Chapter Four
Alastair's thick armour stopped every bullet Bark and B.B fired from their posts, but the tower's mounted turret started to cut through that. Corben the security guard bombarded the invaders from high above with thunderous .50 calibre rounds. Meanwhile, Manic engaged the giant once more, but he was overpowered and knocked down.
"Why isn't this thing working?!" Manic shouted while grasping his jade medallion.
Al ducked into a group of his men and took an assault rifle off one of their backs. Once he loaded the magazine in, he aimed for the tower and sprayed bullets into numerous windows. Inside, Corben was struck and he tried to stop the bleeding while he stained the tiled floor.
Over at the west entrance, Redd took a black necklace off and removed the locket while Espio stood ready. She swung the necklace toward his head so he ducked. It wrapped around a stop sign and when she pulled back, the metal was sliced clean in half. The chameleon sidestepped and looked at her curiously.
"Did you think that was my only trick? I've been doing this my whole life! And I'm going to take that emerald back."
He attached the gem to his utility belt and dodged the garrote, while trying to evade gun fire from Alastair across the parking lot. He struggled to keep up. Even without the chaos emerald, Redd was lightning quick and eventually caught his wrists in the wire. She pulled back but his gauntlets were too dense to cut through. Espio yanked the garrote away but the maroon hedgehog slid under his punches and took the emerald back.
She blasted him into the air and teleported across the battlefield, looking for a vantage point to fire death beams from. B.B followed her through his sniper scope and fired a shot. She blocked the bullet with the power rings, but didn't anticipate a second one so quickly. She was struck in the thigh and screamed out while ducking behind cover.
"I got the crazy cat lady!" The crow exclaimed into his comm.
"Don't celebrate, she's enhanced." Bark said. "She'll be back soon enough."
Lita and Jamie fought back most of the invaders coming their way, but a few slipped past. The chameleon stood up and his suit was nearly penetrated. He ran the opposite direction and zigzagged to evade more armour piercing rounds.
Rouge covered him while he ran for cover. "You good?"
He took a deep breath and gave a thumbs up.
"You weren't kidding about the fire power these guys are packing." She said. "I'm going deaf out here!"
"Their weapons and training came from one of ours. The one I killed yesterday."
"Okay, so you know how to beat them, then. Let's get to it, already!"
Espio exhaled. "I'm not sure it'll matter, we'll run outta ammo before Slayton runs out of bodies."
She ducked to avoid fire. "You saying we're doomed to die here?"
Before he answered, Espio's HUD intercepted radio chatter nearby. On the south entrance, a youthful male voice called Alastair's name and demanded he respond.
The giant kneeled behind a totalled car and answered. "I'm in the middle of it, sir! What-"
"We have a confirmed Scourge and Dogg sighting at Mystic Mansion. I want a squad there right now!"
Al gritted his teeth to avoid cursing at his boss. "…covering two battlegrounds will result in defeat, sir. I don't have the numbers at this point-"
"I promoted you because of your skill. And all of your fortunes will be taken back if you don't tag our three visitors. Do your job!"
Alastair's ego wanted to argue his case further but he was expendable, and had no leverage to lean on. The only chance of success was to split Slayton's reward money with his daughter, another blow to his reputation as the best bounty hunter.
He switched radio channels to call his henchmen. "Riotcall, cease fire! Our new objective is Mystic Mansion."
The gun fire slowly began to stop, and Manic's friends could breathe. They were confused but stayed ready to fight, although the opposition was lessened.
Redd touched her earpiece to speak to the giant. "Let me guess: Nero found Dogg and Scourge and wants you covering two places at once. But you can't."
"…the offer is 70/30."
"I came all this way for 70%, what a score."
"Other way around."
"Like hell it is, Al! I'm saving your ass here! 60/40 or I watch Slayton clip you, himself."
"…fine." He disconnected and switched channels. "The rest of you, Redd is taking lead here."
Espio looked at Rouge. "The ward leader called off some of his shooters. There's something more important elsewhere…"
A dozen Chambers' men were left face down on the pavement. A small group followed Alastair out of town, while the majority retreated but stayed in town.
Redd raised the crimson chaos emerald and fired beams into the sky. "I'm not going anywhere, anytime soon so just make this easy and give up! You're only delaying the inevitable!"
"Yeah, I'm not big on being taken alive," Manic called out from behind cover.
He traded energy blasts but missed every shot since she could teleport faster than he could shoot.
Upon surveying the scene, Espio made an executive decision. He tapped his earpiece to speak to his host. "Manic, they're here for me. I'll draw them away from your home, and you'll be safe, then."
"Appreciate that but we pissed 'em off so they'll just keep coming back. (grunt) …if you wanna die, that's up to you."
