So we near the end, next chapter will be the last. Well that and an epiloug but you get the picture. I know many of you weep,( waits patiently for
weeping but hears nothing at all.) but rest assured I will try to give this story the ending it damn well deserves. Also I hope the Antoine
dialouge doesn't kill you, cause then you might haunt me and scare the crap out of me LOL. I dont own Sonic or Sega all characters belong to them.
Sonic's jaw was dangling, and a quick inspection of the others told him they were all doing the same, Antoine kept tapping his foot, the fastest thing alive had kept the cowardly coyote waiting, it seemed just plain wrong. "I av been ze waiting, I zam glad you are ok, but weez must move careful, ze Villainous Max iz out looking and wanting to end us ze painfully queek way!" It was definitely wrong, he wanted to help and not cower, Sonic was about to retort when Bunny pushed past him and cast her arms around Antoine. "Yall had me scared sugar Ant, I was worried sick for ya." Antoine returned the hug. "I am so sorry for worrying you, my beautiful flower, rest ze assured, I will not let any of the harms come to you!" Mike walked over a sigh of relief escaping his lips as he embraced his brother, he had been worried, and it was weight off his shoulders to know he was safe. Sally to let out a sigh as she began relief evident in her voice as she voiced her concerns. "It's good you're safe Antoine, but we need to get going and save the rest of Knothole, I want you to come give us a hand but I understand if you don't want to come." Antoine shook his head and Sonic sighed, him backing out was just like the old Antoine, but when he looked up Sonic saw a fierce look of determination in his eyes and knew he had thought to soon and misjudged the coyote when he spoke. "I am not ze scaredy cat, It iz Max, I ow do you say it, overerd im saying he could see ze future, It iz how he has done zo much already." A collective gasp was let out, fighting a vampire with speed above Sonic's was bad enough, but him being able to see the future was a horrendous thought, how could you fight someone that knew your every move, every plan, the hope sputtered out and the group found themselves sitting on their backsides completely unaware of anything they could do. "It iz not zo bad, Max waz ze furious because he can no longer see ze future, It was somesing zat he can no longer see, so if we go before he can see ze future again we can be ze victors!" The look of hope sputtered back into life and Sonic came up and patted Antoine on the back, and so did the rest of the group, it was news that they needed to act now, that waiting much longer might jeopardize their only chance, and so giving Antoine a collective thumbs up the group left to enact the first part of their plan, though an occasional nervous glance of Antoine's would fall on the twin tailed fox as they walked towards their destination.
Max looked over the various computer monitors, nothing, he looked at the holding cells, a third of his vampires were dead from the robotic assault, Max was seething, he had tied a bandage around both his shoulder and hand and they were already stained red, his robotic guards were nonexistent and only about five vampires were left to fight on, it had not been a pleasant day. "Where are you vermin, where are you hiding, come out so I can squash you like the INSIGNIFIGANT FUCKING BUG YOU ARE!" He was shaking as his eyes scanned monitor after monitor looking for a trace of the saboteur, he was met with empty halls, he was on his way to ruling an empire of ghosts and the thought actually held a note of pleasure to him, he was unfamiliar with the specifics of the fortress and with all robots (hostile or not) slaughtered, Max was basically left with a large chunk of metal that no amount of screaming could move. He breathed deeply, he could still do it, he could still find what was left of the Freedom Fighters and put an end to them, then he would rally the rest of New Knothole to his cause and turn the rest of Mobius into vampires, yes he thought he could still do it, then it happened a single monitor suddenly cut off white static filling the screen. Like a cascade the rest followed the white noise beating into Max's head like a jackhammer, the eerie glow of the white monitors shone on him as he tensed beyond a point possible, his fingers dug into the palms of his hands and he twitched in pain as the wound on his hand had reopened, he stared at the hand blood leaking out onto the cold metal floor and a thought hit him, a thought that had never occurred to him, could he actually lose? It was inconceivable, he had played his part, he had followed his plan to the letter and now fate just changed its mind, he squeezed his wounded hand and let more blood fall onto the floor, that was his solution, more blood, he would wait, they would come and this was their move, and when they came he would cut them down, they couldn't fight fate, not when he had tried for so long and failed, it couldn't be possible, and a feeling that had been absent for so many years finally crept into the ferrets mind, doubt in what he was doing.
