Author's Note, January 14th, 2014: I've never done this before, but I'm going to put in some suggested soundtracks for certain scenes, particularly the more exciting ones. It's still experimental, so please leave some feedback on how fitting it is. Thank you!

Chapter 7: New Plans

"It has been confirmed that the explosion in Hung Hom has resulted in seven deaths and twenty-seven injured," the news reporter on the TV stated flatly, "one of the injured is Miles Prower, also nicknamed Tails. The second explosion, which occurred along the Hung Hom Bypass near the Harbour, also resulted in one death. The police have announced that they will continue to investigate the most severe explosion case in Hong Kong since the 1967 riots..."

Sonic wasn't listening to the report, or anything for that matter. It's not like he could even understand the language, something that only made him feel more bitter at himself. He hadn't taken it seriously at first, not having considered it a problem, but now it had cost him and others dearly.

Tails, now lying unconscious on the bed before him with bandages over his forehead, was one of the luckier ones. The doctor had said that the fox had suffered a minor concussion and some cuts, and would be alright after some rest. Sonic was grateful to hear that – it was, after all, the only good news out of this entire disaster. He couldn't be sure about how many were caught in the blast and how they fared, but from what he saw on the TV, it didn't look good at all.

And above all of that, there was Mrs. Cheuk.

Sonic had not seen Rebecca after being brought over to the hospital, but he didn't dare to imagine how she was doing now. If he did run into her again, there was no way to tell if she'd blame Sonic for her mother's death or not, and he honestly didn't know one he'd prefer.

The hedgehog slumped further on the chair, eyes closing in a weak attempt to stop the tears. Could I really have avoided this? Perhaps what Sonic found the most troubling, he now realized, was that even if he could have saved Mrs. Cheuk, the bomb on her truck would likely still have gone off somewhere crowded, causing just as much death and injury as the other bomb had. The kind of cruel choice that Sonic hated. It seemed like there had been no way to win at all.

Yeung Chiu-wah had rigged the game from the very start.

The thought of the man had Sonic clenching his fists. It still wasn't clear if Wing Seng's ambush and attempts to hijack the cargo trucks had actually been part of his plan, but as far as Sonic was now concerned, it was irrelevant. Yeung was the one that had started the threats and packed those bombs in the first place, and there was no way that could have ended well.

Especially not for him now.

Sonic's one and only desire right now was to go find him and have a long, nice chat with him, but he had no idea how to do so. Yeung was unlikely to show himself in public now, knowing that that a superpowered being that he'd just flipped off was still in town. He probably wouldn't go back to his penthouse for a while either after believing it had been compromised. And going around asking people for his location wasn't going to work either, since even if they did know, it would invite too much suspicion.

The only way he could think of at the moment was perhaps using some sort of outside help...someone like Alan, perhaps. The agent was undoubtedly trying to get into contact with the duo now after learning about what just happened, but judging by the way Tails' WRID appeared, it seemed to be too damaged to pick up any calls.

Still, Sonic continued starting at the device on the table next to Tails' bed as he sat up slowly, hopes rising slightly with him. Perhaps he could try to make the call instead? The hedgehog reached a hand over and grabbed it, before trying to get to its phone function on the touchscreen. After several tries, however, he felt his chances deflate again – the device couldn't even get to the phone app before abruptly crashing and restarting. When he tried the Messages app, he was met with similar luck.

The unsuccessful attempt at calling back stateside got Sonic gritting his teeth, but he nevertheless bit down on his frustration, quickly thinking instead of other ways, perhaps by using a payphone or a public computer. He was about to put the WRID back down when he noticed that one of the other apps, called 'Tracer', seemed to have a notification on it.

Curious, he pressed the icon, hoping it would work, and to his surprise, it did open. The screen then displayed what appeared to be a zoomed in digital map of Hong Kong, and upon closer inspection, of a small red dot moving slowly amongst the named streets and grids.

Sonic didn't understand what he was looking at at first. Then, however, he recalled what Tails had been doing with the WRID earlier, namely its ability to fire small tracers a short distance and then keep track of them. Even though he wasn't sure how it worked, he did remember noticing the fox doing something with the device right after the gunfire began – just as Yeung and his men were scrambling to flee.

Having connected these dots, the hedgehog became very still. Could it be...? It was hard to say for sure, since the tracer program contained no other information on the traced target besides the location...but it was his only link right now, and it wouldn't take long to check out. If it really did lead to Yeung, then perhaps he could finally start righting this wrong...

