In Due Season

Chapter XVI

But the Reason Behind It is Hard to Portrayal

"How are we going to get there?" Vector asked as he followed Knuckles to the workshop. The guardian rubbed a hand down the length of his face as he tried to think. They had just sent Charmy on his way with Kimi-Cheese in tow-to the neighboring town where the rest of Kingsbury's refugees were. So, at least she was safe. However, they couldn't get back in contact with Espio and that worried Knuckles. Now, he had to find a way of reaching Sonic and the others nearly a hundred miles away.

"Are you sure you don't know how to use a helicopter?" Knuckles asked as they reached the foot of the shop. The G.U.N. soldiers, now neatly tied up, had left plenty of the flying machines around the island.

"I'm telling ya, planes, I might can do, but I don't know the first thing about a helicopter," the detective stated. The echidna sighed. If they had Solana it would have been no problem, but that was before finding out she might be a traitor. He always found her irritating, but a conspirator? Anyway, it left him with fewer options. He couldn't risk taking Angel Island any closer to a possible enemy base. Raising the island higher and trying to glide there himself sounded just as dicey, especially since he wasn't too sure where Base 21 was. Threatening one of the soldiers to take him there came with its own dangers considering these were the people attacking them to begin with. And sitting around hoping for the best certainly wasn't an option.

"Aren't they the same thing?" the guardian tried again, frustrated he may have to make one of these cockamamie choices.

"I'm pretty sure no; no, they're not," Vector deadpanned, having already had this conversation once, until he spotted something which didn't add up to him, "Hey, isn't that the Blizzard?"

Knuckles looked over to the left of the workshop. In the rush of finding out what was going on, he missed the fact Solana's helicopter was still resting where it had been last night. But, if it was here could that mean . . .?

The echidna jogged over to the aircraft with only a hunch; a dreadful one at that. Sure enough, slumped in the pilot's seat was the dhole. Immediately, the guardian pulled open the flight door as Vector also ran up.

"Is she okay?" the crocodile asked as Knuckles checked Solana for signs of life. She was breathing, but it was very shallow. He looked her over for any wounds, but couldn't find any. Then he remembered the G.U.N. soldiers were using darts and assumed she might have been drugged. Taking her from the seat, he laid her down on the ground and positioned her head so she could get more air. He asked Vector to run and get some water while he tried waking the pilot up, his mind racing. If Solana was a traitor, why would they have hurt her too? Was this a trick? It wouldn't be the first time, now would it?

"Wha-" the dhole uttered groggily. Her ears twitched in alarm as her eyes shot open. She tried to rise quickly, but found the effort too much and collapsed back to the ground.

"Solana."

"Knuckles?" she voiced, seeing the guardian knelt down beside her for the first time.

"What's going on? Why are you here?" he asked harshly. He wasn't going to be fooled on this one if he could help it.

"I . . . what? Wait! Cream?! Kimi?! The soldiers! They were attacking us, Knuckles," Solana exclaimed in a panic as she tried sitting up again. The echidna frowned. She sure didn't sound like a traitor. Rouge had always told him his problem was he overthought things; he never seemed to trust his first gut reaction; his instinct. This was shaping up to be another case for that.

"We have Kimi and we know about the soldiers. We took them out already."

"Thanks be to heaven!" she said in a breath of relief.

"But Cream was taken to base twenty-one," Knuckles said cautiously, looking for any sign the dhole was being deceptive. He could find none. But the message from Espio . . .

"Oh, no! We have to get her back. Where is everyone else?" she questioned just as Vector came up holding a bucket of water.

"Ah, good. She's awake. What are you up to, traitor?" Vector accused as he practically dropped the bucket to the ground. Solana shifted away from the spilled contents and looked to the crocodile in confusion.

"Huh?"

"Don't play dumb with us."

"I don't understand . . ." Solana began.

"Espio says you're working for the other side. So, tell us what's going on, sister," Vector said with a scowl. The dhole shook her head in disbelief.

"I'm not a traitor. Why would he say that? I haven't done anything wrong. All I remember is being attacked. They shot me with some kind of poison before I ran into the forest. They went after Cream. I tried to get help by radioing Tails in the Blizzard, but I must have passed out."

