns, the rooms for the bad guys to sleep in, and even a few empty rooms in the back.

"What are those ones for?" Knuckles asked, pointing.

"That, I'm not sure on," Brookes said. "You'd have to ask the man himself."

"Somebody call me?" a thick Spanish accent asked.

Knuckles looked up to see the bull in question, smirking as he hopped out of the car. "You must be Manuel?"

"Indeed I am," the bull nodded. "And you guys are the freelancers who left your leader behind?"

"I'm the one who shot him, just so you know," Shadow pointed out as the others got out of the car, sans Brookes.

"Yep," Brookes agreed. "Sniped that blue bastard from a long-ass way away."

"That's good," Manuel replied with a smile. "We could use more snipers. Most of my guys are up close and personal, and they like to be very loud."

"Well, luckily, Shadow's the polar opposite of all of that," said Knuckles.

"I can appreciate that," Manuel laughed.

"Say, what are those rooms back there?" Tails asked. "The empty ones, I mean."

"Oh, that's for other stuff that hasn't come in yet," Manuel said. "You may have seen that the weapons that I have are pretty high gear. Hard to find. Well, I'm looking to get more than just offence."

"So, what?" Tails asked. "Body armour, riot shields, stuff like that?"

"All of that and bombs," Manuel replied. "Although, it is hard to find someone who could make a good bomb."

"Tails here is smart enough," said Knuckles. "During our police training, he passed the bomb test faster than anyone else. And that was him disabling it. Imagine how good he'd be at putting them together?"

"I like that mentality," the Spanish bull said. "So, Shadow is the sniper, and Tails is the bomber... that just leaves you, big red."

"Knuckles," the echidna said. "And I'm pretty good at being loud and up close and personal, but I could knock any guy here out with one punch."

"And that's without his cyber enhancements," said Shadow.

"All of you are implanted?" asked Manuel.

"Indeed we are," Tails said. He spun his tails and hovered above the ground for a few seconds before settling back down.

"And this one here can teleport," Knuckles said, pointing to Shadow.

"Really?" Manuel asked.

"Yep," said Brookes. "This guy zipped up to our sniper, took him out, then killed one of us before killing his leader. And that sniper was pretty far away. I wouldn't have trusted that guy's shot in the first place."

"Well, it's handy to have guys like this around," Manuel chuckled. "So, we have a fighter, a sniper, and a bomber... you're going to be a great help to us when we start taking over Mobius." He then looked at Knuckles. "In fact, you'd be damn good at raking in some cash for my fighting ring."

"I'm flattered, but I'd much rather just be given a gun," Knuckles smiled.

"Then you can stay right where you are," Manuel smiled back. "Brookes, I want you to take the others to Beau's place, then up to Lara's. See if we can't get them working for others."

"What about Nack?" Brookes asked.

"He should be with Beau right now, actually. He's making big deliveries for the successful mission that we pulled off today." Manuel then looked up ahead to see a huge Westopolis Police Department truck pull up. "Speaking of which, I've got some new shit to break in." He turned to Knuckles. "Want to help me out?"

"Fucking right," the red echidna smirked.

"I'm not a freaking chauffeur, you know," Brookes said.

"No, but you do like getting paid and not getting murdered," Manuel said. "And, besides, it was Nack's orders. I'd follow them, if I were you."

"All right, fine," the Aqua Lake cop grumbled. "Come on, you two," he said to Shadow and Tails. "Get back in the car."

They followed Brookes inside the vehicle, with Tails speaking first. "Beau and Lara?"

"Beau's a chemist, Lara owns a hotel," Brookes said quickly.

"So... one's a junkie, and the other is a brothel owner?" Shadow asked.

"Well, all of the letters of "hotel" spell "brothel. They're just not in the right order and there's two more letters added."

The two Mobians chuckled as the car started back up, pulling out of the warehouse and back onto the roads of Westopolis.

Meanwhile, just passing through Star Light City was Sonic, riding his hover-board and picking up the speed with it something fierce. He looked at the signal on his phone, smiling in confidence as he heard the sound starting to grow louder.

"Man... Westopolis had better be close..." he said to himself. He then looked up from his phone and sighed. He slid to a stop as he noticed that there was a huge roadblock in his way, with several Star Light vehicles comprising of it, along with barricades and some officers wearing the city's signature police uniform. He hopped off of his board as one of the officers approached him.

"Halt!" said one of the officers. "State your business!"

"I'm just passing through the city," Sonic said. "Trying to get to Westopolis."

"Well, you can't," said the officer. "We've had reports of Green Hill vehicles coming through here to reach Westopolis."

"Right," Sonic nodded. "And you didn't stop those vehicles because..."

"Because we didn't know where they were going..." the officer admitted.

"See, if you were doing your job properly, they wouldn't have been here that long," said Sonic.

"It's not out fault, smart-ass," the officer said. "With all of the buzz surrounding Green Hill and the freelancers within it, things are confusing. Also, those bad guys have a lot of guns with them. What's one hedgehog with a flying skateboard going to do against that?"

"It doesn't matter what this hedgehog is going to do," Sonic said. "What matters is what I'm going to get done. And if you don't let me pass, I will run you over. And then, I'll write a haughty letter of complaint to your boss. Dingo, right?"

The officer shook his head, about to retort when a voice came from behind him. "Sonic?!"

The blue hedgehog looked up and grinned. "Walsh! How the devil are you?"

"Eh, still scaly and still trying to help people," the caiman replied, turning to the other officer. "You go. I've got this."

"Sorry for all of this," Sonic said. "But I don't have time for small talk. I've got friends to save, and they're way behind the other side of this barricade."

"And did you bring any weapons? Backup? Anything besides your board?"

"Well... yes, but not yet," Sonic replied.

"Okay, I like you, but you're going to have to do a lot better than that," Walsh said.

"Look, it'll happen when it happens," Sonic said. "If it helps, I have a phone call from a Westopolis officer, so that's basically free passage to Westopolis."

"And you're going to be skating into a trap with... wait, where are your friends?" Walsh said, looking around.

"Oh, they betrayed me and left off for Westopolis," Sonic said, showing the message thread on his phone to the caiman officer. "Damn bastards left me behind."

Walsh grinned widely. "Oh, you sly devil."

"Hey, I'm not just handsome," Sonic smirked back. "Look, I need to pass through. I have the permission to do it, I have backup waiting for me, and I will have the weapons."

"Well... this barricade is mostly for civilians," said Walsh. "And just because you're not a cop doesn't make you just any civilian." He patted Sonic's arm, turning around to wave to the others. "This guy's good to go through! He's a freelancer, and he has permission to get to Westopolis!"

"Are you sure that that's a good idea?" asked the officer from earlier.

"Absolutely not, but if we want to save people, it's the only idea that we have!" Walsh chuckled.

"Well... all right. But he'd better save our asses." The officer sighed and stepped aside, opening up one of the barricades. "Go on. In you get."

"Starting to really feel welcome," Sonic smiled, putting his board back under his feet. "Sorry to put you through this, by the way."

"Why are you passing through here to get to Westopolis, anyway?" Walsh asked.

"If I took the short way, then the bad guys would catch on too quickly to the plan," Sonic said. "I need to take my time."

"Luckily, it's only a big road from here to Westopolis' docks," said Walsh. "Do you have a water vehicle planned?"

"Um... this," Sonic said, tapping his foot on his board.

"Then you'd best get going," Walsh chuckled.

Sonic nodded, sharing a fist-bump with the caiman. "Thanks, man. You take care of Star Light."

"And you take care of your friends."

The blue hedgehog chuckled and nodded, speeding off again on his board. As he did, he pulled his phone from his pocket. "You guys back at base yet?"

"Just got here," said Avery through his radio. "Yourself?"

"Just got out of Star Light," Sonic said. "I need to take the long way to Westopolis, otherwise I get caught early, and I'm pretty sure that I don't need to tell you how fucked we all are if that happens."