The knocking on the door interrupted Sonic before he could ponder his plans further. When he turned his head to look, the door opened. The man that walked in was dressed neatly in a suit, with a name tag that clearly indicated he was from the police. As if that wasn't obvious enough, standing outside in the corridor were a few uniformed officers as well.

"Mr. Sonic?" he said in a no-nonsense tone, "Detective Tong, police. We would like you to come with us to aid in our investigation in the bombing attack today."

Sonic simply stared back blankly at the cops. Great. It was bad timing, to be sure, and he felt a strong urge to simply either dash past them or even leap out the window – it's not like they would be able to stop him, after all. His more rational side, however, reminded him that they were merely doing their job investigating the most serious bombings to happen in their city in a long time, and as someone who'd been at the scene firsthand, it only made sense that they would ask him.

But what about Rebecca? What if I run into her?

"Mr. Sonic?" The detective looked slightly impatient now, but kept his cool.

Ah, screw it, Sonic decided. Stop being so damn scared. He couldn't try to avoid her forever – it was just irresponsible. If she was going to chew him out, let her chew him out – she had every right to anyway. "A-alright, I'm coming," the hedgehog managed to say, sighing.

As he got up from his chair, he kept his eyes on Tails, still lying serenely on the bed. He could only hope the fox really was resting well and wasn't having any nightmares like he himself did, and probably would continue having. "I'll...I'll be back, bro," he said quietly, more for himself than anything else, even if he wasn't sure he could keep that promise. "Come on, let's go."

Right before he started walking toward the door, Sonic's eyes caught sight of the TV again. On the screen, a man who appeared to be high-ranking police official was talking to a reporter outside of a police station, and even if the barely restrained rage on his face didn't give it away, the hedgehog could already guess he was probably pledging to apprehend the suspects in the case as soon as possible. The only other thing Sonic noticed was the name displayed on the graphic below the man – 周德賢, which he recognized as the Chinese name of Chow Tak-yin, Rebecca's boss, which she had asked for Sonic and Tails to try and look into last night. He was amazed that he could even remember what it looked like, and within the one second he had left before stepping out of the room he made sure to remember the face too – Chow was yet another person of interest he had to look into.

Sonic followed the policemen down the corridor, not saying anything else out loud, while making sure the WRID that they had not noticed earlier was still gripped tightly in his hand. Despite the information he now had, he told himself repeatedly that this was for the better, that it was best not to cause any further trouble. For now.

"Yeung Chiu-wah?" the female interrogator across the table said in disbelief.

"Yes, Yeung. I'm serious." Sonic was staring back at the woman, as if it would help her believe it. "Ask your colleague, Rebecca Cheuk, she can back me up – his men were pointing guns at her, damn it. Or heck, ask those Wing Seng scumbags who tried to shoot everyone in the port. Trust me, he's behind everything that happened today, everything I told you about."

A few seconds of silence, filled with what seemed like skepticism, passed before the woman responded. "Very well," she said, regaining her composure, "thank you for your co-operation, Mr. Sonic. You may leave now."

"Glad to be of help," Sonic replied dispiritedly with a sigh. He didn't mean those words, of course – it was doubtful that he'd managed to provide any new information to them at all. Yeung had already destroyed all evidence of his involvement, so even if the police did start an investigation into him, there weren't likely to find anything. Without hard evidence, the eyewitness statements that had been collected would mean nothing, even if one of them did come from one of the police's own.

Who, naturally, was whom Sonic noticed upon being escorted out of the interrogation room. The hedgehog's feet stopped cold upon the sight, his eyes continuing to stare feebly despite his mightiest attempts to look away.

Rebecca was there, hunched over a bench and shaking badly, hand over her face trying to stop the tears, while a female colleague stood before her providing condolences and comfort. Upon catching sight of Sonic, the other woman seemed to inform Rebecca about it, as she slowly turned to face the hedgehog, revealing her red, glassy eyes.

Other than the pain of having lost her mother, her damaged expression was hard to read. He was already expecting the worst, though, and was ready for it, more or less...but he continued to breathe heavily. The agony of seeing her like this, and the discomfort at how she would react had virtually immobilized him at that spot. Fear of failure.

