A Monarch's Corruption

Chapter 8: The Search Begins

Tails had stopped only for a moment in the square of New Echidnaopolis before started to make his way back towards the airport. Tails had a mission to complete, and he wasn't about to let anything slow him down from his goal. Tails remembers that Rotor had told him that Sonic was more than likely hidden inside the ruins of their old Freedom HQ base near the ruins of Knothole. If Sonic was still there like Rotor instructed Sonic to do, then that base must be incredibly well hidden for Sonic not to be found yet.

Tails, having grown up in the area, was pretty sure he could still find the location of where the old tree used to be that led to the base, but still, those woods were most likely guarded. The Great Forest was the back way into New Mobotropolis, so of course the forest would be guarded and most likely full of traps to stop intruders or invaders from easily marching through towards the capital's backdoors.

This would be no easy task that was for sure. Tails could land in the ruin of Knothole, but that would most likely be the first place anyone looking for Sonic might think to look. Tails was most likely going to find a second landing spot and have to hike into the village ruins to find Sonic. It would take longer to get there that way, but it would most likely be the safer route to take of the options available to him at the moment.

Whichever route Tails took, he only had a short time to make it, as he makes his way back through the airport gates. Tails was sure he was going to have to go back through security again to get back to his plane, but there had been no trouble the first time, which was fine with him. What Tails didn't know was that whoever had been following him since the mansion was still following him. The person was mixed in with the crowds now and wearing a heavy jacket, but they were still following Tails the best they could.

Tails did look over his shoulder every now and then, getting this strange feeling that something wasn't right, but he never saw anything, so he just let it go. Tails eventually makes it to the terminal again and starts to head in the same direction he came from when he first got here. There were still some things bothering Tails, like what his parents will think of him just darting off again like this. However, at this moment, Sonic's safety was all that mattered to him. If Sonic was safe, Tails would feel much more at ease about the situation the planet was in.

Tails makes his way now into the security section he had come through only a few hours before now, so that he may get back to his plane as quickly as possible. The moment Tails enters the room, the same security person that approached him before starts to approach him once again. "Oh hello, did you forget something from your plane that you needed Mr. Prower?" asks the brown echidna.

Tails smiles and immediately shakes his head to the question. "No no good sir, I got a call and I must be going for a short while. I know it was a quick visit, but I will be returning as soon as what I need to get done gets done." says Tails smiling up the echidna security officer. Tails was pretty sure the echidna would let him through to his plane anyway, but he just had to check and be sure.

The echidna nods and motions for Tails to follow him over to a nearby desk. Tails nods and follows the echidna over to the desk and waits for his instructions. "Now, just scan that I.D. I gave you earlier through the machine in front of you and it will register that you have departed from the hanger, so that we know your spot is now open. You will still be in the computer of course for when you return, so when you return, all you need to do, is come do this scan again when you return. This is how we keep track of who is in the city and out of the city. No one, but royalty and military are allowed to leave the island other than through this room." says the echidna turning the machine on and waiting for Tails to present his temporary I.D.

Tails sticks the I.D. from before into the machine and watches as it goes to work scanning the I.D. bars and codes at the bottom of it. The security guard, at the same time as the machine scans the I.D., starts to type away at his computer to make sure the I.D. that was being scanned was the right one and belonging to Tails like it should. The echidna, since he already knew who Tails was, only took a moment before the machine beeped and Tails pulled his I.D. back towards him again. "Well that was simple." says the guard watching as something prints out of a nearby printer.

"So, is that all I need to do to head back to my plane?" asks Tails putting the temporary I.D. back into his satchel pocket now. Tails watched as the echidna waited for the printer to stop printing, before ripping the piece of paper that came out and sitting it down next to him. Once he did that, he goes back to typing on his computer for a moment before spinning around back towards Tails.

The echidna nods and looks up to Tails once he was finished typing. "Yes, that's all you need to do. This is the private section anyway. There is way tighter security threw the public half of this place. We try and screen the people that come onto the island so as to make sure people with too bad of a criminal record done come here, or that too many people done migrate here. There is always demand for people wanting to move here, but we have to make sure not to overpopulate the island, until more homes and apartments are build to accommodate the people." says the echidna smiling just making some small talk with Tails.

