Chapter 42- The Future Looks Bleak pt. II

Sonic stared down at Hannah who stared right back at him. She was wearing the same uniform as Amy and Rouge but it was torn and bloody, "What happened?" he asked trying to pull her to her feet.

Shadow heard Sonic shout something back on the field. He turned and rushed back to make sure nothing had happened and saw Sonic off in the distance helping someone to their feet.

He stared for a moment before he noticed who it was, "SONIC NO! GET AWAY FROM HER!" he screamed running forward, pulling a gun from his jacket pocket.

Sonic looked over at Shadow and then began to look back at Hannah but something hard collided with the back of his skull with a sickening crack. He fell forward into the dirt with blood dripping from his temple. His vision quickly faded as he lost consciousness.

Hannah quickly aimed the gun she had just smashed Sonic's head with at Shadow and fired.

The hedgehog screamed and collapsed grasping his torso. He looked up at Hannah with fire burning in his eyes, "You traitorous piece of shit!" he shouted, "I should have killed you a long time ago!"

Hannah lowered the gun and smiled, "You wouldn't do that to me, Shadow." she said seductively.

"Why not? You wouldn't think twice about killing me if Liz told you to!" Shadow shouted back, trying to reach for the gun he'd dropped.

Hannah raised the gun again, "Actually, my orders are just to get Sonic. She didn't say anything about you." she replied, "But if Liz ever did want to kill you she'd send the science teacher."

Shadow stopped trying to reach for his gun when Hannah raised hers, "It's only been an hour! How did she know he's here already?" he demanded.

"She was with Tails when he came to find him in this time. She knew the exact moment he would appear. She even sent robots to that area to confirm his location." Hannah explained, "Well, I should be going." she added. She snapped her fingers and three human soldiers quickly ran from the nearby woods and lifted Sonic's unconscious body and carted him off. Hannah gave Shadow a quick wink and ran off after them.

Shadow felt along his chest now soaked with blood and winced in pain. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a communicator. He opened it and spoke into it, "Tails! Tails, are you there?" he shouted, "Sonic's been captured. I've been shot! I need help... please... hurry..."

Shadow felt suddenly dizzy from the loss of blood, and fell forward into the ground.

"Shadow! We've got a signal from your communicator and we're coming to get you! Stay where you are!" Tails' voice shouted.

'That shouldn't be too hard...' Shadow thought as he began to lose consciousness.

Sonic opened his eyes and rubbed his head. A searing pain shot through his temple. He ignored it and glanced around. Where was he? He was in a prison cell. Two soldiers were guarding the door. Sonic stared for a moment in confusion not knowing how he got there when one of the guards slapped at a mosquito that landed on his face.

After his eyes became wide and he looked at the other one, "Please don't!" he cried, "It was just impulse! I didn't mean to!"
The soldier ignored his pleas and pulled out a whistle and blew into it loudly.

Two burly guards came into sight and carted off the soldier. Another quickly came to replace him. Sonic stared for a moment in shock. This had to be a bad dream!

A minute later the two large guards came back and unlocked the door, "Come on you!" one of them shouted in a deep voice.

The other went forward and shackled Sonic's wrists and ankles and, with a hand on his shoulder, led him out of the cell down the stone hallway.

Sonic stared at the uneven stone floor fearfully hoping that he wasn't where he thought he was. He was led up a spiraling stone stairway into an upper hallway where a familiar face awaited him.

Amy and Tails stood over the side of the hospital bed where Shadow lay with red stained bandages wrapped tightly across his chest.

"How could this have happened?" Amy mumbled with tears in her eyes, "Sonic should have been able to escape from Liz's soldiers and Shadow is faster with a gun than anyone!"

Tails looked away. Amy wasn't thinking about some of Liz's elite forces, "But if Sonic didn't know that they were Liz's troops... and Shadow didn't want to shoot them-" he mumbled.

Amy looked over at Tails, "Oh... her..." she said, "But... wouldn't Shadow have told Sonic about Hannah?"

"You know how he gets when someone mentions her." Tails replied, "He still hasn't gotten over her switching sides... and Liz knows that too. She picked the perfect assassin."

Shadow's eyes opened slightly and he groaned, "Where am I?" he asked.