It happened very slowly. Rebecca had stood up and approached Sonic, their eyes never ceasing contact. Even though she was only of average height for a Chinese, the hedgehog, for the first time ever, suddenly felt very small indeed before a human being, and only felt like growing smaller out of shame.

He was about to close his eyes to prepare himself for his grilling, but it never came. At least, not verbally. Rebecca's gaze broke away as she quickly started running past him, sobbing again, without saying a single word.

She passed several police personnel as she continued further down, who turned to look at her with some concern, before glancing back at Sonic. The hedgehog could practically feel the sting of disapproval emanating from their eyes, not to mention the disappointment that someone as speedy as him had failed to save lives in the disaster this morning, something he was supposed to be well-known for.

Now fully swamped over by guilt, along with a very foreign-feeling self-consciousness – was this what Tails felt like during those times? - Sonic finally tore himself from where he stood, dashing down the corridor as well, but in the opposite direction from where Rebecca had headed.

If he really was going to continue to fail to save innocent people, the hedgehog thought to himself bitterly, then perhaps he could at least try to do the exact opposite – go after those responsible. And as it turned out, he did have an idea or two. He hadn't figured out the specifics for his next step yet, but one thing was for certain. No more mister nice guy.

After hours of trying to get leads on the crisis today and comfort a subordinate who had lost family in said crisis, Superintendent Chow Tak-yin was glad that he would be finally be able to get some time off. He sighed wearily as he got to his Mercedes-Benz in his designated parking spot. Sure, he might have to come back to the station again soon, but for now, there was little else he could do in his office. He hoped he could at least catch an hour of rest before there were any updates.

But then again, his mind suddenly nagged at him, it was partly you that made all this happen, wasn't it?

No, Chow replied to himself sternly in annoyance, shut up. I did the right thing.

He opened the door to his car, eased himself into the driver's seat, and pulled the door shut. But the closing 'thump' never came. Chow turned to see if their was some sort of obstruction, and realized that a shiny red shoe had lodged itself between the door and the frame.

Instantly, Chow understood, and his eyes went wide. Before he could make any other futile movement to hide or isolate himself, the foot kicked the door wide open, and coming into view was Sonic, looking much darker than he'd ever shown himself in public. "Hey, Chow," the hedgehog said with a low growl, "I heard you're Rebecca's boss."

Then, quickly glancing around to ensure nobody else was in the parking lot, Sonic abruptly forced himself in, stepping onto Chow's lap while leaning over, his muzzle almost pressing into the superintendent's sweating forehead, before pulling the door handle. Despite the lack of space, Sonic was still able to stand somewhat upright, at a height just good enough for him to look downwards with a glare that barely concealed any of his fury. "And we are going to talk."

"What...what do you want?" Not one who spoke English often, Chow's accent might have sounded comical to some, especially since it was amplified by his nervousness. But neither of them was in the mood for laugh. "How did you find me?"

"Your parking spot has your name on it," Sonic replied dryly, "waited in the bushes for hours before you showed up. So you better believe that I'm not going to walk away without having learned something new."

Chow merely stared back. "What?"

"Yesterday, at the Heart of Asia," Sonic began quietly but sternly, "the shooting began just as some guy in a cap arrived, gave his boss some info, and left. According to Rebecca, who was talking to you at the time, you hung up shortly before those guys barged in and shot the place up. Not to mention, there were some police profiles on Yeung Chiu-wah's computer, and he seemed to be pretty interested in yours." Sonic and Tails had seen markings on Chow's profile while looking through the information on the fox's WRID, the same ones that Rebecca's did, which was what had led the hedgehog here since they couldn't have done anything about it then. It was only too bad he couldn't show it now since Yeung had demanded its deletion, but Sonic figured that as long as he did this right, he wouldn't need it. "Not to mention, you called Rebecca in the middle of the night for what seemed like no reason."

"Wha..." The sweat had reached the man's neck. "How...how do you know all this?"

"I was with her, okay?" Sonic answered, the growl creeping back in, after rolling his eyes, "she suspected someone from the inside sold the info, and given everything's that's happened since I think she's got a pretty damn good point."

The hedgehog now grabbed Chow by his shirt, knelt downwards and brought their faces closer together. He hoped his glare was effective enough. "So...was it you? Were you the one that called those guys in to snatch the USB drive?"

More breathing. More sweating. No answers.