"So, that means that you're off to the docks?" Avery asked.

"I am indeed," Sonic replied, speeding up more. "Do these boards run on water? I may or may not have told one of the officers at the barricade that it can."

"Hmm... hang on," said Avery. He spoke to someone else, which Sonic couldn't understand, and he soon came back. "Charmy says yes."

"Is power an issue?" Sonic asked. "I've been on this board for a long time."

"Oh, power isn't a problem," the commander replied. "You remember? You made it through those obstacle courses pretty well. Sure, a body of water is much larger compared to that, but you all used the same board on the same course and it worked just fine."

"All right, I guess that I can't argue with that," Sonic chuckled. "Oh, I should get to the real reason that I called."

"The airdrop?" Avery chuckled. "When do you want it?"

"Give me... ten minutes," Sonic said. "Or I'll just text you when I'm ready."

"Works for me," Avery said. "Good luck out there."

"Thanks," Sonic replied. "You too. See you in a few."

They both hung up, and Sonic kept speeding onward, thankful that the roads were mostly clear due to the crisis, with the exception of a few cars coming back into the city. As he passed them, he looked over the side of the highway to see the ocean, spotting a city in the distance, nodding to himself with determination as he kept riding.

Back in Westopolis itself, however, Tails was left alone with Beau in the southern snake's office, being instructed on how to make Fokus. "Hmm..." the yellow fox said. "It is a very complex system to make the drug, isn't it?"

"That it is, but it's all of the drugs that we need to make just one," Beau replied. "Think of it like music. A band often gets pigeonholed into a genre because other bands at that time play that style, right? But if you add enough stuff to it..."

"It becomes more transcendent," Tails replied. "It helps the band or artist in question to stand out more."

"Exactly," Beau grinned.

"So, what do all of these drugs do?" Tails asked. "On their own, I mean."

"You're an ex-cop, right?" asked Beau. "Didn't you do your research?"

"On normal drugs, yeah," Tails said. "But that's the usual stuff. Heroin, cocaine, weed, speed, ecstasy, and so on. But these? These are new."

Beau chuckled, picking up the needle first. "Well, this is one of the most important parts. It's called speedball. It's a mixture of heroin and coke, and due to the mixture, it calms down one's internal system as well as fuelling it, making things balanced." He moved along to some powder. "This is devil's breath. This is what Fokus users are given to help give them their focus. The drug itself doesn't have a taste or a smell to it, but add it with everything else, and you've got the perfect concoction."

"What's this other powder?" Tails asked.

"Oh, that is DiPT," said Beau. "On its own, this bad boy makes it sound like you're hearing all sorts of crazy shit. But Nack himself actually reverse engineered this drug to help be the backbone of Fokus."

"How so?" Tails asked.

"Well, DiPT's normal effects are constant ringing in the ears and nausea that lasts for two full weeks," Beau pointed out. "But Nack made a version where it can last for as long as the user wishes. And when it's mixed with the devil's breath, it makes for some interesting results."

"Is that why that one guy is working so hard down there?" Tails asked, pointing out of a window from Beau's office to the main factory.

"You bet your two-tailed ass," the snake said. "One shot of Fokus, and there he goes."

"Well... that leaves this last one," Tails said, pointing to a needle with red sludge in it. "I... wait, I think I've heard of this one. Krokodil, right?"

"The boy knows his drugs," Beau chuckled. "Yep, you hit the nail right on the head with that one."

"I know that it's nasty stuff. Takes people's skin clean off of their bones," Tails said.

"Sort of," Beau said. "It causes skin to turn scaly and then just peel off. Like crocodile skin."

"I know a crocodile, and I remember seeing an overdose victim courtesy of Fokus," Tails said. "The scales from krokodil are so not like an actual crocodile's skin. It's just creepy."

"True, but it does add to the consequence of the drug," Beau replied. "With that in mind, the krokodil does add an element of addiction to the Fokus, so it is a crucial component. After all, if you can't get addicted to them, then what's the point of doing drugs?"

"Do you partake?" Tails asked.

"Sometimes," the snake nodded. "I've cut down a bit since working more full time for Nack, though. Doesn't mean that I can't sample my own product." He finished putting a needle together, handing it to Tails.

"Oh, I'm good, thanks," the yellow fox said.

"It's not for you," Beau chuckled. "Just inject it into one of the workers. Tell them that we need to add more DiPT."

"How will I know which one needs it?" Tails asked.

"Look for the one who looks like he's had sleep recently," Beau chuckled.

Tails nodded, taking the needle from Beau before heading out of the room. He made his way down the stairs, looking around at the workers. Some were in a catatonic state as thanks to the Fokus, so Tails knew that he had to look for the right person. He soon found said person, a human, and injected the needle into his arm.

"Hmm?" the human asked.

"Beau wants you to add more DiPT into the mix," Tails said.

The human gave a yawn in reply before grabbing the drug in question and adding it to one of the needles that he was working on. Tails looked to see Beau looking out the window, giving Tails a thumbs-up, which the two-tailed fox returned.

'I wonder where Shadow is?' Tails thought to himself. 'More to the point, I wonder how far away Sonic is too...'

"Yo, Tails!" Beau called. "You good?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm good," Tails replied, getting back up the stairs. "So, what's next?"

"Got a shipment coming in," Beau replied. "Want to help with it?"

"Sure," Tails nodded.

Beau grinned. "Oh, bring a couple of needles, just in case we need to influence the guy a bit more."

Tails merely nodded, looking over what he was currently making and grinning. "No problem..."

Shadow, meanwhile, was sat across a kitchen table from Lara, who made no effort to turn off her charms. "So let me get this straight," the black and red hedgehog started. "You want me to be a bodyguard for a brothel?"

"Is there a problem?" Lara asked.

"Well, I'm already kinda spoken for, for one," Shadow replied.

"Oh, that's no trouble," Lara insisted. "I can just tell the girls that you're off-limits. Which is a shame, as you do have that sexy bad boy thing going on for you."

"Well, what about where I'd live?" Shadow asked. "I can't just leave my caretaker in Green Hill. She needs me..."

"What's her name?" Lara asked.

"Maria," Shadow said. "She and I... we kinda need each other."

"Is she the one who's spoken for you?" the tigress asked.

"It's... complicated," Shadow said.

"Complicated? Well, that can often be fixed with some sex, but you don't seem like that type of guy," Lara said. "You're... kind of a rarity."

"Look, I just want to be a bodyguard," Shadow said. "I only ask that I get to send money over to her so that she can pay things off."

"Hey," Lara said, reaching to touch Shadow's hand, "it's okay. You met Manuel earlier, right?"

"Yeah," the black and red hedgehog answered with a nod. "Why?"

"He's got his own girls to look after," Lara said. "Not long ago, they were caught with drugs, and nobody knows how they got them, but it wasn't anyone that we know."

"Sounds dangerous," Shadow said. "Are they okay?"

"Yeah, they're fine," Lara smiled. "I like how you're concerned about two people who you don't know."

"Well, you're willing to help me send money out to my friend," Shadow said. "No harm in reciprocating, right?"

"I suppose not," Lara giggled. "So, with all of that having been said, are you okay with a position here?"

"I would imagine that your girls know quite a lot of positions," Shadow smirked.

"Ah, good one," the tigress winked. She sat back and reached a foot up to stroke Shadow's calf. "So... are you okay with joining?"

Shadow moved his leg away and nodded as he stood up. "Sure. Is there anywhere specific you want me to guard?"

"Hmm... my office," Lara said, also standing up. "But... well, I usually seal my deals in a certain way..." she stood close to him and licked his cheek, moving to kiss his neck until she was stopped.

"You don't have to do that with me," Shadow said, gently pushing against Lara's shoulder. "I'll take the job. Just pay me with money, not pussy."

Lara giggled and nodded, extending a hand. "No harm in shaking on it, right?"