The group beat feet out of the communications facility Robotnik had used to co-ordinate the massive number of cameras he had all over Mobius, now Max would be blind to the rest of their actions and the Freedom Fighters had set about setting up for the final stage of the plan, killing Max, he was too dangerous to be left alive, it was evident and so with Rotors help before they had left New Knothole he had built a rifle. It was simple in design and had incorporated one of the power rings into its design, it would only have enough charge for a single fire, but it would move at a speed not even Max would be able to match, they just had to keep him still long enough to fire it. After a conversation of who was the best shot Tab was elected and she took her place atop a ruined building directly adjacent to Robotnik's fortress, if she had been sighted by a single one of Max's robots then the plan would have been impossible, it was a surprise attack and the element of surprise was about all they had on their side. Antoine cast another wary glance at Tails and Tails sighed, he could feel the fear, no one had told him Sonic was a vampire either but after Antoine had told them of what he saw in the cages no one needed to wonder why he was nervous around Tails. It hurt him to think of a friend frightened of him and so he turned to Antoine a nervous look on his face as he started to try and make a conversation appear from thin air. "Hey Ant, you think the plan will work?" He waited for a reply but the coyote kept silent and just shrugged. "Ant I know your scared but don't worry I don't…." He broke off his sentence and clenched his jaw, he was about to say he I don't bite but that choice of words couldn't have been poorer so he forced himself into silence as he turned to go.
A shaky hand fell on his shoulder and he turned to see Antoine shaking slightly, he spoke a small chatter to his voice no doubt from his teeth. "Oui I am ze nervous over you, but…you would not attack me no? I was just zinking back to zat day when you asked me if I thoguth you were good, well I av ze answer now If you wish to ear it. You are magnifique and weez would not be here if not for you, so oui, I trust you." Tails felt great he wanted to hug Ant but could see the coyote was still nervous with him, so he held out his fist and after a moment Antoine bumped his against it, Tails turned and left and headed back to prepare for the final assault, all the others were occupied so he walked up and stood next to Sonic and they both gazed out over Robotnik's former fortress. The sun was just rising over it, and the sky was painted an orangish purple, the metal on it shined like fire upon a silver ocean as Tails put an arm around Sonic and started. "It sure is a sight huh big bro, I can't wait till this is over so we can grab a couple of chilidogs, how's that sound?" Sonic let out a soft laugh but kept his eye on the fortress as he put his own arm around the fox that for so long had been a brother to him, It was an all or nothing mission, liberation of Mobius or Death of it, so Sonic had to be sure to make possible final words to his brother count. " Lil bro were gonna hit Max so fast he won't know what hit him, then afterword's you, me and all of Knothole are gonna have a huge chilidog party with you as the guest of honour." He had smiled as the words left his lips, doom and gloom and last words weren't his style, anyways, he had already shared last words with the fox and there was no need to repeat himself, the fox let out a giggle and they returned their stare to the sunrise as Sally came up from behind and placed a soft hand on the both of their shoulders as she to began to stare. With that the rest soon came to stand atop the overlook with the exception of Tab who was in position awaiting the order, Rotor clasped a hand on Tails back, Bunny and Antoine stood to one side arms on each other's shoulders and Mikes arms on Antoine's shoulders, it was picturesque and at that moment they heard a howl of pain and sorrow that none of them could fathom, they knew it was Max and for a moment they all felt pity for the ferret, no creature should ever make that sound, they got in position expecting him to be out in front ready for a fight, but at that moment he was weeping in the prison cells.
It had fallen apart, it had all crumbled, he had been wrong, he had lost in the deepest sense of the term, he knew this as he stood over the body of the last vampire, he had killed them all, he was truly alone, truly a monster and his vision had turned to ash and drifted away on the wind. They had attacked suddenly, a coup as it were thinking him weak and injured, they hadn't followed his ideal, it was just a promise of blood to them, they had thought him weak but he had proved the stronger, though his back had several long bloody gashes, his fur was ripped in places and he had chipped a fang, he had proved the survivor, and that just made him feel worse. He sat in the pool of blood as soft stream of tears ran down his face, he had done so much wrong, his visions had led him here and he had blindly followed, a betrayal was unforeseen, so much had been unforeseen and it was all pointless, all the death, all the destruction, all his fault, he slowly picked himself off the ground, his body crying in protest as much as his eyes, the wounds bled furiously but he placed a hand on the wall and slowly made his way up the stairs to the front gate where he knew they were waiting, he grunted with every step, he conserved his energy, he had lost it all and it was all Tails fault, he would kill him, it was all he had, no reason, no plan, just where everything fell apart he would end it. As the doors to Robotnik's fortress burst open they were shocked at what they saw, Max was bleeding from a myriad of wounds, his fur was gone in patches, and his eyes held a look of one who was beyond tired, who no longer feared death but would greet it as an old friends, the wind blew once and all was silent until his eyes fell on the Fox, and like the roaring of thunder it began.