His patience wearing thin, Sonic finally decided to up the threats even further. As much as he hated to admit it, he'd probably have to channel Robotnik for this to work. "You're probably wondering what I'll do to you if you don't talk," the hedgehog began, his voice again lowered to a level he'd never quite reached before, "and truthfully, I don't really know either. But trust me, when I'm doing something other than just plain running..." He let out a deep, hopefully intimidating breath. "...I tend to make a mess...a really big mess."

It wasn't the first time Chow had been threatened in his life – he'd gotten plenty of that from lowly street thugs during his days as a uniformed patrol officer. But here it came from Sonic the Hedgehog himself, normally one of the nicest, most compassionate guys out there and also one of the most powerful superheroes, who had personally come all the way from around the world to find you because he was furious at you, all while nobody else was around to notice it, and it was different. Very different indeed, as the police superintendent realized he just couldn't take it anymore.

Especially because, above all else, Sonic was right.

"No, it wasn't me!" Chow shouted as he squirmed and slid down the leather seat, since there was no other direction in which he could go to get further away from Sonic. "Someone...contacted me, I don't know who, his voice was...digitally distorted, and the number could not be traced. Sent me a photo of Rebecca while she was inside. Someone was inside, and threatened to kill her if I didn't move one of my backup teams out of the way in the back alley. I had no choice...I'd already lost Jason in Mazuri, I couldn't let another one of mine die! I only wanted to save Rebecca. But now it's led to all this...bullshit this morning..."

Sonic was still staring intently at Chow after the man had looked away in distress, but it was mostly to hide the surprise he felt. Chow had done that to save Rebecca? It was certainly not what he'd expected to hear.

"I only sent Rebecca there because I was worried you would do something reckless after what happened in Mazuri," he continued to say, now almost sounding he was fighting back tears, "but now I know...if I never did that, none of this would have happened at all. I don't know how they knew..." He paused, swallowing hard, then went on after settling down slightly, "and Yeung...we've tried to look into him the last few hours based on what you said, but I swear to you, we found nothing. We couldn't find any connection between him and the bombings at all."

"But what about those guys who were shooting at me at the port?" Sonic asked, now more desperate than accusing. "Heck, what about Rebecca?"

"The Wing Seng members we captured couldn't confirm it was him. And Rebecca..." Chow closed his eyes, apparently out of regret. "As much as we believe her, without evidence her testimony means nothing."

"Then what about the guy that drove the other truck?" Even with what Sonic had seen, he still tried to hope that there was at least something Yeung had left out despite his ruthless thoroughness. "The one Tails saved?"

"I know your friend tried to save him, but he...he died of severe head injuries in the hospital an hour ago."

It was Sonic's turn to close his eyes, head downcast in newly renewed frustration. Damn it.

"Sonic," Chow called out softly, and when the hedgehog looked back, the man's eyes were apologetic, "I'm sorry we cannot do more. But we can pin this on Wing Seng, at least, and trust me...they're going to get it hard from us tonight."

It took a few more seconds of contemplation, but after watching Chow pour his expressions out like that, the hedgehog finally softened his features as his grimace wilted away. As it turned out, Sonic actually found himself feeling sorry for the man he'd just intimidated and viewed as an enemy. All while the real one was still out there.

His work here now done, Sonic knew he couldn't waste any more time standing there. "Thank you for your answers," he said, now sounding closer to his usual self, before opening the door and leaping off the still sweating superintendent. It was time to move on to the next phase of the plan – the one he looked forward to the most.

"They almost got to us, but we're lucky that we could provide a solid alibi for you just in time," the assistant said, looking quite gleeful, "now we really have nothing to worry about, boss."

Yeung, who sat in the other rear seat of his Lexus, remained silent. He wasn't as sure about it as his underling. Sure, they have managed to get the police off their backs, at least for now...but could he say the same about that Sonic? There had been no sign of the blue hedgehog since the morning explosions, and that was what kept him concerned. At this point, Sonic could be up to anything.

"Boss, what are you thinking about?" To his side, his assistant looked on curiously after noticing Yeung's silence.

"Ah, nothing," Yeung replied, hoping he sounded tired enough to mask his worries, "but I feel it's best if I not appear in public for a while. For my own safety."

The assistant nodded. "Good idea. Wait until things calm down first, and hopefully for the blue guy to leave Hong Kong, then only do things like before."