Tails and Amy looked down at him, "Don't worry, Shadow." Tails said, "You're safe and you're going to be fine."

Shadow sat up, despite the pain in his chest, "Where's Sonic? Did you find him?" he demanded.

Tails didn't respond, he just bit his lip.

Shadow fell back mumbling curses at himself, "How long has it been?" he asked after a minute.

"It's been a few hours." Tails responded, "The sun already set so there isn't anything we can do until morning unless we want to risk running into Liz's night forces in the woods."

Shadow closed his eyes in frustration, "Don't worry. Liz won't kill him." Amy said trying to comfort him.

"There are worse things than dying." Shadow said simply.

Sonic stared at the man standing in front of him in astonishment, "Kaute?" he asked.

He smiled and tapped the medal pinned on the front of his trench coat, "That's Commander Kaute to you." he said.

"You're working for Liz?" he demanded.

"If you can't beat 'em join 'em." Kaute said with a shrug, "Let's go!" he added to the guards behind Sonic.

Kaute led Sonic and the guards down a hallway painted black with silver paperclips lining the walls and red lights as the only source of light. Sonic felt a chill run through his blood; this hall reminded him too much of Liz's room. That was probably the effect she wanted.

"How did Liz seize control?" he asked.

Kaute glanced back at him, "I'm not about to tell you anything about your future." he said, "If the Empress wants you to know something then she'll tell you about it."

Sonic bit his lip nervously. What would Liz do to him? Kaute came up to a metal double door at the end of the hall and opened it.

As he stepped into the room a paperclip was launched at his forehead. He screamed and threw himself on the floor and the office supply just missed him. Sonic looked up to see a brunette girl standing on a conference table with a nail gun pointing at where Kaute's head had been just seconds ago. She wore a Led Zeppelin shirt under a tattered leather jacket and grey cargo pants with a belt that holstered two other nail guns and a samurai sword.

She glared down at the cashier angrily, "How many times must I tell you to knock?" she demanded, "I'm in a meeting!"

Sonic stared at her for a moment. Then she looked from Kaute on the floor up to Sonic and blinked, "Oh right." she mumbled, "Sorry Commander I forgot you were instructed to fetch him." she said jumping down from the table.

As she did Sonic saw the guard that had been outside his cell sitting strapped to a chair with multiple wounds on his chest and face, all bleeding profusely.

"What should we do with that one?" the guard asked pointing at the soldier.

"Throw him into the mosquito pen." Liz said waving away the question.

The soldier began to scream and beg for mercy but the soldiers pulled him off the chair and dragged him out of the room.

Liz looked over at Sonic with an evil smile Sonic had seen oh too many times before, "Would you like to watch?" she asked.

"Watch what?" Sonic asked, afraid of the answer.

Liz chuckled lightly and pressed a button on a small panel on the table. A screen rolled down on the other side of the room. At first it looked like static but then Sonic realized with dread that they were thousands of mosquitoes flying in front of a camera! A door opened in the white wall behind them and the soldier was shoved inside. He began banging on the door and screaming for release but the mosquitoes swarmed around him and enveloped him.

Sonic looked in horror from the screen over to Liz who had an expression of morbid delight plastered on her face, "YOU'RE INSANE!" he screamed, unable to resist.

Liz's smile faded and she pressed another button and the screen of the soldier being attacked rolled back into the ceiling. Then she looked over at Sonic, "If I was insane would I have been able to overthrow six major governments, train an army of mosquito spies, and take Iceland off the world map?"

"Why did you destroy Iceland?" Sonic asked.

"I didn't- I campaigned to have it taken off the world map." she said with a silly smile. Sonic groaned, she was twenty years older but she hadn't changed a bit.

"Why did you capture me? We both know I can't do anything to stop your reign anyway." Sonic said.

"Oh I know." Liz said, "I happen to know for a fact that Tails and I should be arriving tomorrow to come rescue you and bring you safely back to your present."

"Then why did you capture me?" Sonic asked, getting irritated.

"To tell the truth- I've missed you, Sonic." she said with an innocent smile, "I mean, it's been so long since I last got to see you suffer." she said drawing the sword from its sheath.

Sonic's eyes became wide in fear. He tried to protest but found his voice caught in his throat.

