Chapter 3: To Catch a Wolf
"I hate this place." Sonic thought to himself as he sat high up in a tree that overlooked a mansion. Over the course of two days, Sonic had managed to track Wolf to the mansion of Eric Dawson, a billionaire who has invested in many stock exchanges, but is also suspected of dealing with shady characters. Dawson's home was on the outskirts of London, England and had he turned the happy and peaceful landscape into a practical wasteland thanks to a giant factory he had built for extra profit near his home. Sonic hated it for one reason: pollution.
Sonic had been watching the house for about four hours now and the moon was getting high in the sky. It seemed Wolf would never come out again. Sonic began to feel tired and just wanted to lay back and drift off into a deep sleep and dream of his home on Mobius where all his friends were. He missed his friends and hoped that the mission would be over soon so that he could return home and be with friends and family once again. Just as Sonic began to go into a daydreaming state, he heard a loud click and perked up. He peered over a branch that was hiding him and he saw a truck pulling out of the garage. Seeing his chance to find out what Wolf was up to, Sonic leapt onto the truck's roof and hoped that his jump hadn't alerted the guards driving. Luckily for him, his landing wasn't as loud as he thought.
As the truck continued through the night at a nice and steady speed, Sonic began to doze off again and almost got knocked off when the truck went into a tunnel. A little while later, Sonic spotted lights in the distance and assumed that it was the truck's final destination and key location of the smuggling operation. As the truck turned down the road towards the lights, it became clear to Sonic that lights were actually another one of Dawson's factories. "More pollution." Sonic thought to himself as the truck grew nearer and the stench of smoke and burning materials became stronger. This smell also reminded Sonic of his own enemy, Doctor Eggman, who was also fascinated with robotics and mechanics. Eggman hadn't been heard of in eighteen years.
The truck finally came to a halt at a loading bay and workers in fork lifts came out of what seemed like nowhere and began lifting crates upon crates out of the back of the truck. Sonic was careful to stay low as they worked and waited for the last of the crates to be taken out. After what seemed like forever, Sonic quietly came down off the truck and headed into the factory hoping to find Wolf. Once inside, Sonic eyed the machines and conveyer belts as they hummed and moved in time together like a clock. Suddenly, Sonic heard approaching voices and hid behind one of the boilers. Wolf and Dawson passed by and stopped in front of the boiler that Sonic was behind. "Are you sure that's the last of it, Dawson?" Wolf asked with a bit of a growl. "Absolutely sir. Soon you and your employer will be able to turn the gaseous chemical from Venom into a liquid and mix it with the Earth's H20. And the governments of the world have no idea how dangerous this gaseous chemical really is!" Dawson laughed as he spoke. Wolf showed little amusement at whatever Dawson found funny.
Suddenly, Wolf's communicator rang and he answered while Sonic listened to try and find out who was talking to Wolf. "Yessir?" Wolf said into the communicator. Sonic tried to listen hard but the boiler's humming drummed out the voice coming from the communicator. "Understood sir." Wolf answered the voice on the communicator and then put it down and went over to one of the opened crates. "Well, what did he say?" Dawson announced quickly. Wolf picked up a needle out of the crate with an odd greenish liquid in its container and hid it from Dawson. As Wolf walked back towards Dawson, he finally answered him. "He said to eliminate all connections and..." Wolf stopped and with lightning speed, grabbed Dawson's arm and stuck the needle into him and pressed the plunger. "...and that includes you. Thank you for your help Mr. Dawson. Your work on this project will make many people die miserably and other people rich." After Wolf finished, Dawson fell to the ground and started vibrating violently. He than puked up a large puddle of blood and then he was still forever.
Wolf then had the crates reloaded onto a meat truck while he set up tiny explosives on each of the boilers. Sonic continued to remain hidden and hoped that Wolf wouldn't sniff him out. But Sonic's prayers were not answered and Wolf suddenly found his scent. As Wolf came closer to Sonic's hiding place, Sonic began to sweat and become worried. What should he do? He could get away easily and return to Campbell with a report. But then he wouldn't have completed his original mission and Wolf would get away. Who knows how long it take to track Wolf down again!? Sonic finally came to a choice and as soon as Wolf's muzzle got closer to him, Sonic used all his might and kicked Wolf in the nose. This only stunned Wolf for a second though and he quickly got back to his feet and snarled at Sonic. "Right. That's real scary." Sonic scoffed. Wolf charged at Sonic but didn't know Sonic's true powers and ended crashing head first into a metal wall. With Wolf down, Sonic decided to report in to Campbell through his own communicator, but stopped after he heard a small beep. Wolf's bombs were about to go off! Sonic grabbed Wolf and ran as fast as he could out of the factory just as the bombs went off.
As he ran down the road with Wolf, Sonic wondered just who Wolf was talking to over the communicator. A mystery that needed to be solved as quickly as possible.