The delay was precisely the reason Yeung had desired for things to be buried quietly rather than quite literally blown out into the open the way it already had, even if he had done everything to ensure he would not be implicated. "Ah Heng, could you drive faster?" he said after a sigh as he looked out onto the streets, which were starting to light up for the evening, "I'm already hungry."

The red dot moving along the white line on the Tracer app matched up perfectly with the very familiar silver car moving along the street ahead and below. It had taken yet a few more hours of scouting from rooftop to rooftop to get the perfect location, and with the relative isolation here, it seemed that this would be as good as it got.

After checking that there weren't too many folks around the area one last time, it was time to act.

Sonic the Hedgehog dropped down onto the street meters below, looked ahead, and transitioned seamlessly from falling to sprinting the instant his shoes touched the concrete. He adjusted his speed accordingly as he continued to keep his eyes on the car, the intersection ahead and the distance between them, the only things he was actually seeing. Everything else in the world was irrelevant now.

Then, confident in his timing and pace, Sonic now curled himself up, speeding down the street in the form of a blue rolling wrecking ball. This was undoubtedly going to hurt...for the target.

The colors of Hong Kong's streets at nights were abundant, so Yeung didn't immediately notice that the blurry shade of blue at the corner of his eye didn't belong to a car, street sign or store sign. When it finally got his curiosity a few milliseconds later, he tried to think of what it could be, and-

Oh, pok gai!

SMASH!

It all seemed to happen in slow motion. The impact lifted the Lexus straight off the road, left wheels losing contact first, then the right. It had been going fast enough that it still had a lot of forward momentum, and the result was that it began flipping over diagonally, almost forty-five degrees away from its original direction.

Then came more crashes. The roof slammed against the concrete sidewalk, then the side against the grass, then the other side, and so on, as the car spun and bounced endlessly, each crash gradually pancaking it while sending chunks of glass and metal in all directions. It only came to an abrupt stop after one loud final collision with a tree, which also happened to bring it back upright onto its four wheels. The formerly sleek Lexus, however, was now an unrecognizable, twisted mess.

The airbags had deployed, naturally, and along with the seat belt, they were the only reason Yeung was still breathing, much to his surprise, despite having been closest to the point of impact. There was little he could make of his surroundings at this point, though, partly due to the disorientation and pain, partly due to the way the roof had crumpled. He sat motionlessly, too hurt and confused to move.

Everything had gone silent. The only sounds were his own short, rapid breaths and the hissing from the now disabled V8 engine. There was nothing coming from his driver or assistant, both of which were obscured by the collapsed roof, and it gave Yeung a very bad feeling about their status. Several seconds of trying to make sense of what had just happened passed before a third sound joined in.

The footsteps started off distant, but drew closer and closer, occasionally accompanied by glass cracking under them, and there was something about the slow pace of it that Yeung found rather terrifying. When he struggled to hopefully try and get away despite the pain from his head, he found that his seat belt was stuck, which only made him panic more.

His breaths grew to their sharpest right before the now fragile door was suddenly torn straight off with a great force. A pair of gloved hands then reached in, tore his seat belt off with just as much ferocity, and grabbed him by his bloody shirt and dragged him out, all while his whimpering and heartbeats grew more intense. It finally culminated into a scream once he saw just who had come.

Sonic the Hedgehog stood over Yeung, and from the CEO's perspective while lying on the ground, the hedgehog might as well have been Yama, the Buddhist God of Death himself. His emerald green eyes, normally full of warmth or excitement, now instead burned with a fervent wrath that had never once been seen there, which only made it more pronounced. Under the night sky, they almost seemed to glow themselves, flared up with a green fire.

Sonic pulled the man by his collar again so that he would be sitting up, his glare never swaying. Unlike with Chow, there was no chance of misunderstanding with this guy. No need to be gentle or merciful. "You know, I really gotta hand it to you," he started speaking, amazed at how much he seemed to sound like Robotnik than his regular self, "I've met all kinds of terrible people who've done terrible things out there...and you're the one that finally did it. To turn me...like this."

Yeung was then lifted up, and his back slammed against the side of the wrecked car, with no real attempt to be delicate or careful, at which he screamed again. "So, congratulations," Sonic growled, "you've pissed me off. And as a reward, you get to answer what I ask you. Question one...where..." He took in a deep breath before continuing- "...is..." -with an increasingly wavering and louder tone. "...Robotnik!"