"Eh... I suppose not," Shadow shrugged.

His hand made contact with Lara's own, and soon, the tigress pulled the black and red hedgehog in for a kiss. More out of kindness than out of lust, Shadow kissed her back, smiling a bit into it before he broke the kiss.

"So... we have a deal?" Lara asked.

"We do," Shadow nodded.

Lara smiled. "Good. Now... what would you like for lunch?"

"Ah, yes," Shadow chuckled. "We never actually ordered since we were too busy talking this over."

"It's no problem," the grey tigress smiled, snapping her fingers.

A girl walked over, menu in hand. "What would you two like to order?"

"Say, do you guys make pork ribs?" Shadow asked.

"We do," Lara nodded. "Hot and cold. Why?"

"Eh, it's just a little piece of back home," Shadow shrugged. He then felt his phone vibrating. "Hmm..."

"What is it?" Lara asked.

"Um... private call. Am I allowed to go outside for a little bit?" Shadow asked.

"By all means," Lara smiled. "Your food will be here when you get back. Oh, which ribs did you want?"

"Cold, please," Shadow said, standing up from his seat.

The waitress nodded, going to put the order in for Shadow as the black and red hedgehog left through the kitchen and soon found himself outside the building, answering the phone. "How far away are you?" he asked.

"I'm just coming up to the city now," Sonic replied. "I'm sorry that it took so long. I wanted to take the long way to get up here. Doesn't raise suspicions as much, you know?"

"I get that," Shadow nodded.

"So, what are you up to?"

"Waiting on my hero to save me," Shadow said, deadpan. "Actually, I just got hired to be a bodyguard at a brothel."

"Well, looks like you'll have to terminate your contract early," Sonic said.

"Wouldn't be the first time I lost a job on the first day," Shadow chuckled.

"Dude, low blow," the blue hedgehog smirked. "All right, just keep your GPS on. I'm coming for you first. And I have a present for you that you just might like."

"You stay safe," Shadow replied. "See you when you get here." He then saw one of the guards outside looking at him. "Um... I love you too, mum!" he said.

"Aw!" Sonic gushed sarcastically before hanging up.

He looked ahead at the docks of Westopolis, riding his board up and jumping onto the beach nearby. In contrast to the rest of the city, the beach was surprisingly clean looking. Shaking that thought out of his head, Sonic pulled his phone out, texting Avery. He got one back, and was confused as he read it.

"The chopper is right behind you. We had to keep it up high in the sky so that it didn't get seen by others," the text read.

Sonic smiled and texted back. "Thank you, Avery. This will probably be my last text for a little while. I've got asses to kick and friends to rescue, and maybe not necessarily in that order."

"Best of luck," came the reply.

Sonic nodded, turning the phone back to GPS mode as he moved from the beach to the main land of the city. He saw many dilapidated cars and buildings, and even took note of a prostitute walking by him and giving him a once over... and then a twice over for good measure.

Sonic gulped nervously as he brushed the woman aside, looking up to see the chopper lowering overhead, a few metres ahead of him. He pulled out one of his grenades and threw it over to where the chopper was hovering, marking the zone for the chopper to land its pair of crates, attached by a magnetised hook.

The moment that the sound of the crates echoed across the ground, Sonic couldn't help his grin. He sped up on his board and reached the crates in question, opening them up. Inside were enough weapons for his friends to escape, as he didn't need much since they still had their freelancer gear.

The other crate contained his friends' boards, and he gathered them up and saw a button on one of them. Curious, he pushed the button, and was quite relieved to see that the board had shrunk in size. He did it to the other ones before raising an eyebrow and hopping off of his own board, looking around it before finding a button.

"Was that always there?" he asked himself. "Ah, questions for another time."

He set the board back down, thankful that a backpack had come with everything else. When it was good to go, he attached the hook back to the now empty crates, giving a thumbs up for the chopper to take off. He waved goodbye as it left before turning around and speeding off on his board.

"Just a little bit longer, guys..." Sonic said to himself.

Meanwhile, at Manuel's warehouse, Knuckles was at a gym, landing shots on a heavy bag as Manuel held it, the bull speaking first. "So, your implants make you stronger, right?"

"Something like that," Knuckles said, throwing some body shots.

"How strong? Can you bench press a car?"

The red echidna chuckled. "Not exactly. But I did punch a hole in one once out of frustration. It's how I discovered my power."

"That's got to be tough, huh?" Manuel smirked, stepping away from the bag. "Prove it."

"Prove what?" Knuckles asked.

"Punch the bag."

Knuckles shrugged and threw a simple straight left punch to the bag. "Like that?"

"No, I mean like, use your implant," Manuel chuckled. "Blast the bag to pieces or knock it off the chain. Up to you."

"I'm not some performing monkey," Knuckles defended. "Just get back to the bag."

"No," Manuel said, defying Knuckles. "Hell, I want you to prove how strong you are. And if you won't throw at the bag, maybe you'll throw at an opponent?"

"A living one?" Knuckles asked. "Just trying to clarify."

"Yes, smart-ass," the Spanish bull replied.

"All right, well, I should get some gear on," the red echidna replied.

"No, you're good as you are," Manuel said. "Bare knuckle fights are pretty much what we do best."

"They're also the most illegal type of fighting," Knuckles said, before grinning. "I'm in. Who do I get to knock on their sorry ass?"

"Kerry!" Manuel called.

As he did, a yellow eagle with green eyes and wearing a blue muscle shirt and black shorts stepped up. "Yes, boss?"

"Get in the ring with Knuckles," Manuel said.

"The new guy?" Kerry said. "He won't last a minute in there. It'll be fun to break him in."

"Well, now that you've said that, I kind of have to beat the shit out of you now," Knuckles smirked.

Eddie chuckled, turning to a nearby boxing ring. He slipped past the ropes, getting into the ring to meet with his opponent in the middle, shaking hands with him. Manuel mimicked a bell going off, and the two in the ring got to fighting.

Back at Lara's place, Shadow was standing inside the tiger's office, clearing his throat at the awkward silence. "So... do I just stand here all day?"

"Well, you could bend me over the desk and fuck my brains out, but you're a faithful man," Lara smiled. "That's difficult to find, and even harder for a man to maintain whenever he bumps into one of my girls."

Shadow shook his head a bit, about to reply when he saw a blue blur of some sort pass by the window. "Speaking of which, I think that we have another customer coming in."

"Ooh, nice eyesight," Lara giggled, standing up from her papers. "You know, you'd think that this job would be much more exciting given the amount of sex, but there's paperwork in everything."

"Even drug pushing and arms races?" Shadow asked.

"The very same," the tigress replied. The bell then went off, and she turned to Shadow. "Could you get the door for me?"

Shadow nodded, getting another text on his phone. He sighed a bit, merely nodding again before leaving Lara's office door. He headed down the stairs and opened the front door, nodding to the two guards stood out front as he greeted a blue hedgehog.

"Hello," he said. "And you are?"

"Oh, I'm Sonic. I just got back from a long trip, and I need to relax."

"Well, don't worry," Shadow smiled, reaching behind his back. "We've got plenty of girls here to satisfy your every need."

He then grinned, turning to strike the guard on the left around the side of his head. The guard managed to recover quickly, throwing a punch which Shadow dodged, slipping behind the guard and tripping him whilst placing a hand on his chest, knocking the wind out of him. For good measure, the black and red hedgehog mounted the guard and landed several punches to knock him out.

Sonic handled the other guard with ease, jumping with a knife to slash at his cheek before dodging a punch to the face only to be countered to the stomach. Sonic then grabbed a kick to his body, keeping it locked in place before sweeping the guard, landing a knee to his stomach to wind him to the point of sending him unconscious.

The two hedgehogs then turned to each other, slapping their hands together and pulling in for a hug. "I was worried about you, man," Shadow said.

"I know," Sonic smirked. "But we can't waste time. We've got to get out of here."