"…I can honestly say I came up with a lot of contingencies before I started this campaign."
Rouge turned to him. "If you're leaving, then I'm going with you."
"That's not a good idea-"
"You brought me into this mess so I'm stuck with you, now. And I have a solution: bait these guys to follow you and then ambush them! I saw you handle glow stick five minutes ago, can't be that hard!"
The chameleon exhaled. "That was precisely what I was planning but thanks for the input."
Bark opened fire and shouted, "If yer leaving, get stepping!"
"Yeah guys, we've got this!" B.B assured.
Espio went nose to nose with Rouge. "Hang on tight."
She wrapped her legs around his waist and gripped the neck guard of his suit. "Try not to kill us."
He camouflaged them both with invisibility and fired the first grappling hook to begin their escape.
"Manic. I'll see you if I see you."
"Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope I never see you again. Knock 'em dead, Hyabusa."
The couple slipped behind the tower and were out of the destroyed town in seconds. They would only get a minor head start on Redd so they couldn't waste time.
The maroon hedgehog dodged Manic's energy bursts and while teleporting around the battlefield, she couldn't find the chameleon or the bat. She blasted through buildings in search, but soon realized they'd escaped.
"Dumbshits, ya let Gaspar slip through the cracks!"
"What difference is it to you?"
"He wasn't worth $22 million two minutes ago, that's the difference. Stay here, I'll find the chameleon!"
Redd left the area, and Manic covered Lita so she could run inside the tower. She raced up to check the satellite imaging system to confirm the maroon hedgehog was truly gone.
"..no chaos energy for 1000 miles!"
"Alright. She's Espio's problem now, but we still have stragglers hanging around. Reload and stay tight."
The afternoon sun began to set over Labyrinth. The syndicate men were forced to retreat every time they tried to advance. This went on for hours. They were finally cleared out by bright magenta energy blasts that shook the ground.
Manic groaned when the smoke cleared and his former protege Starr floated toward the group. She was joined by The Babylon Rogues, but SAGE stayed with Agent Warwick in Two Gates City.
"Hello, kiddo," Manic half heartedly greeted. "Tails told me Warwick recruited you after graduation. Where is the grumpy bastard?"
"Working a case on Slayton. We weren't sent here by the agency, either." She said.
"Oh, so you're freelance, now. Cool, what'd you want?"
"We need to find Espio and we know he was here. Tell us where he is, it's important."
Manic scratched his head. "Yeah, I'm sure it is… but I can't help you. I told him to fuck off. Off he fucked. No clue where he went."
"Manic," Wave said. "We can help each other-"
"We fought off a Chambers ambush with losing odds. You scared away the cockroaches. I think we're doing just fine."
"Maybe not after today." Jet responded. "I heard Slayton is sending a HUGE fleet to The Badlands very soon. Spring cleaning of sorts."
Jamie gave Nina a worried look, but no one in the group reacted to this news.
"Help us find him, and we can keep the wolves at the gate."
"Wait, I thought Warwick burned him…? Why send you guys to save his life?"
"…Warwick's been negotiating terms with Zone leaders to establish a united government. And he almost had it. World peace. Then his right hand went rogue after left hand disappeared."
Manic's eyes twitched, while the group reacted horribly to this. Whether knowingly or not, Espio had single handedly destroyed any chance at peace in The Badlands, and effectively doomed Manic's family.
"…an agency that sanctions cross country murder by it's operatives? Yeah, that's not a winning sales pitch."
"Man, this is… (inhale/exhale) …that stupid piece of s- there's gotta be something we can do!"
"Bringing Espio back to atone was the option we were given. Gonna help?"
After a brief period of silence, Manic made his choice.
"You're saying nothing else will mend fences, here?"
"No other option. They want him to answer for killing one of theirs-"
"Willful Murder."
Jet nodded. "We have a dilemma. The leader here, Nero, still has rules to follow, but he won't entertain unity until Warwick hands Gaspar over."
"-and The Chambers don't want their wild west to be tamed, so killing Espio before he makes it to high court would be top priority for Slayton."
Manic waved his friends off and crossed his arms. He cleared his throat before speaking. "That is quite the mess he's made… I don't know where he went, but I've covered The Badlands enough times to know the layout."
Starr floated down and looked him in the eyes. "Are you saying you'll help us save him?"
"Serving him up ain't really saving him, but if it has to be this way… I have conditions of my own. You want a deal? Keep watch over my home, and I'll personally find your fellow Agent Gaspar."
"That's a deal we can honour-"
"Then I talk to Warwick about my exile. I think everyone inside this towers' been punished enough. He's gonna give us safe passage and welcome us home."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Espio first, then we'll sort that other business out after."