Judging from his hyperventilating and the way his eyes had bulged out, it didn't seem like he would be coherent enough to speak, or even have understood Sonic's demands. And the hedgehog knew he had only barely started.

As Yeung hadn't started talking, Sonic was already planning to take this yet further. Before he could act, however, his ears flicked at the high-pitched wail of a police siren behind him, startling him somewhat. Turning his head around, he saw that a police van had appeared on the street there, and two police officers had already stepped out, approaching the scene rapidly but cautiously. His teeth gritted in a flash of irritation, but it mostly concealed a growing worry he had.

While Sonic knew the calls to emergency services must have rung out the instant the car crashed – there were still people living nearby, after all – he still hadn't expected the cops to arrive so quickly. But then again, Yeung was likely a stubborn SOB – Sonic had always felt doubtful that the man would reveal everything, or even anything, before he himself could leave the place, call an ambulance and leave no evidence that he'd been ever there, to take a page out of Yeung's own book. "喂！放開他！" one of them barked.

And now that they were here, even if there weren't another language barrier, there was no way Sonic could say anything to make them go away. It was plainly obvious that he had broken the law.

In that case, Sonic suddenly found himself thinking, might as well go all the way. He knew what to do now – and it would still fulfill his aim of getting Yeung to talk too. His new plan also had the quality of being rather risky and insane, but that wasn't really something he cared to worry about anymore.

(Suggested Soundtrack: The Chase, Batman Begins soundtrack, by Hans Zimmer: /watch?v=YyAIrRjkcc4)

The approaching officers were ready to pull out their pistols, having judged that it could provide a slight advantage to them in the imminent negotiations, when something else happened instead. Sonic, hands still on the man's shirt, suddenly hoisted him up into the air with so much force that he seemed to go flying. Then, right before gravity could bring him back down, the hedgehog leaped right up, grabbed him again, and begun a mad dash back out onto the streets while still carrying him above his head with both arms held high. All this occurred in a short enough moment that the officers were unable to do more than stand there and stare, hearing the man's screams.

When they finally snapped out of their shock, the officers rushed back to their vehicle and began driving even more they closed their doors, placing their siren on full blare again. "Command, this is Unit 27," the cop in the passenger seat said into the police radio in a hurry, "car crash on Sham Mong Road, one of the passengers has been kidnapped by Sonic the Hedgehog, we are in pursuit!"

"I repeat, the kidnapper is Sonic the Hedgehog, requesting backup, over!"

The urgent message from the radio stunned Rebecca out of her continued crying while in her car, still in the parking lot, as she sat there frozen. She couldn't believe what she'd heard. What is Sonic doing?

Moments later, the engine roared up, and the Ford sped out onto the streets, siren activated.

Even though it irritated his ears, Sonic was eventually able to block out the incessant screaming after gaining enough focus. He needed it in order to sustain carrying a fully grown adult over him, his speed, and his agility while slipping in between various cars, nearly every one of which honked at him.

As hard as he worked himself, however, he wasn't used to carrying such a heavy load, much less running with it, and it slowed him down considerably. Enough for the police vehicles behind, which were growing in number, to catch up with him. It wasn't clear what they were supposed to be able to do, given that they couldn't use conventional pursuit techniques on him like they would on a car, but Sonic noticed that they were deliberately and cautiously staying just behind him without overtaking, even though they probably could do that. His quick guess was that they were hoping he could would run out of energy eventually so that they could simply stop and bag him.

And it was feasible too, the hedgehog realized uncomfortably, as the strain from his arms were already spreading downwards to the rest of his body. He couldn't keep running here forever, but at the same time, he refused to get off the highway and into busier areas to endanger the crowds.

Sonic decided on something that he hoped would buy him some time. Keeping his elbows rigid, he took a deep breath and jumped sideways, onto the barrier, and continued along there. Only after a quick scan of the opposite side of the highway did he drop down there, timing it just right to dodge two incoming cars. Needless to say, the screaming did not stop, and seemed to only grow more shrill than what a man his age was supposed to be capable of. At this reaction, at least, Sonic was not disappointed.

Several more seconds of dodging and jumping later, though, the police had already begun sending a few cars down that road too, despite how dangerous it was. Sonic, of course, avoided them with ease, but just barely. To his alarm, his movements seemed to be getting wobbly – the strength required of him to keep this up was making it harder to be agile, to move back and forth quickly like he normally did. Raw speed, however, was still within his ability, though he couldn't be sure for how long more.