"A likely story."

"It doesn't matter," Knuckles interrupted the two as he stood to his feet, trying to get a handle on the situation and his own ambivalence.

"It doesn't matter?!" Vector said in exasperation.

"No, it doesn't. She can get us to base 21."

"But how can we trust her?" Vector emphasized with outstretched arms. Solana glared as she finally had the strength to stand up as well.

"Why would I hurt you? You guys are my friends. Well, at least, Tails, Sonic and Amy. You guys, not so much," Solana stated frankly. The crocodile and dhole went back to arguing; the echidna decided to go with his gut.

"Vector, no one this irritating could be a traitor. There's got to be another explanation."

"Oh, yeah, like what?"

"I don't know," the guardian conceded, "but she is still our only hope of reaching the others . . ."

"Help!"

The trio turned in the direction of the shout as Charmy came flying back at hyper speed, Kimi wailing in his arms as Cheese buzzed agitatedly around her head. He stopped just short of colliding with them. He appeared shaken and pale.

"What is it, kid?" Vector asked.

"There are these crazy huge robots down there! They started chasing me when I got into town. I had to fly back here. They just wouldn't let up! There had to be three or four of them. They . . . they . . ."

"Woah! Slow down, Charmy. Here," Knuckles offered as he took the crying baby hedgehog from him for the second time that day, "Did they have just one large orb as a head?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"They're back!? It took forever to lose them the first time," Solana panicked.

"What are you guys talking about?" Vector asked giving a confused head shake.

"We encountered these bots while you two were in Terence," Knuckles offered as he rocked Kimi a bit, "but we finally escaped them."

"Well, I don't know about that," Charmy interjected quickly, "I think we should get out of here. The way those things were teleporting all over the place, I was lucky to get away . . ."

"Wait? Teleporting? Like Chaos Control?" Knuckles started with his own fears. Cheese chirped loudly as if to confirm his suspicions.

"I guess. I'm surprised they didn't follow me here . . . Hey! Where you going, Knuckles?!" Charmy shouted as the echidna took off running. The rest followed close behind as the guardian came to the foot of the Master Emerald Shrine. The large gemstone was glowing brightly; almost blindingly. Knuckles understood immediately.

It was radiating protection.

The Master Emerald was shielding them from the Chaos Emeralds.

He looked down at the baby hedgehog in his arms. Kimi's green eyes locked with his violet ones. Her parents were probably in trouble.

"I'm moving the island," he stated to the others, handing Kimi to Solana and ascending the steps. The option he had liked the least seemed to be the only feasible one now.

o

Rouge slipped past another guard outpost. Despite never having visited Base 21 before, she was finding her way around pretty well considering the layout of these kinds of places were generally the same. Thanks to the commotion caused in the cell block, she was able to sneak right into the main facility. She had also seen to Cream successfully commandeering a plane as she used her own escape to distract the guards. Unfortunately, it left her restricted to the shadows as soldiers were now patrolling every inch of the base. The increased surveillance wasn't a huge concern for the spy. What she spotted outside, however, was.

There were several large trucks parked out front; each marked as if they would be transporting hazardous materials. Yet, upon closer inspection, Rouge saw prisoners, shackled together in droves, being loaded into the backs of these vehicles. The bat could barely wrap her mind around the scene. Where were they taking them? Why were they doing this to begin with? How far up the chain of command did this go? Was the president aware of all this? What would become of these captives? The questions were endless. Luckily, for a spy like herself, there were ways of finding answers and one of the most important of them all was the location of Amy.

Rouge hadn't seen the pink hedgehog once since being brought here. Grant it, without her usual tools, it wasn't going to be easy to find the Amy if the hedgehog was even here to begin with. Honestly, Rouge had been shocked to find Cream, considering the rabbit had been on Angel Island last. It either meant Cream left the island and was captured or the island was attacked directly. On top of that, she'd overheard a few soldiers in passing mention Sonic being here, but there were no signs of the hero either. The whole situation made the government agent nervous, thus her especially cautious navigation of the base. Just now, it took her ten minutes to sneak down a hallway, but it was worth every agonizing step as she slid into an empty office.

