Chapter 15
Eggman stopped at a large door, towering over them. Everyone stopped aswell. Even Eggman, standing at six foot seven, was dwarfed by the door. At its base was a small green pad. It looked like a touch pad. He took off one glove and turned around.
"Now, this is where I must lay my terms."
"Terms?" Sonic responded confrontationally. Tails, Blaze and Diesel readied their weapons.
"They are simple. Once I show you the way, you must allow me to leave without setting anyone else on me. Complete free passage to the outside. I have kept a few robots in reserve to aid me if a situation similar to this arose. They will escort me to safety. You will not attack them and, if needs be, aid them in escaping from Naugus." He stretched his bare hand out. "Do we have a deal?" He grinned.
Sonic was puzzled. Accept a deal from an age-old enemy to fight a greater evil? Or take the risk of fighting through hordes of soldiers? He hesitated.
"Come now, I don't have all day, and I presume neither do you."
He turned to the others.
"I don't trust this creep. I say put a bullet in him and leave him to rot." Shadow put bluntly.
"That's easy for you to say, but the rest of us aren't exactly as adept at fighting off whole crusades single-handedly. I say go with the deal." Rouge said, equally bluntly.
"It's a case of the lesser of to evils. We'll have to go with the deal. Naugus is a bigger problem." Silver added.
"I'm happy which ever way you go, either way Eggman's out of our hair, even if it is temporarily." Tails was a little less concerned about the matter.
"I think I'm with Tails on this one." Blaze seconded.
"Same." Diesel kept it short and to the point.
"Well, two to one…" Sonic waited some more. Eggman tapped his foot impatiently. "Deal." He said. Shadow cursed under his breath. Sonic slowly put his hand out to shake on it. At least he had his gloves on. He closed his eyes, gulped, and just got it over with.
"Yes, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Eggman smiled as Sonic wiped his hand on his jacket. Eggman turned around and pressed his hand on the pad. The doors hissed open. "Well, I'll be leaving now." He hurried away. Shadow scowled after him.
"I don't think that's the last we'll be seeing of him." The group progressed through the doors.
Cream poked an eye round the side of the wall. Clear. She signalled for the others to follow her. She scouted ahead a little. She saw Chris Thorndyke having a sissy fight with a broken vending machine. She rolled her eyes.
"Should we help him?" Tikal asked. Cream thought.
"Naah!" While they said this, Big went ahead. He picked Chris up by the head and gave the vending machine a hard whack. Several snacks and drinks fell out.
"Come on kid, before you get killed. You're ours to torture."
His head felt like it had been smashed in a door for two hours before being left to cool in an oven. He managed to shake it off and try and get a grip of where he was. He looked up. Bars. He looked in front of him. More bars. He looked down. He was bound to something behind him. He also noticed that his t-shirt was missing. Bastards stole it, he thought. He felt something knock into the back of his head.
"Jet?" It was Wave behind him.
"Yeah?" He responded.
"Oh good. We didn't get separated."
"What happened?"
"I think we got teleported. We must have passed out from the process."
"Why?"
"I take it you've never travelled by teleport before?"
"No."
"Exactly. The process drains your energy. If anything like flies or bugs get caught up in the blast, they usually get killed."
"Lovely."
They paused.
"Any idea what happens next?"
"My guess is as good as yours, green-butt." Jet laughed inside at this remark, but outside, he tried to elbow Wave, to no avail. They paused again.
"Do you think we'll make it out if this?" Wave asked.
"If the others find us, yes, but other wise, it looks bleak… Wave, I…" He hesitated.
"What?"
"We've worked together for a long time now, and… we might not have much longer, so… I was thinking…"
"I know where this is going, Jet. I know how you feel. But, I don't think we're right for each other. You're too… too… too hot-headed for me. You lose your temper easily." She could feel Jet sigh with disappointment. "Look, I'm sorry, but, it just wouldn't work."
"But why? I… I don't know anyone else, I…" He struggled to hold back the tears.
"You'll find someone, I know you will… but it's just not me. I know you. When you get angry… okay, I find it a turn-off, but you fight like a maniac, and apart from the fact that it'll probably get us out of here alive, there are girls who love that."
"I guess…" He sniffed. He shook it off and tried not to think.
"Oh, and did I mention that, well, you're a hawk, and I'm a swallow? Going down the crossbreeding route is pretty weird." Wave added, on a somewhat lighter note. Jet laughed.