Liz smiled and circled around him, he didn't move from fear. "Would you like to know how you died?" she asked.

Sonic swallowed nervously and managed to nod.

"Then lets see you beg first!" Liz swung the sword forcefully across Sonic's back. The hedgehog cried out in pain and fell to his knees. Liz circled around to his front again and lifted his head with the tip of her blade.

Sonic looked up at her with tearful eyes, "If I kill you now then the past will have never happened and, unfortunately, that's out of the question." Liz said, "But by the time I'm done with you, you'll be wishing you were dead!"

Hannah sat miserably on a black couch in a dark room. She winced as she heard the shrieks of pain from down the hall.

"What're you so upset about?"

She looked across the room at the red fox sitting in the corner polishing his blade. Akeii smiled up at her, "You captured Sonic the Hedgehog! You're the new empress' pet." he joked.

Hannah looked away, "Yeah, but I'm not too proud of myself." she said, "Sonic's down in that hall suffering because of me! Don't you think some of this seems kind of wrong?"

Akeii looked around the room in alarm then glared back at Hannah, "Watch what you say!" he said angrily, "You never know when one of Liz's mosquitoes is flying around, and if she knows you're saying that kind of stuff you're a goner!"

Hannah sat back on the couch trying to shut out Sonic's screams, "I know..." she mumbled, "I just wish it could be different..."

Early next morning...

Tails sat in their conference room staring out the window at their underground city. He hadn't been able to sleep all last night.

The door opened and he looked back and saw Amy come in, "Couldn't sleep either?" he asked.

"Not at all." she replied sadly, "I don't think any of us could."

"We should head out once the sun rises." Tails said looking back out the window, "I just hope Sonic's alright."

Amy also looked out at the city, "I hope so too." she mumbled.

The door opened again and Shadow came in. Tails stood up immediately, "What are you doing?" he demanded, "You're injured!"

"Complain as much as you want, I'm coming with you." he said, "Get yourselves ready, I've already mobilized our troops." with that he turned and left the room again.

Tails just stood there looking blank, "I thought I founded this army, how did Shadow become a commanding officer?" Amy asked with a weak smile.

"He seemed most qualified, I suppose." Tails said trying to return the smile.

Out on the ravaged battlefield there was a sudden flash of light. When it faded Tails stood there holding a small square machine. Liz stood next to him wearing a brown 15th century dress and hair pulled up in a bun and still with a noose around her neck. She pulled it off and dusted her dress, "That experience just destroyed my fascination with witchcraft..." she said.

"Thank God." Tails mumbled putting the time tracker away, "Alright, this is the area Sonic was sent to, now we just have to find him. But because this is the future we should be careful not to interfere with any-"

Tails looked behind him and saw that Liz had disappeared, "LIZ!" he screamed, "COME BACK WE HAVE TO FIND SONIC!"

Liz wandered through the woods merrily trying to find out where she could get some normal clothes from. She cleared the forest and found herself on the top of a small hill. Off in the distance she saw a large city and in the center loomed a large black stone castle. A few vultures flew around the high towers for some unknown reason.

She stared for a moment then smiled and ran down the hill towards the city.

Sonic lay on the cold floor, his tears mixing with blood on the black marble. He had tried to withstand the pain but a mortal could only stand so much. He looked up at Liz leaning back in her chair with her feet up on the table. She had a whip in her hand but she let it fall to the floor, "I'm bored." she said, "Kaute, keep an eye on Sonic. I should go find myself. I'll be arriving any minute now."

Kaute was off in the corner staring at the small bleeding hedgehog and his only thought was that he wasn't going anywhere anyway.

Liz stood up and strode past Sonic, careful to not trod in the puddles of blood on the marble floor and went out the door. She went down the hall and met a woman in a maid uniform, "You!" she said pointing, "Fetch me a set of clothes from my room."

The maid stared fearfully from being addressed, "B-but Your Highness, nobody is allowed into your room!" she insisted.

"You have special permission. Just watch for the trip wires when you go in, you don't wanna set off one of those bitches." Liz said with a laugh as she passed by the terrified maid.