"What the fuck?!" a voice called. Shadow and Sonic turned to see Lara, and Shadow just smirked.

"Yeah... I'm going to have to quit," he shrugged. "Pushing pussy around like that just isn't my style."

"You do know that I have other friends in the city, right?" Lara said.

"Oh, we know," Sonic nodded. "We're actually going to see them right now. Nice to see you."

"Go fuck yourselves," Lara scowled.

Shadow and Sonic chuckled, bumping fists and getting on their hover-boards, taking off quickly. Sonic turned to Shadow and handed some guns over to him. "Had to call in a favour from an old friend," he explained.

Shadow shrugged, slinging a shotgun over his shoulder. "Smart thinking. But you took one hell of a risk with this plan of yours."

"That's what a good team leader does," Sonic said. "Sometimes, they need to make up a strategy on the fly, no matter how lethal it may sound."

"Oh, so now you're team leader all of a sudden," Shadow smirked.

"And a damn good one at that, I'll have you know," Sonic grinned back. "Come on. Let's go save our big red boy."

"Phrasing..." Shadow muttered.

The two laughed and carried on their ride on their boards, soon finding Manuel's warehouse thanks to a combination of Shadow's directions and Knuckles having his GPS activated to make it easier to find him.

The two hedgehogs sailed up to one of the staircases outside of the warehouse, climbing up to find a window to peer through. As they did, they saw Knuckles in a bare fist brawl with what seemed to be his third opponent as two more were on the ground next to the ring, wincing in pain with their faces bleeding, bruised, or both.

Knuckles dodged an incoming hook and landed a right hook of his own to knock out his third opponent, merely shrugging before going to his corner to get a drink. As he did, he heard his phone go off, and pulled it out to read what it said, merely smirking.

"You happy with yourself?" Manuel asked.

"You bet your ass," Knuckles replied.

"Why-" Manuel was cut off by a phone call, seeing that it was Lara. "Yeah?"

"Manuel! Don't trust that echidna! He has friends there trying to save him!" Lara warned.

"I don't see-"

The bull was cut off again, but this time by falling glass and a grenade falling down. Before anyone could process what was happening, the grenade exploded into a bunch of tiny ball bearings, spreading around and hitting everyone with the exception of Knuckles, who was just quick enough to dodge the painful weapon.

Not long after, the two hedgehogs who made the mess in the first place dropped down, careful of the glass below them. "Get dressed," Sonic said. "We're leaving."

"Whatever you say, dad," the red echidna said drily.

Manuel, grunting a bit from the pain, sat up. "You... you fucking traitor!"

"Eh, I'm sure that you'll get a chance at revenge," Knuckles winked, putting his clothes back on quickly. "I'll be seeing you!"

As the freelancers started leaving, some of Manuel's men had recovered, beginning to fire away at the escapees but not hitting them, their efforts only becoming more fruitless as the three sped up on their boards to leave.

"Where do we go?" Sonic asked.

"We've got to go around the back!" Knuckles said. "We're closer to that end, and it shuts down slower than the front does!"

The others nodded, heading for the back of the warehouse, just barely making it under the large metal security door by the skin of their teeth. They all gave a cheer as they rounded the side of the warehouse, happy to be free as they cleared it.

"Tails is on the west side," Sonic pointed out. "He's pretty far away."

"He's working for some snake dude to work on Fokus," Knuckles pointed out. "We didn't get to see much of him beforehand, and we don't have anything about the drug."

Sonic smiled and pulled out his phone. "Then let's find out!" He typed a text to Tails which read, "Got Knucklehead and Edgy. On my way to you now."

"Getting a shipment in," Tails replied. "See you when you get here. And don't reply to this message."

Sonic merely nodded, pocketing his phone and turning to the others. "Let's go."

Tails, meanwhile, was with Beau and a few other of his henchmen as they were at a parking lot not far away from their factory. A shady character showed up in a fancy sports car, holding two bags of various types of drugs and handing them over to Beau.

"Your boss already paid it off," he said.

"I'll have to thank him later," Beau chuckled. "This is everything, right?"

"Check and double check," the dealer said. "DiPT, speedball, krokodil... fuck, everything."

Beau shook the bags, nodding in satisfaction and handing them over to Tails. "Would you mind repaying the man in kind?"

"How?" Tails asked.

"Make the man some Fokus," Beau said.

The dealer pointed at the two-tailed fox. "He's a newbie, and you brought him to our deal?"

"He might be new, but he's a smart kid," Beau defended. "He's just not big on drugs themselves."

"Then he's either really smart for not taking drugs or really dumb for not knowing how to make them," the dealer complained. "And besides, you can keep your needles. I don't have all day, and I have a lot of deliveries to make."

"Fine," the Southern snake sighed. "See you around."

The dealer gave a wave of riddance and walked back to his car, starting it up and leaving the parking lot. Tails shook his head, looking at all of the drugs in his hands. "You know, your sales pitch could use some work."

"As could your synthesising of Fokus," Beau chuckled. "Are you sure that you don't want to try some?"

"One hundred percent," Tails nodded.

Beau nodded, then heard his phone ringing. He picked it up. "Hello? Hmm? Oh... really?" He peered over at Tails before turning his head away. "Right. Okay... and they're on their way here?"

Tails gulped, attempting to get away before Beau grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "Let me go," Tails growled.

"I'll make sure that he gets the message," Beau said to his phone, hanging up before turning back to Tails. "Oh, you really are one sly fox. You've got friends on their way to help you!"

Tails smirked. "And what are you going to do about that?"

"I dunno," Beau shrugged. "I was thinking maybe this..."

A needle shot out from Beau's sleeve, and he quickly grabbed Tails from behind and pushed the needle against the fox's neck to inject him. "Now, you work for me... understood?"

Tails nodded weakly. "Y-Yes, sir..."

"Good," Beau replied. He then heard an odd sound. "Ah, it must be your friends! Now, as part of your deal, I want you to go out there and kill them!"

Tails gave another nodded, wandering wearily to the source of the sound. There, he saw Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles, who were all attempting to walk over and greet him, but were surprised when Tails spun and swung his tails at them, not hitting them but knocking them back.

"Oh, what the hell is this noise?" Knuckles asked. "We came all this way, and you're the main bad guy? You, of all people?"

Tails just gave a wink, patting his left breast pocket before mouthing, "play along."

Knuckles smiled. "Bring it on!"

Tails nodded, spinning his tails to stay in midair like a furry yellow helicopter. He dove down and delivered a kick to Sonic, who tried dodging but the kick was turned into a stomp. Knuckles was next, trying to swing his fists up at Tails only to have his arms grabbed by the fox's hands. The fox then lifted Knuckles up and dropped him on top of Shadow, who didn't have enough time to dodge. Tails landed back down on the ground, turning back to face Beau.

"It is done," he said, his voice still robotic. "Now what?"

Beau chuckled. "Now, let's kill them," he said. He pulled out a pistol from his side holster and walked over, aiming it at the three before Tails' hand stopped his.

"I... I want to..." Tails said.

Beau was surprised, but smirked and handed Tails the gun. The two-tailed fox nodded in approval before turning to shoot the snake in his foot. Beau let out a pained hiss, holding his shoe which was dripping with blood as he glared up at Tails.

"What the fuck?!" he grunted. "How?"

"Oh, you know those needles you asked me to bring?" Tails smiled. "I changed the recipe of one of them to have no effect at all."

Beau grinned. "You're one smart cookie." He extended a hand. "How about a business handshake?"

"I'll do you one better," Tails said.

He reached to touch the snake's hand before turning and wrenching it, causing Beau to yelp in pain before stepping on Beau's bloody foot, causing another pained screech. Tails then pushed Beau with one hand and tripped him with the other to make him land flat on his ass, kneeling on his chest. Before the snake could react, Tails pulled out a second needle, injecting it into Beau's neck.

"You're going to tell me where Nack is and what his private number is so that we can reach him," Tails spoke.