The first thing she did was lock the door before moving around the room and making sure it was truly empty. She noted the space was windowless but had a second door in it near the back. She quickly went to the adjacent entrance and placed an ear to the smooth surface. She heard muffled voices on the other side. She leaned back and inspected the door. It opened outward. She glanced around the room and spotted a desk lamp along with a pair of scissors. The spy knew a thing or two about jamming doors and quickly used parts of the lamp to secure the second door shut. It was enough to keep someone out long enough for her to escape, but she placed the scissors in her belt just in case she needed to get through that door herself. Once secure, Rouge turned her attention to a computer on the desk occupying the office.

It was standard issue for G.U.N.; nothing fancy, but password protected. She sat at the desk and looked at the lock screen. Typically, she could type in her credentials and get in, but she highly doubted her clearance encryption would be accepted here. So, she needed someone else's. Normally, an operative of the government wouldn't have knowledge of other agents' authorization codes, but Rouge was also a former jewel thief; passwords weren't a problem. She typed in the name of her superior and his favorite sports team. She was in.

First things, first; she needed the layout of the base so she would have a better idea of where things were located. The schematics showed a fairly large three-story complex flanked by two equally large warehouses. She was currently on the first floor of the main building, having escaped the compound to the left. She wondered if Amy may be in the other warehouse or on one of the other stories of this facility, so, she opened up the security protocols. Several camera feeds popped up on the screen and she began flipping through them one by one. Most showed the heavily guarded entrance ways, corridors and main gates, but finally one captured her attention.

"Shadow?" she whispered as she spotted the hedgehog on the security footage. He was strapped down to a metal exam table and appeared to be unconscious. Rouge's anxiety level doubled at the sight as she took in a sharp breath. How had they captured him? Was he okay? Where was he? She had to reach him somehow.

She tried toggling the camera angle to get a better idea of his location but it appeared the position of the camera was fixed. She read the location description in the far left corner: Holding 3B. On a hunch, she typed Holding 3A and found a feed on Sonic who looked particularly worn out, holding down a green tile. She typed in Holding 3C and was horrified to see Amy trapped in a prison surrounded by water. She quickly jumped back to the facility's diagram. These holding cells were on the third floor, but she needed to know how to access them. To her horror, the office door handle jiggled. Rouge jumped up from the computer.

"I don't remember locking this door," she heard a male voice from outside. She quickly moved to the other door and cut the desk lamp from it. With practiced caution, she cracked the exit open and peeked inside. It appeared whoever was in there earlier vacated. She slipped inside and closed the door behind her.

"Agent Rouge?" she heard from her left. Out of reflex, she got into a fighting stance, ready to kick her would-be assailant. However, no attack was forthcoming. Instead, there stood a young soldier with a contemplative expression.

"Who are you?" she demanded, albeit quietly so as not to draw the attention of whoever was coming into the other room.

"I'm Officer Alec Henderson, ma'am. Been assigned to guarding the main communication room and ordered to give your location if spotted," he stated in an equally quiet tone. Rouge didn't know what to make of the reply. Was this man going to turn her in or not? It wasn't until she saw him lower his gun further that she had her answer.

"I'm not gonna do that though, ma'am. What the General's got going on here isn't right," he said with conviction. Rouge gave a sigh of relief. She knew this was a risking move for the young man, considering disobeying orders normally resulted in hefty penalties. All she could do was pray this was the break she was looking for.

"Well, Alec. I need to get to Holdings 3. Do you know how I can get there?" she whispered until the side door began to open. Alec quickly glanced at a desk and indicated with his firearm for her to hide there. She ducked down as footsteps entered the room.

"Henderson?! Were you using the computer in the other room?" a gruff male voice barked.

"No, sir. Why do you ask, sir?"

"You idiot. It's a mess in there. Clearly, someone else was in the office. Didn't you hear anything?"

"Sir, McKenzie was in here less than two minutes ago briefing me on the situation. We didn't hear anything, sir," Alec stated, feigning ignorance well.