She continued down the hall and came to a metal door. She pressed in a code and it opened with a swish and she stepped outside. I know, no big drawbridge like thingy to this castle. Well, there is one but it's a decoy. :D

Liz stepped out side and looked down on the city below her from the elevated castle. She saw a girl in a brown dress down on the streets below and smiled wickedly.

She whistled loudly and the vultures flying above the castle swooped down on the girl and picked her up... somehow and flew her up to the castle and dropped her in front of Liz.

Liz stood up and glared at her older self, "What was that?" she demanded, "And who do you think you are treating me like that? Do you know who I am?"

"Liz. Good to see you." she said, "Come inside with me and we'll get you some normal clothes."

Liz shrugged and followed herself into the castle. The maid came running up to the older Liz and handed her the clothes with a respectful bow. As she left she stared at the young Liz who glared at her, "What's up with her? And where did you get those clothes?" she demanded pointing at the garments in her arms, "Those are mine!"

"Ours." the older corrected with a wicked smile.

Liz's eyes flashed understanding and she smiled too.

( A/N: OMG SO CONFUSING! The younger Liz will now be referred to as mini Liz. :D )

Tails ran through the trees searching for Liz. "LIZ! WHERE ARE YOU?" he screamed.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and spun around to find an orange fox in a soldier uniform glaring at him, "You're just trying to get yourself killed aren't you?" he asked.

Tails stared with his mouth wide open. His older self closed it for him, "Wouldn't do that either. A mosquito could fly in there and choke you."

"Where's Sonic?" Tails finally asked.

"He was captured. We were just on our way to rescue him."

"Captured? By who?"

Liz walked back into the room where she had left Kaute and Sonic, "Look who's come to join us." she said stepping aside for her younger self, now clothed 'normally', to enter.

Sonic, who was now sitting up and huddling under the table let out a cry of fright.

Mini Liz stared at the bloody hedgehog for a moment, then her eyes filled with tears, "My dreams have come true at last!" she cried.

"Just wait twelve more years and you'll really realize those dreams." Liz said with an evil smile, then she bent down and looked under the table at Sonic, "Would you like to hear how you died now?" she asked.

Sonic stared for a moment then nodded suspiciously. Liz smiled sweetly, "Then come on out and I'll tell you." she said.

Sonic's eyes became wide, "I'M NOT MOVING!" he screamed.

"Alright." Liz motioned to Kaute who drew his sword. Sonic immediately scrambled out from under the table, leaving a streak of blood across the floor. He knelt in front of Liz staring up at her fearfully.

Liz smiled and sat on the side of the table, "Sonic was twenty five when he was running through Station Square and wasn't paying attention to where he was going- and was hit by a car." Liz said with a smile.

Mini Liz glared down at the hedgehog, "What about all the ways I wanted to kill him?" she shouted, "You go and get hit by a car? Stupid hedgehog!"

"Actually, he kind of ran into a parked car..." Liz admitted.

"So everything I wrote in my script is useless?" Mini Liz asked.

"No, I actually used that death for a comic on DeviantArt." Liz said, "Which reminds me, would you like to know how you become a ruthless dictator?"

Mini Liz's eyes lit up, "More than anything!" she said wringing her hands.

Liz smiled, "It started after I overthrew Xing Li as ruler of fanfiction-"

Twenty minutes later...

The whole room stood staring at Liz with wide eyes, even Kaute. "That's brilliant!" he shouted, "Crazy... but brilliant!"

Liz smiled appreciatively, and glared down at Sonic, "I suppose you'll try to tell all your friends so they can stop me." she said, "Don't bother. I wiped their memories after you died anyway."

Sonic glared up at her, "You didn't wipe Shadow's." he argued.

Liz's eye twitched angrily, "Yes, he just barely escaped, but he's not a threat to me."

"Why not?" Sonic asked.

Liz smiled, "You see, after you died SEGA was practically bankrupt so they were bought out." Liz explained.

"By who?" Sonic demanded.

Liz smiled evilly. "NO!" Sonic screamed, "IMPOSSIBLE!"

"SEGA was bought out by Fanfiction dot net." Liz said, "AKA, moi. You know what that means?"

"LIES! ALL OF IT!" Sonic screamed covering his ears.

"I OWN YOU, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Wow, it's like a bad Star Wars parody." Mini Liz said with a smile.