Ok, first off: WOO! Mid-week update!
Secondly: We have the pleasure to meet some of the characters who will be very influencial in coming chapters.
That said I think I'd better reiterate: I do NOT own anything to do with Sonic!
And all credit for OC's go to their respective creators.
On with the chapter!
Neon lights shone from every wall, areas of the floor were covered with intricate markings and mosaics, from the ceiling hung banners of dark green with a boarder of gold, in the centre was a crimson or with a thin line of gold winding around it like a serpent. Knuckles scanned everything as he passed; taking in as much as he was able to, but more importantly he was picking out landmarks to help guide him should he need to make a swift escape.
Wherever he looked, black cloaked echidna's stared back from the gloom, some wore hoods over their heads and sinister crimson masks over their faces. These echidna's carried the same slender metal weapons as those who had ambushed the Guardian. There were also several wearing the intricate armour that the Knuckles' escorts wore, but these warriors seemed to be few in number and used to guard various areas.
Despite the open hostility being shown towards him, Knuckles also thought he could see a certain curiosity from those who watched. His eyes fixed on the High Praetorian marching in front of him. The two blade wielding warriors marched behind, prompting the red echidna to expect a blade between his shoulders at any second.
"Who are you?" Knuckles asked a harsh, biting tone in his voice.
"I am High Praetorian Shade of the Nocturn." The armoured female snapped back.
"Care to tell me where you're taking me?" He asked, his voice echoing loudly in the near-silent obsidian passageway.
"You are being taken to the Procurator. She'll no doubt have questions for you."
"Who is this Procurator, and what does she want to know?"
"The Procurator is the high commander of the Nocturnus military, it is her duty to decide what happens to… interesting intruders." She glanced back at Knuckles before gesturing at two other guards, who saluted and opened a set of double doors.
Knuckles had raised an eyebrow at the words 'interesting intruders', wondering what was meant by that, but when he entered the room beyond the door, his eyes widened.
Large woven banners graced the walls, several clearly showing the colours and heraldry of different clans, family names and battalions. A deep crimson carpet led its way from the door up to a floating dais of technological wonder, upon which were several computer screen flashing through images of the fortress and the surrounding jungle. A single echidna stood upon the techno-magical platform with their back turned to the new arrival, but they were flanked by a pair of robotic guardians.
Brown humanoid robots with glowing blue eyes and emotionless faces. Incredibly strong, with a photographic memory system that allows them to flawlessly copy the moves of their opponents: the Gizoid.
Knuckles was driven heavily to his knees as Shade and the other two Nocturnus soldiers bowed down before the dais.
"Procurator Lien-Da, I have brought the intruder."
The echidna turned towards them. She wore a tight pair of black leather trousers held up with a black leather belt from which hung a carefully wrapped bullwhip, silver-tipped metallic boots with a small red heart on the toe, and a tight black leather long sleeved crop-top, revealing her supple, flat stomach. Down the right sleeve of her top wound a silver embroidered serpent and her short cut red hair hung just above her blue eyes. Six of her seven long quills were braided with black ribbon, but it was the seventh which stood out against the rest, as it had been replaced by a cybernetic dreadlock.
She looked down at the four figures knelt before her in an analytical manner, focusing intently on Knuckles as he was the only one not to avert his eyes. She jumped down from the hovering platform, landing lightly and striding towards them. She circled around the Guardian like a vulture over a sun cooked corpse.
"I half-expected a foolish child, not a grown warrior. You do realise that your trespassing has violated the treaty between our clans?" Her voice was soft and yet commanding, her words perfectly articulated.
"Violating a treaty? What are you talking about?" She turned suddenly, glaring down at Knuckles for his outcry.
"Not only are you stupid, but insolent as well!" Knuckles noticed Shade cringe at Lien-Da's words, but he stay stoic.
"I'm neither! But to call someone stupid when they don't know what you're talking about is just pure ignorance!" The Procurator took a step back, her hand going for the grip of her bullwhip. She drew back her arm but stopped when the High Praetorian stood up.
"Procurator wait! He did not come from Echidnaopolis!" Lien-Da stopped in her motion and glared at the armoured warrior before turning that same glare onto Knuckles. She snorted and lowered her arm.
"Shade, take the intruder to the dungeon and inform the Imperator." She turned back and leapt back onto the floating dais in a feat of acrobatics.
"Yes Procurator." Shade bowed and grabbed Knuckles by the arm as she left, the pair of warriors quickly following suite. She waved them away as the double doors swung closed.
"What's going on?" The confused Guardian demanded.
"If you want to stay alive long enough to find out, keep your mouth shut!" The High Praetorian warned. She pulled him into a side chamber and pressed her fingers to the glowing symbol on her helmet. With a hiss the metal slid away, folding in on itself and forming a black headband.
Her fur was orange with a lighter cream hue rimmed around her eyes and on the tips of her seven short dreadlock quills, her eyes were a breathtaking deep lilac. She looked at him sternly.
"Now, you're going to tell me who you are and where you came from."