Tails listens to what the echidna and nods, understanding why they would do that, since this did look to be one of the best cities in the empire at the moment. Tails was just glad he flew in on his own instead of in with the regular citizens, since he would rather not have all his things looked through. There might even be a bit background search as well, and he didn't feel like going through any of that as well. "Well thank you sir, I will be heading to my plane now if you don't mind?" asks Tails eagerly looking ready to go now.

"Sure Mr. Prower, go ahead and head there. I will be sure someone unlocks the gate to let you back inside. You remember which number hanger it was in I'm sure, so go ahead." says the echidna taking the print out from the printer and immediately filing it within a large cabinet that is behind his desk as well. Tails, hearing that he was free to go, starts to head towards the door to head out onto the runways now, so that he could make his way back towards his plane.

A moment after Tails exits the door and stars to walk by himself this time down the long path that leads back towards his hanger, he hears a loud slam behind him. Tails turns around to see what the sound was and sees the cloaked figure standing back at the door he had just headed out of. Tails was immediately in shock and does reach to his side very slowly looking to be going for his blaster if this person was hostile to him. Tails was taking no chance, because he didn't know who would be following him on this island.

Tails rips out his blaster and holds it out towards the figure in the cloak once he reaches it at his side. "Alright, Hold it! Don't you move or I will fire! Why are you following me!" yells Tails very defensive now as he holds the blaster towards the figure. Tails had experience with this blaster so he wasn't nervous about pointing it at another Mobian, but still there was something funny about this person.

The person under the cloak immediately puts their hands up when they see how Tails gets upon finding out he has been followed like this. It was understandable, since he was so nervous that someone might be trying to get him after what he has done today. "Wait Wait, Don't shoot, It's me!" yells the person before reaching up and ripping the cloak off of them in one big pull. As the cloak fell to the ground, Tails got a big shock to see who it was. It was the red echidna girl he had seen back at Knuckles' house from before.

"Lara-Su, Is that you? What are you doing following me out here?" asks Tails as he does put his blaster away and start to approach the teenager questioningly. Tails was very curious as to why she was out here at the airport like this following him. Tails was mainly hoping she wasn't a spy, but from how things seemed back at the mansion that was unlikely.

"Ummm, yeah I was following you, but it is because I wanted to help you out Mr. Prower. I have heard stories from Dad about this Sonic guy you were talking about, and I was hoping that one day I was going to get to meet him. Dad always told me that was never going to happen, but hearing this, I want to come along and help you find him." says Lara trying to make her case as to why she was following Tails all this way. She knew she would probably never hear the end of it from her Dad when he discovered she had snuck out of the house again like this, but she just had to talk to Tails.

Tails was rather shocked she would follow him all the way to the airport like this to try and come with him, but he didn't think that was going to be possible at all. "Well, you might want to meet Sonic Lara, but what I am doing is pretty much treason to the empire. If I am found out doing this I could be arrested. If you are found associating with me, I doubt even your dad could get you off the hook from this. I don't think this is a place you should be coming to or getting involved in." says Tails telling Lara why he didn't want her coming with him. Knuckles might not be able to help him out with finding Sonic, but he didn't want Knuckles to be furious at him for putting his daughter in danger.

Lara crosses her arms and shakes her head when she hears Tails' excuse for her not to go. "No way am I staying here! I don't care if I get caught, it is better than just sitting around inside that house all day long. I can take care of myself. Dad has trained me well enough that I know how to defend myself. You don't have to worry about me getting in your way. I can carry my own weight." says Lara-Su grinning and trying to defend herself. Lara showing that she doesn't need to be babysat.

Tails smacks his head hearing this and sighs a bit. Tails knew how Knuckles was and his daughter seemed to have the same exact stubbornness that he had. If that was the case, there was going to be no dealing with her until she had her way. Tails didn't want to take her, but at the moment it sounded like he had little choice now. If she wanted to get herself captured, that was going to be on her, not him. "If you are going to come, you have to know that I am not going to be sticking my neck out to defend you. I have a mission to do, and I'm not going to be slowed down. This is dangerous. There is no telling if you will be seeing your dad again either. There is no telling what Shadow might do to us if we are caught. Are you still wanting to come?" asks Tails trying to scare her with the worst case scenarios if his mission gets messed up.