Beau chuckled. "You... you think I haven't built up something to counter the effectiveness of the drug?"

"Oh, I figured as much," Tails smiled. "See, with what little info we have about Fokus back home, there's not really many ways to figure out new strains. Luckily, I'm a smart cookie." He then, to Beau's surprise, pulled out a third needle, injecting it again into the snake's neck. "Now... where is Nack?"

"In... an abandoned prison..." the snake said. "Here... I'll even give you his private number..." He spoke it out, and as he did, Sonic typed the number into his phone.

"I hope to hell that this works," the blue hedgehog said.

"Beau?" Nack asked on the other side.

"Not quite," Sonic replied.

"Who exactly is this?" Nack said. "I want to know the name so that I can kill whoever it is that took Beau's phone."

"Oh, he's not dead," Sonic said. "He's too high priority at the moment. But... we're not here for him anyway."

"And who exactly is this "we" of which you speak?"

"Oh, this is Sonic."

"Sonic... Sonic... oh! That's right!" Nack chuckled. "I'm the one who almost took your girlfriend and made her my bitch!"

Sonic grit his teeth a bit. "Not to mention all the guns you've been pushing, drugs you've been selling, prostitutes you've been throwing around, people you've killed, property you've destroyed... you have quite a laundry list of crimes that could put you away for a very long time."

Nack chuckled. "Kid, if you want me put away for a long time, you should use a more lethal method. Like, I don't know, a car accident."

"That was you?" Sonic growled.

"Yeah. I figured that, if I could make some new cops just disappear, they wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately, due to recent breakthroughs in medical technology, you came back stronger than before," Nack said. "And yet, you still lost your job somehow."

"Maybe it was because we were chasing down some wannabe mob boss throughout different cities," Sonic said. "Luckily, since we're freelancers now, we can go-"

"Wherever you want, right?" Nack chuckled. "Sonic... I'll admit that I don't know every last little goddamned thing about how policing works, but I know that cops from certain cities can't go to others to help, right? Freelancers are just the same."

"And we got called here for backup," Sonic said.

"And that was a trap," Nack said. "I bet that you didn't even go and help those poor Westopolis cops, did you?"

"What, the ones that set up the trap for our convoy and killed everybody?" Sonic asked. "How could I possibly have known that it was a trap to come here?" he added, with more sarcasm.

"Say what you will. I still stole some of your Green Hill vehicles."

"And you didn't even have to get your hands dirty."

The purple weasel chuckled. "The best bad guys never do, Sonic."

"Please don't call me by name," Sonic replied. "It just sounds weird when you say it."

"Well, I would call you Soon-To-Be-Dead-Rookie-Cop-Who-Is-In-Way-Over-His-Head, but we don't have enough time for that."

"I've almost died twice already," Sonic chuckled. "One of them was because of you, and the other was on purpose."

"How do you almost kill yourself on purpose?" Nack asked.

"Simple. I have friends."

"So, you broke them out, huh?" Nack chuckled. "Smart. I was wondering why my three best business associates were assaulting me with calls and text and emails about some annoying blue bastard who just couldn't leave well enough alone."

"Don't even start that bullshit, Nack," Sonic warned. "You're the one who came to Green Hill in the first place."

"To enact a humble drug deal," Nack defended. "But you couldn't keep your fucking nose out of it. You led your friends to get hurt, Sonic."

"No, he didn't," Tails said, overhearing. "We followed him to try and chase your sorry ass down. It's not Sonic's fault that you set up a car to try and kill us."

"Yeah," Knuckles added. "He gave us every out that he could, and we still stuck with him."

"Because he's not some business associate," Shadow said, turning to Sonic and smiling. "He's our friend."

After a few moments of silence, Nack sighed. "I see. Well, in that case, you're all just as stupid and naive as your leader. If you come to the prison, you will find nothing here. You're under-equipped, out-manned, and you don't know your damn way around the city."

"Your snake friend told us that you're in an abandoned prison," Sonic said. "Not that that helps, since every place in Westopolis looks either abandoned, like an actual prison, or both."

"It's near the centre of the city," Nack said. "Close to the north. Actually, everywhere you just were to save your friends was close enough to the centre of the city, but each place still had its own side to push stuff."

"Thanks for the advice, but we're only focused on you for now," Sonic said. "We'll keep our eyes open for you."

Nack chuckled. "See you when you get here." He then chuckled and hanged up.

Sonic did the same. "Well... that settles that."

"Are we really going after him?" Shadow asked.

"We've come this far," Knuckles pointed out. "It's too late to back down now."

The blue hedgehog chuckled. "I've got a plan..."

"Oh? What is it?" Tails asked.

Sonic merely gave a grin in reply.

Meanwhile, Nack sat back, rubbing his temples as he switched the computer in front of him off. "Well... looks like this is the home stretch."

"Anything you want us to do?" asked one of his henchmen.

"The only thing that I need you to do is keep those four busy whilst I escape."

"So, you're not staying here to see them one last time?" the other henchman asked.

"Not for too long," Nack replied. "I'll hold up my end and see them one last time. Then you guys jump in and attack them when they least expect it."

"We barely defeated them last time," said one henchman. "And we were taking on one each with that echidna and that black hedgehog who thinks that he's cool."

The purple weasel smirked and pulled out a pair of needles from his suit pocket. "Good thing that I had Beau make these for me."

"Fokus? Are you sure that it's a good idea?"

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. But it's the only idea that I have right now."

The other goon sighed. "How do you plan on using those on us?"

"Well, when I use them, you'll find out," Nack said. "I just hope that it doesn't affect you too much."

"We've never had drugs in our system, and alcohol doesn't affect us much," said the other guard. "There's no telling what Fokus could do to us."

"Then how about we find out?" Nack said. "It'll be easy."

The two goons looked at each other, giving a simple nod before holding out their arms. Nack walked up to the first guard to inject him, the needle taking instant effect on the henchman, causing him to grunt a bit.

"What was that?" asked the other guard.

"Oh, I asked Beau to give me a higher strain just in case," Nack explained. "It's mostly to help new customers get into the drug, but he gave me a freebie."

"Do you plan on making us both fight?"

"No," Nack said, getting another needle. "Now hold still."

The bodyguard stayed in place, soon getting his own dose of Fokus injected into his neck. "What do we do now?"

"I'll tell you," Nack smiled. "I want you to take every bag of money, every drug, piece of porn, form of weapon... anything that we need to push, I want you to put it all into one vehicle and drive to the centre of Westopolis, and bury it all in the park."

"I can do that," the guard nodded.

"Oh," Nack said, getting a disk from his pocket. "Give that to either Manuel, Beau, or Lara. It doesn't matter who receives it as long as they all watch it together."

"Anything else?"

"Yes," the purple weasel said. "Just hang on."

The goon nodded, and the second guard looked over to Nack. "What about me?"

"You are the one who will do the fighting," Nack said with a smirk. "I just need you to hold off Sonic and the others."

"Anything after that?"

"Well, this drug works better as a higher strain," Nack muttered. "Um, yes. I want you to hold them off, but not fight them. When the time is right, let them defeat you. Then, when they've passed you by, join the other guard."

"But that'll just leave you behind..."

"I know," the purple weasel said. "But that's just a risk that I'm willing to take." He looked between both guards. "Are we understood?"

"Yes, sir," they both replied.

Nack pointed to the first one. "Get to the garage and gather everything. But don't go until the other one comes down. Got it?"

"Clear as day," the first henchman said. He then turned, heading towards the garage. As he kept moving, he heard a sound. "I think they're here!" he said, rushing to the garage.

Nack nodded to the second guard. "Keep them busy."

The second guard nodded, walking to the front door of the prison and waiting by the side. Soon enough, there was a knock from the other side, and a voice soon followed, causing the guard to put a hand on the gun holster in his coat.

"Hello? Nack? You in there?" Sonic's voice asked.

