Chapter 21

Silver stared out across the bridge. He contemplated the consequences of marching across it, weighing up the factors. With very sparse cover, it would be risky from the start, and Diesel had neglected to bring a vehicle. Discretion would be an advantage… He turned and silently signalled to Blaze and Diesel to follow him. Nack and Rouge were still busy talking, and Shadow was too absorbed in his arm to notice. They left silently and moved quickly.

Fortunately the guards were blissfully unaware of their approach. Blaze stowed the flamethrower for something for use in tight spaces. Twin shot pistols should be ideal. Diesel readied a machine gun. They ducked behind some rubble close to their targets. Silver counted down with his fingers. 3, 2, 1… on the closing of his fist all three leapt over the rubble and opened fire.

"So where are the others?" Jet was quick on the questions.

"They went the other way."

"How far is it?"

"An hour that way." Sonic pointed the way they came.

"Ah, there has to be a quicker way…"

Tails looked up. In the ceiling was a hole, opening into a shaft that stretched up hundreds of metres, with blue sky visible at the top. He thought. Wave noticed this.

"Oh, surely the greatest prodigy of the engineering school can find a way up with no problem…" She quipped cynically.

"Well you find a way to climb a few hundred metres straight up a tube." He retorted. Wave looked up and thought. She looked back.

"Okay, I'll give you that one." As they stared up thinking, they noticed something in the distance. It was falling to the ground with speed. They made room for it. The end of a rope dropped on the ground. Looking back up, they noticed something bigger descending. As the shadow grew, they stood back further. With a thud, Espio dropped to the ground on his feet.

"I thought you guys could use a hand."

"Seems to be the simplest option."

"Rougey, you remember when I was on the force?"

"Yeah, you were made captain six years ago, about this month aswell. I'd just joined the team."

"No, I'm talking about when I was exiled."

"Oh, right… I meant to ask, what the hell were you thinking when you did that?"

"I didn't mean to do it! Do you think I would do that deliberately? Why the fuck would I kill her? I mean, it was a complete accident! They attacked the fort, and she got caught in the crossfire!"

"It was your bullets they took out of her."

"It was her own fault for running into a gunfight! I always knew Mina was too dumb for her own good…"

"Four years and you're still bitter about it. You're lucky they called manslaughter and not murder."

"I suppose… God, talk about a messy affair…"

"Hmm. Silver's been very quiet. Silver, you still th…" Rouge turned around to see empty space where Silver was. "Silver?" She looked around.

"Goddamit, the bastard fucked off!"

"Stuck-up prick…" Shadow muttered under his breath.

"I suppose we better find them. Come on!" Nack pulled the Law Givers out of his belt and charged forth. Shadow and Rouge followed. Shadow slowed down, groaning.

"What's the hold up?" Nack called back.

"Ugh… I think it might be happening again…"

"Oh yeah, I saw that… come on, you'd wanna be near some of them before you go."

Amy was the last to climb up to the top of the pipe. It surfaced at the base of the central tower. Espio was already hurrying on. Knuckles noticed Nack, Shadow and Rouge on the bridge in the distance.

"C'mon, let's go!" Espio called back.

Inside was a different story. Espio, in his haste, had thrown caution to the wind and marched headlong into a group of heavily armed soldiers. He slowly raised his hands, as fifteen guns aimed at him. The others slowly approached as the guards' attention was focussed on Espio. After a tense moment, Knuckles grabbed someone by the back of the neck and snapped it. This gave Amy the opportunity to stick her sword through another. She swung the back of the hammer in to back of a third's head. She took the cross staff from her back and threw it to Sonic. Knuckles disarmed another and shot a few more in the face. Sonic pole vaulted over Espio and landed on another guard, before thrusting one end of the staff into the crotch of the nearest one. Espio whipped out some shuriken. He noticed a few soldiers about to shoot Knuckles, so he threw them in that direction. All three fell to the ground. Amy pulled out the sword and threw it across the room, slicing one head and sticking in another. With her hammer, she went for the last guard. Sonic knocked his knees out with the staff, and Amy smashed his face in with the hammer. Tails, Jet and Wave simply stared. Amy was flecked with blood, as always.

"Well, you said we should do things together…" Amy laughed as Sonic observed the blood-soaked activity they had just undertaken together.