Eventually there seemed to be more police vehicles around him than civilian vehicles, the sirens drowning out all other kinds of sounds. Both behind and in front, they had begun trying to box him in in thick groups. Judging from his current state, there was no way he could slip past all of them without dropping Yeung off, but he wasn't done with him yet.

Sonic hurriedly checked his surroundings again, and was able to squeeze out only one more idea. It made his previous one look like a stroke of genius, but if he'd decided that if he really had more brute strength than finesse right now, he was going to have to make the best use of it.

The police cars were coming close now, and the hedgehog abruptly planted both feet on the ground, their tips rising as he braked to a halt, but inertia from his load, which he hadn't foreseen, caused him to fall forwards to the ground with a grunt, rolling sideways briefly.

Once he stopped, he spotted Yeung, who had come to a sooner but harder landing than he had, feebly trying to crawl away. "You're not going anywhere!" Sonic shouted as he streaked forwards and grabbed him once more, and Yeung's cries of terror were obscured completely by the wailing sirens from the twenty or so police vehicles now on both sides.

Sonic looked up at where he intended to go, and steadied himself. This was going to require every last ounce of strength he possibly had in reserve.

Some of the cars had stopped and their officers coming out when they saw the hedgehog, again holding Yeung above his head, jump up to the short building on top. But it was what came next that made them watch in a mix of amazement and horror. He wasn't going to do it, was he? Could he even do it?

But he really was. Sonic had always been known for his amazing speed and stamina – but the feat that they now witnessed was entirely unprecedented. From the perspective of ordinary men and women, it was indeed awesome. But as police officers pursuing him as a suspect, it was going to be difficult, to say the least.

"Call the helicopter," the highest ranking officer finally managed to say after convincing himself that it was no illusion, "send it over immediately!"

Yeung was hardly able to make sense of the world around him anymore. His head was bleeding, his vision was blurry, and his throat was sore and hoarse from the constant screaming, but it still wasn't over yet. As far as he could tell, he'd only seen himself being carried along a busy highway at blazing speeds, almost straight into the path of oncoming cars, including some police ones. The pressure it had placed on his heart was incredible, and it had felt downright merciful when he'd been unexpectedly dropped onto the ground, even if it did make his head hurt more.

Unfortunately for him, he'd then been picked up straight away again, and the next thing he knew, gravity was pulling at him from a completely different direction from just now. He couldn't even tell where he was now – all he could see were the blurry forms of what appeared to be the night sky and blue glass. All those police lights were already gone.

The confusion and disorientation lasted for the longest twenty seconds of his life when he suddenly came to a dead stop, before unceremoniously falling onto a cold, hard and smooth surface. His mind required some time to process that he was no longer moving, or rather being moved, at dazzling speeds before he started breathing hard. His eyes were closed tight, both to stop the tears and to shut out the world around him. He didn't want to see anything, fearing that the little bit of rest he was getting right now was again an illusion that would be interrupted at any time.

And it was, but not in the way he expected. "Get up," a familiar voice said, in a similarly familiar tone of indifference, "open your eyes."

Sonic! Not wanting to suffer his wrath any more, Yeung's eyes shot open. His vision having cleared up somewhat, he first saw a red shoe tapping on the ground right in front of him. That was bad enough, but the unfamiliar surroundings were what also got his attention. There was a vast open area, filled only with several large generators and surrounded by barriers, and there were no visible buildings anywhere nearby.

Apparently knowing what Yeung was thinking, Sonic, with a 'hmph', pulled him up by his now disheveled shirt and with some difficulty he managed to get back onto his feet, still shaking as he stood up. Now able to see over the barrier, the sight caused him to drop his jaw in disbelief. From his experience, he was now at some highly elevated point, high enough that Hong Kong Island seemed to be down there rather than merely across the Harbour. He was eventually able to narrow it down to just one possible location, and when he looked downwards from the barrier, he confirmed it with a short but sharp cry of nervousness after seeing just how far away the ground below was.

Sonic merely went up to the barrier and sat on top, so that his eyes would be level with Yeung's. The hedgehog was also breathing heavily, but mainly hid his exhaustion with his serious, laser-like glare. When he finally spoke, his voice was soft and oddly nonchalant.

"I think we can talk now."