The guard pressed a button to open up the door, sticking to the side. He waited patiently for the blue hedgehog to enter, and he did... all on his own. The guard remained where he was, not daring to do so much as breathe.

"Yo!" Sonic called. "Nack! If you're in here, then show yourself! My guys are waiting outside, and we'll take you into custody! No hassle, no violence. Poke your head out from wherever you're hiding, and we can make this easy."

The guard grunted and grabbed Sonic from behind, holding his arms by the elbows. Sonic quickly moved his hands down to his sides and shook himself free from the guard, turning to face him before speaking.

"Don't you usually have another goon with you?" he asked.

"He's a bit preoccupied at the moment..." the guard said.

"Ah. Then this'll be easy."

Sonic rushed to duck under one of the guard's blows, coming around with a punch to the stomach, but having not much effect. He dodged another swing for his head, but this one felt faster than the previous one. Sonic kept his head level, dodging slightly to the left, but missed the knee rising up to his gut. He was hit square in the belly, winding him and causing him to fall onto his hands and knees, gasping a bit for air.

"You were right," the guard said, raising a closed fist. "This was easy..."

He swung it down, and Sonic defended it with his hand, only to get a front kick to his face, causing his head to snap back as he was pretty sure that he felt something break. He was laid on his back on the ground, and the guard mounted him, ready to land a final blow before a buzzing sound on his phone got his attention.

"I'm on my way," the guard said to his phone, turning back to Sonic. "You got lucky. Or... well, maybe not so much..."

Sonic, still in a daze, sat up slowly as the guard ran away. The blue hedgehog unsteadily rose to his feet, feeling a coppery taste touch his lips. He wiped some blood from his muzzle before tracing the trail upwards, feeling that his nose was busted.

"Fuck... there goes my precious modelling career..." he deadpanned. He shook his head to try and get his senses back before carrying on through the prison. "Nack... I know that you're here somewhere. Your goons ran off without you, so you've got nobody to protect you." He kept taking steps near a more central area of the prison. "If you've run away already and I'm here looking like a fucking idiot, I'm not going to be happy."

Suddenly, a bunch of lights turned on, bearing down on Sonic's face. The sunlight outside did nothing to aid in brightening up the murky - albeit surprisingly well-maintained - prison, and Sonic's eyes closed sharply from the sudden influx of brightness.

"And now you're trying to blind me?" Sonic asked. "Weak sauce, dude."

"Not trying to blind you," said Nack's voice over the intercom. "I was just trying to distract you. Also, does this intercom work? It's hard to tell. We haven't gotten all of the electronics set up in the prison, so it's a bit awkward."

"It pains me to say it, but yeah," Sonic said. "I can hear you just fine. And obviously, you can hear me too, right?"

"No shit, Sherlock."

"Not how my name is pronounced, but I appreciate the response," Sonic said. "So... you said that it was distraction, right? From what?"

"From the fuck-ton of guns that are pointing right at you," Nack said.

The blue hedgehog was confused, but then the lights dimmed down, and he saw the gleams of several firearms aimed at him, many of which had laser pointers of different colours attached, pointing to various parts of his body.

Sonic's shoulders sagged. "Oh, great... well, I guess that this is how the hero dies, right?" he called out, looking around. "Good guy chases bad guy, gets the shit kicked out of him by one of the guards, guard runs away, and good guy chases bad guy again only to walk into a room full of ass-holes with guns pointing at him held by said ass-holes who have very itchy trigger fingers. Did I about sum it up?"

"Just about," Nack said. "Men, fire away!"

The men got ready to fire their guns, but Sonic raised his arms up. "Wait! Before you shoot, I have something to say!"

"Make it quick," said Nack. "And make it worth it. They will be your last words, after all."

Sonic nodded. "Oh, don't you worry about that. See... I forgot to mention another part of the story that I just laid out."

"What would that be?" Nack asked.

"This part," Sonic smiled. He turned to his shoulder mic. "Now!"

Before any bad guys could respond, something quick zipped past them and knocked one of them down, with a grenade dropping next to him. Before the rest in that group could notice, the grenade went off, letting out a bundle of electricity, causing all in the vicinity to be shocked and stunned. Then, gunfire happened, but it came from behind Sonic. The blue hedgehog looked up to see Tails floating and using his tails, holding Knuckles and Shadow up, both of whom were holding pistols and firing at the men who had been shocked.

Once Sonic saw his chance to get out of the situation, he made it to some nearby cover, using one of the old walls of the prison to hide behind before speaking into his mic. "Good execution of the plan!"

"You know, you're really good at this on-the-fly thinking!" said Tails setting Knuckles and Shadow on the ground. "And yes, that was a pun!"

"Good one," Sonic said. "Now, get your asses over here."

Before they could move, Shadow glanced and saw a small red dot on Tails' head. He quickly grabbed Knuckles and shoved him into Tails to move him out of the way before looking up and seeing the sniper. Shadow quickly used his teleport to appear behind the sniper, who turned around, knife at the ready. He swiped at Shadow, but the hedgehog dodged it, grabbed the sniper's arm with both hands, and slammed it against the wall, causing the knife to drop right onto Shadow's shoe. Shadow kicked the knife up to his hand and quickly cut the sniper's throat, looking across to see another sniper.

Shadow ducked from the incoming shot, managing to get to the sniper rifle nearby from the man he'd just killed, and quickly popped over his cover to deliver a quick head shot. After this, he looked down to his friends still fighting off the others, with Sonic still stuck in cover. Shadow aimed down the scope and took out nearby bad guys, making things easier on Tails and Knuckles as well, both of whom joined their blue friend.

"Where's Shadow at?" Sonic asked.

"Sniping at the minute," the black and red hedgehog's voice replied on the radio. "You guys need to put the work in too. I can't get them all from up here."

"We're on it!" Knuckles said.

The red echidna pulled a shotgun from his holster as Tails grabbed two pistols, handing one to Sonic. Nodding, Sonic peered around the side of the cover to take out enemies closing in on the left flank, with Tails using his flight to take on enemies coming right for them. Knuckles had the right side covered, using his shotgun and physical fighting prowess to battle them off.

"We can't fight forever!" Tails said as he fired.

"I agree," Shadow said, firing another shot and killing another bad guy. "What is the plan? Do we have one?"

"Go get Nack," Sonic said. "That's as far as I've come."

"Then you go get him," Knuckles said, ducking a punch. He countered with his gun before swinging the butt around the bad guy's head to knock him out, aiming at someone else close to pump them full of lead. "We'll hold down the fort here!"

Sonic peeked from cover to take out two more closing in. "You sure?"

"We can handle these bastards!" Tails said. "Go take care of the head bastard, okay?"

"Got it," Sonic smirked. He looked up and threw his pistol back up to Tails. "You need it more than I do!"

Tails nodded in thanks, firing and killing more bad guys on the way. "Just go! Catch that son of a bitch!"

"I need an opening!" Sonic said, seeing more close in. He pulled out his SMG and fired some shots to clear them. "Knuckles! Help me over here! Shadow, snipe on the right side!"

"Got it!" Knuckles said.

He rushed over to Sonic's side and lifted his gun, starting to blast the enemies away, with some air support from Tails helping too. Shadow helped too, firing several shots before running out on the rifle. He sighed and teleported over to the other side to grab the other sniper rifle, staying where he was to support his friends below.

Knuckles fired a few more shots before turning to face Sonic. The two nodded at each other, and Knuckles turned his head. "Tails, Shadow, group up here!"

Tails quickly dropped from where he was flying, using his tails to speed him over back to cover. Shadow used a quick teleport, still carrying his sniper rifle, and as they all gathered around, they gave a nod, standing up. Tails and Knuckles stood side by side with Shadow just behind with his sniper, and Sonic behind him. Sonic then started to rush over to a nearby ramp which lead upwards, and as he ran, the other three rushed out as well, firing shots at the bad guys before rolling to join Sonic.