Lara did appear for a moment to consider what Tails said to her before grinning and chuckles some. This does catch Tails a little by surprised but Lara walks up to the fox and pats him on the shoulder. "You may be the adult in the matter, but trust me I'm stronger than I look. No simply guard is going to be able to take me down. Plus, I'm sure with me around the guards would be less likely to just shoot you instead of asking questions first. You don't have to worry Mr. Prower. I am going and that's that, now let's go!" says Lara now starting to actually demand to be taken along with Tails.

Tails is immediately shocked to hear Lara-Su sounding like this towards him. If she was going to continue to persist to come along, it sounded like he was going to have to let her. Tails really didn't want to let her go, but he had little choice, since she could easily snitch on him about what he is doing. He couldn't let something like that happen, so Tails just sighs and shakes his head. "Fine, you can come. My plane is a two seater, so you will sit in the back. I'm still warning you about coming along, because this is a dangerous trip. We are going to be in the general location of the capital, and that area is supposed to be heavily patrolled. If we are caught, that's your fault, not mine." says Tails grumbling a bit as he starts to turn and make his way towards the hanger again.

Lara grins and does thrust her arm down in victory at having gotten Tails to let her come along. She was determined to help him out now as she runs up behind Tails and now starts to follow him to the hanger down the path they are walking on. Tails couldn't believe what he has just gotten himself into. He was just hoping it didn't come back to bite him in the butt later.

As Tails and Lara-Su finally make it to the hanger and enter inside, Lara is immediately impressed upon seeing Tails' plane. "Wow, impressive for sure. I heard from stories from Dad as well that you were very mechanical. I'm guessing you build this yourself?" asks Lara as she and Tails make their way over to the plane.

Tails starts to climb onto one of the wings and up towards the cockpit before turning to her and nods. "Yeah, I build this baby myself. I bought a private hanger back home and am allowed to work on it all I want in there. Of course the guards might come by occasionally to check on me or what I'm building, but I'm friends with most of them so they rarely bug me. I give no one trouble and I don't give them trouble." says Tails smiling as he presses a button nearby on his plane to make the cockpit guards come off so that they could get in. Tails had installed those, so that no one could easily jump into the plane when he wasn't there and fly off in it.

"Wow, now that's cool." says Lara as she starts to climb up onto the wing that Tails is on as well, she wanting to get into the plane as well. The plane does tilt a bit making Tails look back at Lara when she gets onto the plane but starts to climb into the cockpit area anyway. Lara watches as Tails gets into the front, and immediately jumps into the back seat area.

When she jumps in like that it does shake the plane around making Tails look back at Lara when she does that. "Be careful ok. While you are back there, you do not touch one button or mess with one tool. I am the one flying this thing, and if you touch something, you might mess up my concentration. I sure hope you understand that." says Tails looking very serious when he tells her that. He didn't want to crash, and also he wished to be stealthy. There was no way he could be stealthy if she was messing with buttons back there and messing with his train of thought.

"Don't worry Mr. Prower, I will be fine back here. I won't mess with your plane." says Lara starting to strap herself in. They weren't that complicated, and Lara had been on ships before. This ships seatbelts were no different than those.

"Oh and one other thing, you can call me Tails. You don't have to continue with that Mr. Prower stuff." says Tails chuckling as he pressed the start up button to allow the plane's engines to start up. At the same time the engines come on, it also activates the automatic hanger doors to make them rise up rather quickly so that they could leave.

"Oh ok, I will Tails." she says glad she didn't have to keep up that formal act her Dad makes her play with most of the people he meets. She has to act super polite and proper to most people, so getting to act casually doesn't always get to happen. Lara stares out her windows now as she watches Tails back up out of the hanger and makes his way towards the runway now.

"Now, just sit back and relax back there. This is at least an hour flight from the island's current location." says Tails over the speakers now, seeing as he has his headset on. Lara had put one on as well, though it did seem to fit her a bit strangely because of how her head and hair were shaped at the moment. Lara didn't really want to have to fly for that long, but this was a small aircraft than the ones Knuckles flew around in if he needed to get to places, but she just watches as Tails pulls up to the runway to get ready to take off.