"Estimated collision time, in three minutes and forty-five seconds." Said Nicole as she attempted to get both a clearer image and a more intricate scan of the incoming projectile.
"This ain't lookin' good ya'll!" Cried the partially roboticized rabbit in her thick Southern accent. "It just keeps shrugging off our hacking attempts like a buffalo does with flies! We can't stop it!"
"Ready the anti-air defences!" Barked King Elias. Nicole's holographic images appeared next to him.
"Sire, destroying the projectile could very well detonate it, and at this close proximity there is an eighty-three percent chance of considerable collateral damage to Mobotropolis." The squirrel turned on the computer generated lynx.
"So what would you suggest Nicole? All the people have been evacuated to the bunkers and we are in the most secure location in the entire Kingdom! I'd rather have a damaged city than a smoking crater!" He turned his icy glare on the three ex-Freedom Fighters, the Coyote Antoine D'Coolette, the half-roboticized rabbit Bunnie Rabbot, and the purple skinned mechanical genius Rotor Walrus.
"Bring the anti-air batteries online!" Elias ordered, his voice growling through gritted teeth.
Outside, with a grinding of gears and a creak of metal, three sets of air-to-air missile launchers and heavy flak cannons rose out of their underground bunkers and aimed their deadly payload towards the night sky.
Back down in the depths of the earth beneath the castle, King Elias Acorn turned his attention to a small screen, through which he was linked to the Panic Room of G.U.N headquarters.
"Sally, please tell me you've had better luck your end!" The image of Sally Acorn looked at her brother, desperation in her eyes.
"We've got two high speed interceptor aircraft on their way, but they won't arrive in Mobotropolis airspace for another three minutes!"
"That's three minutes we don't have Sal!"
"I'm doing all I can Elias!" The auburn squirrel shouted, tears glistening at the corner of her eyes.
"Target now in range!" Rotor called from his station.
"Don't worry Sally, we've got this. Open fire!"
The night sky was suddenly lit with tracer rounds and the flare of rockets as the anti-air weapons opened up with all their fury.
It was a well known fact that the defence weaponry of the Mobotropolis military was some of the best in the world. Dr. Robotnik's countless attempts at attacking the seat of the Acorn throne were thwarted time and again by their early warning systems and sophisticated defence programmes. But out of all who watched as the anti-air fire neared its target, none could have expected what happened next.
With a flare of engines and the sparking of laser fire, the missile dodged the flak fire and destroyed many of the missiles as it wove through the deadly barrage.
Both siblings from their command posts stared in open-mouthed disbelief as the Mobotropolis defences were rendered ineffective and the projectile continued its indomitable assault.
"Miss Acorn!" The voice of Megan snapped the former leader of the Freedom Fighters out of her stupor. Sally looked over at the green hedgehog who held a phone in her hand. "Word from Agent Felsi. It's not a missile!"
Sally turned back to her brother on the small screen, just in time to see the screen flicker and cut out, the words 'Signal Lost' flashing in place of Elias's face.
"Elias!"
Back in the underground bunker, the squirrel King coughed as he slowly staggered back to his feet. The red emergency backup lights were flashing on and off. The room had been shaken and various screen and machines had crashed to the floor, but apart from that there was no damage.
"Nicole report!" He shouted, as the other three clambered back to their feet. No answer. "Nicole!"
"-ckup power at sixt- percent and falling." Came the voice of the high-tech AI. "Secruit- meras down in sections two through six. Main and backu- erators heavily damaged. Preparing emergency AI download to portable containment device."
"Damn it!" Elias shouted, bringing his fists down on the monitor in front of him. He pointed at Rotor. "Get Nicole and head to the nearest generator, get me power back! Bunny, Antoine, come with me! I want to find out what the hell that fat bastard is up to!"
The flickering red light illuminated the hard metal cylindrical chassis of the projectile. A hiss of pressure release, and a loud clang echoed through the silent underground passageway.
Stepping out from the bowels of the converted weapon, Dr. Ivo Robotnik cast his eyes down the corridor. A wide and sinister grin grew on his round face and he strode down the passageway, following the insignificant yet distinctive markings he had scratched into the walls long ago, when he had still been the Head of Security under the rule of King Maximillian Acorn, before his betrayal and subsequent war against the World.
Reaching a dead-end he paused and rubbed his chin before pushing three different areas of the wall. It gave way with a rumble, revealing a long hidden metal stairwell which led to Robotnik's hidden laboratory, where the very first of his sinister robots had been created.
As he walked down the stairs, the stone wall rumbled back into place, leaving behind no evidence of the secret passage, except for the slight disturbance of dust which floated down from the ceiling.
Now before you review asking 'what in the world is going on!' This has long been planned out in this crazy little head of mine.
Those who noticed, I've fused together the Archie comics Dark Legion and the Nocturnus Clan into one large tribe.
Again I've had this planned for quite some time. Besides, the Nocturnus do seem to be heavily influenced by the Dark Legion.
As for what Eggman is up to? You're just gonna have to wait and see.
And I am outta here!
-Corrupt TE-