"Don't just stand there! Obviously, that bat must have done this and by the looks of it, she's headed to save her little friends. Let security detail know."

"Do you think she knows to take the second-floor elevators to get up there, sir?"

Rouge's ears perked up at the information. Alec was trying to answer her question.

"Mm. It's a possibility. Go ahead and warn the second and third floors. I'll have McKenzie and his team do another sweep down here. She's got to be somewhere. Now, go!"

"Oh, course, General."

Alec quickly made his way out of the office and intentionally left the door open. Rouge remained hidden behind the desk as she heard General Davis move over to a large monitor in the opposite corner. She took a chance and peeked over the piece of furniture. He had his back to her. This would probably be her only chance. She spread her wings and flew out of the open doorway, making sure to keep an eye out for any approaching guards. What she spotted was a hand waving her into another office further up the hall. She glided down the corridor and slid inside. Alec closed the door.

"We're lucky this room's empty. Look, I don't have much time to explain," he said urgently. The bat nodded.

"Good, cause I don't have much time to listen," she replied back as she folded her arms across her chest.

"This is supposed to be a training facility, but from what I understand, General Davis and this Lieutenant Craven have hijacked it for this illegal slave trade operation," Alec said gravely. Rouge narrowed her eyes.

"I kind of gathered that from the thousands of prisoners, hon. What I need is a way to stop them."

"Right. There aren't very many personnel here, probably because this isn't condoned. Most of them are on the top two floors because . . ."

"Because that's where the heavies are being held. I need a way to free them if we're going shut this place down."

"I know they're being held on the third floor and the only way I've seen those cells accessed are through these special elevators on the second story," Alec said.

"Mm," Rouge mused as she thought more on the situation, "Is there a way onto the roof?"

o

He paced back and forth in nervous agitation; the glow of computer monitors reflecting off his dull blue eyes. This isn't how it was supposed to go. He never meant for it to go this far and he certainly hadn't meant for Sonic and the others to be hurt. In fact, their protection had been his whole objective; the reason he started this campaign in the first place. Now, it was beyond him.

What had begun as a well-intentioned plan to end the suffering of millions and bring a madman to justice had turned into a nightmarish design of terror and anguish to all, trapping him in a fortress of lies. Two years ago, he had been different. Two years ago, he had been free of the burdens weighing on him now. Two years ago, he had been helpful. And it was two years ago, he embarked on a path that would keep dragging him deeper and deeper into a web of self-deception and despair.

Maybe if he had said something a month ago, a year ago, the first day he tried to do this damnable thing on his own, it could have been different. But each time the thought of revealing the truth came up, he tricked himself into thinking he could handle it all alone and each time the shame and guilt grew stronger; darker. Now, he was just surviving; trying to stay one step ahead of the deadly game he had inadvertently created.

Both doctors Eggman and Eggman Nega were nowhere to be found, the Chaos and Sol Emeralds were not only behaving oddly, but dangerously so, and a subgroup of the military organization, G.U.N., was driving a wedge between his kind and the humans in unimaginable ways. Most of all . . . worst of all, he had betrayed the trust of his friends. He had tried his hardest, his best, but he was aware all it brought was disastrous consequences and nothing could undo the damage he had done. With this awareness came fear. The fear of revealing what he'd done. The fear of rejection. The fear of being unforgivable. The fear of losing the only family he'd ever had.

And now, the fear would be realized. Espio knew. He could have gotten rid of the chameleon, but he didn't. So, it would only be a matter of time before they all knew; before Sonic knew. There was no way to reverse that and it was destroying him inside.

Despite his intentions; despite his desires and regrets; despite his wish to turn back and start again, he had to see the plan through. He couldn't afford to stop it now if he'd wanted to. It wasn't just millions at stake anymore, but the entire fabric of reality itself. There would be loss, yes, but, as before, all he could do was try and mitigate the collateral damage, praying the punishment for his crimes would be swift.

"Lieutenant Craven?" a soldier stated from the command room's door, drawing the other from his bleak reflections, "The Island is heading this way, but we still can't find Agent Rouge. General Davis is wondering if we should abort the mission."

"No, it's all going to plan. God, help me; it's always going to plan."