"We all good? Nobody's harmed?" Sonic asked.

The other three checked for injuries, thankfully unscathed. "We're fine," Tails spoke. "Well, in a physical sense, at the very least."

"What happened to your nose, by the way?" Knuckles asked.

"One of Nack's henchmen." The blue hedgehog chuckled, taking the guns from his back and handing them to his friends. "All right, I'm going to get that Nack fellow that we've heard so much about."

"Are you sure that going in without a gun is a good idea?" Knuckles asked.

Sonic pulled a knife from his pocket, the same one that Shadow had shot earlier to fake Sonic's death. "If he's half a good a businessman as he is a straight up weasel, then he'll be interested in a fair fight."

"What if he's not?" Shadow asked.

"Then I'd best pop him before the weasel pops me," Sonic said.

"God, that was awful," Tails groaned.

"I... I chose not to help that," Sonic smiled, seeing the bad guys get closer. "Shit... I've got to go."

"You'd better bring that ass-hole in," Tails winked.

"Come on, you know me," Sonic said. "Do I seem like the type of guy who's dumb enough to lead his friends to death twice in one week and a bit?" He then paused. "Actually... don't answer that. See you later."

With that, he turned to run away, leaving Knuckles, Shadow, and Tails all together, with the red echidna speaking first. "He'll come back."

"He'd better," Tails replied. "I swear, if he winds up dead, I'll find a way to resurrect him and kill him myself."

"Come on, be realistic," Shadow said. "We're a bunch of anthropomorphic animals with access to high-tech weaponry and we have cybernetic implants that give us superpowers. Resurrection ain't a thing. And yes, before you bring it up, I know what I just said, and I stand by it."

"Well, when you're done flapping your lips," Tails grinned, "we've got bad guys."

"Then I'd best get back up top," Shadow said, teleporting back up to his spot from earlier. "Remember, we've got to take these guys out before Sonic is done with Nack. We're on his time, after all."

"Such a demanding boss that we have," Tails chuckled, turning to Knuckles. "Ready to go?"

"When am I not ready?" Knuckles said. "Actually, like Sonic said earlier, don't answer that."

The two shared another laugh before heading back to their cover, staying side by side as they took out impending bad guys, with Shadow's sniper support continuing to help. Tails jerked his head to Shadow, who saw it through his scope, focusing his fire on the bad guys closing in on the covered position of his friends.

Sonic, leaving his friends and she sounds of gunfire behind, kept his knife close, running up a corridor to see a door at the far end, seeing some guards in the way. The blue hedgehog regretted not bringing an extra gun with him, having left the others with his friends in the hopes of helping them and lightening his own load as well.

Still, he put on a brave face, seeing at least four guards stood outside of the door, each holding a type of machine gun that looked like it was military grade. Sonic made a firm mental note before moving forwards, looking around and finding some cover. He got on the opposite side of it, and saw a grate behind him. Low on options, Sonic took out his knife and held it by the blade, dragging the handle against the grating.

"The hell was that?" the guards asked.

"It's probably those fucking freelancers," said another one. "Let's get them!"

"That can't be them," said another guard. "There's still gunfire downstairs. I can hear it."

"Then whoever's there had better show up before we kill them!"

Sonic shook his head, turning the knife around and holding it the right way around. He looked around and saw a small crevice just to the side. He looked around a bit more, managing to find a good path there, hiding behind some blocks of rubble that had been left over.

"Huh," said one of the bad guys. "He's not here."

"Well, this is where the noise came from."

"I know that, smart-ass."

Sonic chuckled silently, turning his head to take another quick glance at his surroundings. He knew that he had to get rid of these four, but what to do? He looked around, then finally looked up at a hanging bit of scaffolding. He then looked past one of the guards and saw a small bit of cover. Quickly, Sonic rushed over to the small cover, being mindful that the others didn't turn around.

When the others started moving back to their post, Sonic was concerned, and looked to see them still turned slightly. One of the guards was close to him, and the blue hedgehog knew what he had to do. Carefully, he struck the knife against the ground, creating a dinging noise. That one guard heard it, walking over to inspect the source of the sound, but saw nothing... until he felt a small slice at the back of one of his legs, causing a grunt in pain. The other guards turned to see their fourth partner, only to see him being held up by Sonic with a knife to his throat.

"Drop them, or I drop him," Sonic warned.

"You brought a knife to a gunfight," laughed one of the guards. "So, you drop him and that little pig sticker, and we won't drop you."

"You're right," Sonic said, dropping his knife. "You won't drop me." He grabbed the sidearm from the guard he was holding, firing a warning shot into the air as he turned to his left, putting the gun against his hostage's temple. "Stay back!"

"You're not going to sneak around us just because you have a shield," said another guard as they circled.

"Once again, you're right," Sonic said, still pacing to his left. The guards moved to their right in retaliation, but Sonic just smirked. Quickly, he kicked his hostage to the other bad guys before aiming up and firing, causing the loose part of scaffolding to fall down. Pipes and frames fell and landed on the guards, crushing them under their weight.

"Nack really should have patched this place up better as opposed to just making it look less like shit," Sonic commented to himself, picking up the knife. He looked over at his gun as well, sighing and putting it in his holster. "Just in case," he told himself.

He walked over to the door that was being guarded, kicking it open and aiming inside to see a stairwell, with the next part upstairs blocked off. Sighing. Sonic went halfway down the stairs going lower, hopping up over the railing and jumping past the minor blockage before rushing up the stairs.

The staircases were long, despite the small amount of floors, and Sonic was soon at the top one, seeing another door at the end of it. He stuck to the side of it before pulling down on the handle to open the door itself, aiming his gun through the small opening before following behind his weapon.

He looked around and saw nothing but what looked like an empty space until he saw all of the doors, the last of which had Nack's name drawn on it in crude writing. Sonic chuckled at the makeshift style of things, knowing that, in some odd way, he could appreciate it as he'd done the same himself. He shook those thoughts off and stalked over to that last door, staying to the side and about to open the handle when a voice on the other side spoke.

"I could hear you from a mile away," Nack said. "Come on in, Sonic."

The blue hedgehog shook his head. "Not yet. Any weapons that you have, put them away. Maybe we can negotiate this without violence."

"No violence, huh?" Nack said. "You've been killing my men this whole time, and you're going to request that I negotiate in a civilised manner? What, just because your violence leads to a better cause, it's not as bad? You're still shedding blood, and you're still killing people."

"And you're selling better guns to your people to kill others, not to mention drugs, prostitution, and crossing borders," Sonic said. "We have a lot on you, weasel. And even then, we have a lot that we don't know. We just want to ask you some questions."

"You can ask me after you put your gun away," Nack said. "And whatever else you have with you."

"Will you do the same?" Sonic asked.

The purple weasel sighed from his side of the door, lowering his gun down to the ground and leaving it at his side before kicking it away. "I just did. When you open that door, you should see a gun on the ground close to you."

"All right, I'll keep it fair," Sonic said, tucking his knife into his body armour where it was out of place. "I'm going to open this door and drop my own gun, okay?"

Nack's footsteps were heard, and he opened the door to let Sonic in. "It's locked from that side. Now, stick to your end of the bargain."

Sonic nodded, showing his gun to Nack before putting it on the ground and shoving it aside with his shoe. "There. Now we're even."

Nack smiled. "Good."

He then shook his left arm, and something gleamed from his hand. Before Sonic could see it, a switchblade was making its way to his throat, but he dodged out of it, blocking another slashing attempt to his right side, using his arm to block Nack's wrist.

"Why couldn't we just negotiate?" Sonic asked.

"Well, we could have, but you just killed a lot of my men," Nack said. "That and the fact that you're a cop, and I'm a criminal. There's only one way that this ends, and spoiler alert: I'm going to fucking kill you."