Tails did have to wait a few minutes for the runway to be clear of other ships coming in, but shortly afterwards Tails get the ok on his headset that the runway is clear. Tails gives the plane a few shots of gas before shooting forward very suddenly, jerking Lara back a little bit as he shoots forward and into the air. Tails was ready for what had to be done now. Tails just had to wait not till he arrived at his destination and found a place to land before he can start his search for Sonic.

……………………….

Back at the mansion, Knuckles has gone downstairs into his command center room and is sitting in his large chair staring at the monitors that show him what is going on around the island. He is able to watch what is going on, in practically every important area of the city all at once, just to make sure for himself that everything was working as he planned it to be.

Knuckles sometimes came in here just to be alone, while other times he was here on serious business. At the moment, Knuckles just wanted to be alone. He had just turned down an offer to find one of his friends that he hadn't seen in so long, just to protect his island. If he didn't have to keep such a close eye on his people and the island he looks after, he probably would have said yet to Tails' request in a heartbeat. This was hurting Knuckles, because he had to stay behind and let Tails find Sonic all on his own.

Knuckles starts to sigh, but suddenly the console begins to beep several times repeatedly showing that someone was trying to get into contact with him. Knuckles didn't really want to get it, but seeing as that line only went off when something important was going on, he didn't really have much choice. He finally reaching forward and pressing the switch to engage the call.

"Yes, this is Knuckles. Is something up?" he asks over his headset. He was hoping it was just a routine check in, because he was in no mood to see normal visitors at the moment. However, that wasn't going to be the case this time.

"Um, yes sir. There is a royal transport ship landing in your private landing space in the rear. You have been requested to come to the runway to meet the ship as it is landing." says the guard over the speaker. Knuckles sighs hearing that knowing he had business to attention to now. If it was a royal ship, that meant it was most likely one of two people coming to see him. From things that have happened in the past, he has a pretty good idea who would be coming to see him.

Knuckles gets out of his chair, but does press the button once again before he leaves the room. "I'll be there in just a moment." he says back to the guard. Knuckles makes his way to the door that opens up automatically when he nears it and heads on out towards the backyard. It only takes him a moment to walk down the nearby hall and out his back door to head out to see who was there.

Knuckles heads up the steps that are to his left and makes his way up to the helipad that is in his backyard. Just as he was told, there on his helipad sat a royal transport ship with its engines starting to power down. Knuckles stands to the side and waits next to the glass door that leads into his living room area where he and Tails had been talking before.

A moment later the door on the side of the transport unlocks as it pushes outwards and down to the ground, ready to be unloaded. A group of Dark Legion Soldiers come out of the transport first and do scan the immediate area for any threats before finally Lien-Da exits the transport grinning as she heads over towards Knuckles. Knuckles does immediately rolls his eyes seeing his sister-in-law here. It was never a good sign of things to come, since she always brings trouble with her. "Hello Lien-Da, what do I owe the honor of this visit? Usually you at least give me some notice before coming over here." he says not sounding all that excited to see her, which he wasn't.

Lien-Da just grins as she walks over to Knuckles and stands very close to him, so close that it does make Knuckles a bit uncomfortable that he takes a step or two backwards. "It's more fun when I don't tell you. Normally I would love to sit around and tease you for a few hours, but I am here this time on official business. We will go into your living room here and talk it over in private." she says turning to face all her soldiers that came out of the transport with her. "You guys surround the house and scan the perimeter. Make sure that no one disturbs up during our meeting. I mean no one you all here me!" she yells at the guards barking orders at them, which does get their attention as they all start to scatter in many directions to watch the house.

Knuckles shakes his head a bit when Lien-Da finds it in her best interest to release her personal guards around his home like that, just for a personal meeting like this. He never much appreciated her commanding style either, but she was still his superior, since she was second in command and the primary military coordinator. Knuckles, not wanting to start something, heads over to the glass door, opens it and heads on inside allowing Lien-Da to follow him.

Lien-Da walks through the door and hears it get closed by one of Knuckles' guards who stands at that door to keep watch over Knuckles. Lien-Da would prefer one of her own guards be there, but she could tell that was one of the guards that had a normal post there. That guard could stay, but that wasn't the reason for her visit. She just lets that go as she makes her way over to Knuckles. "Well, if we are alone now. I would like to relay some information to you. These come straight from Lord Shadow." she says to Knuckles.

