Chapter 14

"God. What a waste of time." Mighty whinged.

"Look, it was your idea to go along with this in the first place." Espio snapped, equally irate.

"It's not my fault, I thought of this to survive all this."

"What?"

"You know, the war."

"Well suppose the freedom fighters win? What'll happen to the mercs then? Or what if Robotnik stabs us in the back?"

"Look, I did the best I could under the circumstances. It's not ideal but we should survive. Okay?"

"Will you two shut your yaps? You'll give us away!" Vector yelled back at the two squabbling mercenaries.

"Asshole…"

"Shh! Someone's coming!" Vector slipped out a Magnum. Espio and mighty grabbed some weapons. Peering through the ajar door, they saw the intruders: An echidna, a pink hedgehog, a green hawk and a purple swallow. The last two were somewhat roughed up. Vector pushed the barrel of the gun through the door.

Knuckles spotted a glint in the half-light. He glanced over at its source. Then he noticed a second glint behind it, as if one from an eye. His eyes widened as he realised their nature.

"Get down!" He shouted. He grabbed Amy and Wave. Jet was out of his reach, but he ducked aswell. A loud bang. The barrel on the far side jumped a little and fell over. There was a large hole in it. Knuckles looked up to see a frustrated Vector kick the door open and fire a few shots at them as they scattered. Amy pulled out her hammer and leapt from her cover. She smashed Vector's head open with one swipe. Knuckles winced at the spilt brains on the floor. Jet followed Amy into the room. He grabbed Vector's magnum as he went. He put two bullets into the first thing he saw. When he opened his eyes, Mighty sank to his knees and fell over, with two gaping holes in his head. Staring at the gun, he puzzled over its immense power. While he did this, Amy ran into the next room. She pulled out her sword and swung it in. It stopped at the neck of Espio.

"Whoa… it's cool… calm down…"

"And why should I listen to you? You're nothing but a filthy mercenary."

"Hey, do you think I wanted to end up like this?" Espio seemed to take offence to this. "If I had my way, I would have joined you guys a few years ago. I followed Mighty into this."

"Prove it." She pushed the sword a little closer. In a flash, Espio stepped back and hurled a knife. Amy assumed it was heading for her. She sidestepped away, even though it wasn't going her way. The dagger lodged itself in something with a scream. Somebody fell forward. A bat landed on the ground with the knife stuck in his eye, apparently dead.

"That's Blade, he was one of ours. Proof enough?"

"Fine… come on…"

As they left the room, Espio stopped over Blade's body.

"Sorry buddy… times have changed." He pulled the knife out of his eye and wiped it on his face.

Jet, particularly happy with his most recent gain, started searching for ammunition with which to use it. Wave had followed him in. Knuckles stayed outside on guard. Jet opened a cupboard near the ceiling. Inside was a small mechanical device.

"Hey, Wave, you're the techno whiz, can you tell me what this is?" He tossed it over to the swallow carelessly, and she fumbled it before catching it. She tipped her sunglasses up to inspect it.

"It looks like a… teleporta… shit!" She attempted to throw it away, but she was too late. Before it could leave her hand, a flash of blinding light engulfed the room. When Knuckles turned to see what had happened (Amy and Espio had also just entered the room), Jet and Wave were gone.

"Where'd they go?" Knuckles exclaimed angrily. Espio checked the floor. Scorch marks and white powder.

"They must have found the teleportation device."

"The what?" Amy was confused. Teleportation?

"Only Naugus has access to this technology. Vector used it to get to the front and back to the base quickly. Your friends must have found it."

"So where are they? And why should we trust you?" Knuckles slammed Espio against the wall. "How do we know they're not incinerated?"

"Knuckles, calm down…" Amy tried to relax Knuckles.

"I killed one of my own men just now… one of my friends… do you think I'd go back on that?" Espio replied frustratedly. Knuckles breathed heavily, fighting the anger. "They're probably in Naugus' base now. If they had any sense they'd give themselves up, and they'd be in the dungeon.

"There goes Jet…" Amy quipped.

"So how do we get there?"

"I know the fastest way. Follow me…" Espio leapt to the door.

"Really?" Knuckles was still uncooperative.

"Well do you want to try your luck in this maze?" He gave a quietly knowing smile and then left. Amy followed quickly. Knuckles waited for a second.

"Hey, wait for me!" He yelled as he bounded after them.