Nack dropped his knife to his left hand and stabbed it into Sonic's stomach. The blue hedgehog grunted in pain, thankful that the body armour had softened the blow, but he still felt a slight sting from it. Sonic grabbed Nack's left arm with both of his, landing a headbutt on the weasel and knocking him back before taking off his body armour, seeing the small red stain on his shirt, courtesy of his new wound.

Sonic quickly grabbed his knife from his armour whilst Nack was still recovering, and Sonic turned to see the purple weasel standing up, wiping some blood from his lips before laughing, spitting out some blood as he did so.

"You... you want a fair fight?" Nack asked.

"I don't think that's unreasonable," Sonic said.

Nack chuckled. "You... you took your armour off, you kicked your gun over with mine... guess you want to kill me with no bullshit, huh?"

"I do want to kill you," Sonic admitted. "So badly. But now's not the time."

"I guess there are more ways than one to end this whole thing then, huh?" Nack said. "You know... I don't get you. You're just like every other cop that I know: You're in way too deep in a world that you aren't ready for."

"You think I'm in too deep?" Sonic asked. "I almost died. I almost got my friends killed. And it was all to chase your sorry ass. There aren't many lengths that I won't go to just to put an ass-hole like you in jail. Or in the grave."

Nack spat some more blood. "And there aren't many lengths that I won't go to to keep myself alive, as you saw earlier." He paused. "Still, if you do win this fight, don't go after the others."

"Why not?" Sonic asked. "You're well known for selling people out just to escape jail time. Why is now so different?"

"Because there'd be no point," Nack said. "Now is different because they're different people."

"They're still selling guns, drugs, and hookers," Sonic said. "They will be dealt with later."

"Why didn't you deal with them when you had the chance?" Nack asked. "You had plenty of opportunities to do that."

"Because that wasn't my main mission," Sonic said. "I was more focused on getting my friends out of this shit-hole."

"Then why are you here arguing with me?" Nack chuckled. "Congratulations! You completed your mission! Now go home."

"I'm here because you just became my new top priority," Sonic said.

"Aw," Nack sarcastically gushed. "I feel flattered."

The purple weasel then rushed to slice Sonic, but the hedgehog blocked it, slashing back with his own knife, but missing. Nack ducked under a second swipe to deliver a hard punch to the wounded spot on Sonic's torso, causing a wince of pain. Nack followed that up with a slicing attempt at Sonic's right arm, hoping to force him to drop the knife, but he just narrowly missed it.

Nack then moved to grab Sonic, hoping to push him against a wall, but Sonic held his own, bleeding aside. He managed to push back, feeling his implants kicking in and increasing the strength of his legs. With a grunt of exertion, Sonic pushed Nack back across the room, pushing the purple weasel over a table, who rolled backwards and landed on the ground on the other side, standing up and applauding.

"Very good work!" Nack laughed. "Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that we have two firsts here today! First of those two is the fact that we have a cop enhanced with cybernetics! The second of those two firsts is that I get to kill my first cop who has been enhanced with cybernetics!"

Sonic growled and jumped over the table, sliding to deliver a kick to Nack's chest, causing him to back up. Sonic landed on the other side of the table, swiping at Nack, who weaved to his left and delivered a sharp reverse elbow to Sonic's back, causing their positions to be switched. Sonic turned quickly to avoid another strike by Nack, repaying the weasel with a kick to Nack's leg, sweeping him.

Sonic got on top of Nack and went to strike him, but Nack blocked it, grabbing Sonic's arm and lifting his legs up, going for an arm-bar. Sonic grunted in pain, feeling his arm tense up before rolling flat on his stomach. Nack still had the hold, but Sonic kept moving to his side, kicking out the legs of a nearby chair and causing it to land on Nack's head, making the purple weasel finally let go, allowing Sonic to stand back on his feet.

"Nice thinking with the chair." Nack got up also, a grin on his face. "A wound to your stomach, and a damaged arm. You want to quit yet?"

"Not to you," Sonic replied, grabbing his damaged arm and turning it until he heard a pop. "There. Now I just had a bloody torso. And a busted nose."

"Ah, you'll be fine," Nack said. "I'll make sure that the next one'll kill you."

Nack then moved again, faking a slash at Sonic before turning to the hilt side of the blade and bashing it against Sonic's temple. Sonic backed away after he was hit, holding the side of his head in agony before seeing Nack moving towards him again. Grunting, Sonic used a speedy dodge to evade Nack's next attack, countering with a kick to his gut before grabbing him in a guillotine hold, lifting the weasel up and tossing him onto his table... and then through it.

Nack, writhing in pain, slowly stood up, holding his back. "That'll leave a couple of splinters..."

"That was a nice looking table too," Sonic said.

"Yeah, well, no use crying over it."

Nack then turned quickly and kicked Sonic's side, but the blue hedgehog caught it. As he did, Nack switched his blade from his left hand to his right, but as he went to stab Sonic's head, the blue hedgehog lifted the weasel's leg up, causing him to stab his own ankle by mistake. Nack yelped in pain, putting his leg back on the ground, forced down on one knee as his ankle was bleeding. Still, Nack didn't quit, switching back to his other hand and attempting to slash Sonic again, who zipped to Nack's side and grabbed his right arm, bringing the forearm down onto his knee, causing Nack to drop his knife and groan in pain again.

"You arm will be fine," Sonic said, putting his knife to Nack's throat. "Your ankle too. The rest of your face... I don't know."

"Fucking do it..." Nack said, his arms spread, hands open wide. "Kill me... just kill me!"

"That'd just prove your point," Sonic said, feeling himself sag a bit. "I should kill you. That would stop your current run of being a criminal, and it would make the world a much easier place to live in." Sonic shook his head, pulling his knife from Nack's throat, leaving a little nick there that bled lightly. "But, no. We have too many questions to ask you, and you will answer all of them."

Nack sighed, his arms dropping to his sides. "Suit yourself..."

He then grabbed a small gun from his ankle holster, aiming to shoot at Sonic. But the blue hedgehog used his speed, getting around it quickly and grabbing Nack's left arm, twisted it a bit to make him drop his gun. Once again, Sonic didn't break the weasel's arm, but he did hurt it enough, even twisting more as he got behind Nack.

Sonic prepared his handcuffs when he heard some footsteps, turning to see his three friends and smiling. "Hey, guys. So... how'd it go down there?"

"Not bad," Knuckles said. "We all survived, so that's a good thing."

"What about him?" Shadow asked, pointing to Nack.

"Eh, I can think of something that I want to say, but since I'm not a cop, I dunno if I'm allowed to say it or not," Sonic shrugged.

"Just say it," Tails smirked. "You know you've wanted to for a long time."

Sonic grinned, turning back to Nack and putting the handcuffs on him. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. I would say that you have the right to an attorney, but given your habit for getting yourself out of court cases and given your rap sheet, that'd be pointless." Sonic stood up, pushing Nack over to the others. "Did it sound good?"

"You're a natural, kiddo," Tails joked.

Sonic grinned, pulling his phone out. "Hello, Green Hill Police Department? This is Sonic the hedgehog. I'd like to request a pickup from Westopolis. Oh, the name? Nack the weasel." He smiled widely. "All right. See you later." He turned to the others. "Well, we're about done here. Let's go home, boys."

The others didn't dare to disagree, more than happy to leave the prison, any criminals, and Westopolis itself behind. Still, with all of the questions in their minds, they knew that their job was far from over. And if that meant more bad guys to take out and more lives to save, then they were all more than happy to do it for as long as it took.

---

It's finally over! Goodness me, I am so glad to be finished! Well, okay, there is an epilogue chapter to come too, but that won't take nearly as long as this one did. I... I had a lot of fun writing this story. Sure, it took me a while, but I did enjoy it. And for those wondering, yes, there will be a sequel. But I have a lot of other stuff to take care of too before I get to that. That said, did you all enjoy this story? I sure hope so. I can't really think of much else to say except for take care and stay tuned.