Knuckles is surprised that she is bringing news for him from Shadow and doing it in person as well. Usually only the most top secret messages were brought in person, otherwise he got a video message from Lien-Da telling him what it was she wanted. "Well, go ahead and tell me what it is that Shadow needs." says Knuckles wanting to know now. If she went ahead and told him now, she might leave faster and not bug him anymore than she already is at the moment.

"Alright, here it is. We have some intelligent reports that an old friend of yours Tails Prower most likely will be trying to get in contact with you soon. Shadow learned not long ago that this Tails fox guy might have infiltrated his castle, and Shadow is now in search of him wanting to find out what he knows. Shadow is keeping all this a secret, but he would like you to report back to him if you find out anything about what the fox knows if he gets in contact with you. Shadow just wants to make sure the accusations are false and will not hurt him in the least. I'm sure being an old friend of yours, Shadow will treat him just fine." she says turning away from Shadow and going over to the couch and sits down. Knuckles is rather shocked to hear her say this, especially after having just met with Tails not long before her arrival here.

"Oh I see, well if he contacts me I will be sure and give you or Shadow a contact right away. Would you like something to drink before you leave? I can give a call to Abby to bring you up some tea or something?" asks Knuckles starting to head over to a nearby door so that he might do that, but does turn back to look to Lien-Da before he does so. He has gotten her yelling before for putting words in her mouth, so he just plays along with this little respect thing she wants from him when she comes to visit him.

Lien-Da does chuckle some when she does notice Knuckles actually offering her something to drink like that. She couldn't pass up an opportunity like that when it presented himself. "Oh yes please, I would like some tea, now why don't you go be a dear and get me some while I rest my tired self on the couch here." she says falling back onto the couch acting tired now. She does peek out of her eyes a moment later seeing Knuckles having left and chuckles seeing her little act worked to get him to go get her something.

Lien-Da was about to rest when she notices something strange on the couch next to her. There was a piece of paper lying upside down between two cushions. It looked like it had fallen there by accident. She reaches over and pulls the paper out from between the cushions and turns it over. The moment she gets a look at the picture that is on the other side, she immediately grins big. It was the photo Tails had shown Knuckles of his family. Apparently he hadn't put the picture into his belt securely enough and it had fallen back out onto the couch before he had noticed.

When Lien-Da saw this picture she immediately knew that she was just a little late in giving this message, and that Knuckles most likely has already met up with the fox. She immediately stuffs the picture into her pocket before pulling out her communicator out of the same pocket and puts it up to her mouth. "Hey, this is me. One of you guys go into Knuckle's command center room and make a copy of his most recent surveillance footage of this room for the past few days. Sneak it back to the transport and I'll meet you there shortly. I think that what I might need is on those tapes." she says in his communicator. She quickly shuts it off afterwards so the soldier couldn't contact her back. She didn't want it going off with Knuckles about to come back soon most likely.

It was a good thing she did, because Knuckles came back a short time later with a tray of tea on it. "I got the tea you asked for. Abby didn't really seem to happy at having to prepare it so fast, but she did it anyway." he says walking over and sitting it on the table. Lien-Da does reach out and quickly downs half the cup she was given first before sitting it back down and standing up.

"Sorry Knuckles, but I just got a call and have to go for now. I'm sorry to rush so quickly, but I've got orders at the moment and I need to deal with them." she says rather quickly heading towards the door acting as if she is in a hurry, but does stop at the door for a moment to look back at Knuckles who looked a bit shocked at her wanting to leave so quickly like this.

"Oh, well I guess if you have orders, nothing can stop that then. If you have to go, than fine with me if you need to leave." says Knuckles acting a bit upset that she had to leave so soon, but inside he was practically jumping for joy that she was leaving so quickly. He was glad for whatever had happened, because it meant that she would leave before Julie found out she was here and something started up between the two of them.

Lien-Da starts to open the door but nods back to Knuckles grinning. "Don't worry, I will contact you again as soon as something comes up. I might need you soon, but I need to make sure of something first. So just sit tight and I'll get back to you." says Lien-Da before quickly rushing out the door the moment she sees a soldier starting to head into the ship, meaning he had already gone and made a copy of the surveillance tapes like she had asked.

Knuckles is still confused by all this, since she did rush out of here rather fast. He just figured she must have gotten a message from Shadow and had to rush out to do something for him. It was the most obvious reason as to why she would dart out like that, but he is mostly just happy she left. He shuts the curtains to the glass screen door, not wanting to see her leave. Knuckles then goes to find Julie for now, seeing as he seems to have gotten away with meeting Tails for now at least.

Lien-Da runs over and into the ship before whistling and waiting for the rest of her guards to come filing back into the ship along with her and the other guard that was inside the ship. Once she makes sure that everyone was on board, she gives the signal to the pilot. The pilot nods to her as he starts up the engines and begins to make to the ship hover off the ground so that it could take off. "Alright, did you copy the footage I asked you to?" she asks the soldier next to her.

The soldier nods and reaches into his pocket for a moment before pulling out a small tape. "This is what I copied from the console. I didn't check it, but this is what I was able to hack out in the little time I had." says the soldier handing the tape over to Lien-Da now. He had no use for it, so he had no reason to keep it.

Lien-Da grins as she takes the tape and makes her way towards the back of the ship to a second room, apart from the area where her soldiers sit during a flight. She walks into a room that looked like a communications center. She immediately sits down in front of a large computer and sticks the tape into the receiver port. Once the computer accepts the tape, she types a few command into the computer before getting a picture of the living room on her monitor.

Nothing was on the screen at the moment, but she immediately presses the fast forward button as she begins to scan the tape to see if anyone would come onto it. She kept a close eye on the tape, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The tape was mainly full of Knuckles and his family spending time in the room or cleaning people coming in and out of the room as well. Apparently, the guard had gotten a couple of days of material, which was tedious but more efficient that way.

After about five minutes of fast forwarding, Lien-Da slams the play button when she sees exactly what she thought. She could see Knuckles sitting there on the couch talking to Tails. She checks the date and time seeing in fact it was only about two hours before the time she arrived that Tails was there. She had just missed him, so he probably wasn't that far away.

Lien-Da does keep it on play now as she now listen to the dialogue to see if she can pick up a clue as to where Tails might be and why he contacted Knuckles. She didn't like the majority of the conversation, because it was boring. However, when Tails got to the part mentioning Sonic and sneaking into the castle, that's when she knew she had what she needed.

That confirmed that Tails had snuck into the castle and was looking Sonic. She figures Tails must have talked to someone that knew Sonic escaped and is now trying to find the hedgehog before Shadow's troops can. Shadow had an idea of where Sonic might have been hiding all this time, but had never been able to find the exact location. If Shadow was even remotely close, that most likely was where Tails was likely to be heading. She needed to relay this information as soon as possible.

She immediately picks up one of the radios near her and does fiddle with the frequency a bit before putting the radio up to her mouth. "Agent one ten, come in agent one ten. This is Lien-Da over." she says cutting her speech there and waiting for a return in communications. She wasn't expecting an immediate response since the person was most likely undercover, but knew she would get a response sooner or later.

It took about five minutes, before Lien-Da finally got a response to her message. "This is agent one ten reporting in. I am alone and read you loud and clear." says the voice on the other end. Lien-Da grins immediately when she hears the response. She was about to try contacting the agent again, but she is glad she doesn't have to wait any longer.

"There you are. Good, I have some information that you might need at a later time. Keep an eye out at your post. The contact I told you about before may be in your region soon, so I want you to be sure and keep your cover and look out for him. There might be other people out there as well, but whoever you run into, do not engage them. We need anyone that might be around alive. There is no telling who all might be out in that area, so just use caution. If you discover anything, please get back in contact with me. This is Lien-Da over and out." she says before cutting the line to the agent. She didn't want to keep the agent exposed any more than she might be.

Once she cut radio contact from the agent she grins yet again and reaches for another communicator. "Now, I better report to Shadow and tell him my findings, and my other little plan. I'm sure Shadow will approve as well." she says starting to laugh rather loudly. Lien-Da then begins to dial in the coordinates for Shadow's private line as the transport ship makes its way off the island over the ocean on its return trip back towards the capital.

To Be Continued……