The Bet

Chapter 18

Sonic sat up abruptly and looked around. Scourge was knocked out on a mattress next to him, snoring loudly and didn't show any signs of waking up. He started to mentally panic. If he was here, then the guys had little to no chance of winning, 'cause Scourge was a psychotic bastard. Quietly and stealthily, he ran out the room and into the hallway. He stood there making sure the lime green hedgehog didn't wake up, and thankfully he didn't. Sighing with relief, he took a step forward only to bump into someone…

"Watch it, you jerk…" whoever it was snapped and walked off. The thing about being the only 'good guy' of the group is that people hate you just for being that. And a third of them were massive body builders, so…

Sonic picked himself up and ran to the entrance of the dirty warehouse and stopped. A guy sat there, in a chair leaning against the wall nearest the door, and he stared back at the blue hedgehog before it turned into a glare.

"What are you doing here without Scourge?" he asked.

"I'm just going out for some air…" Sonic quickly lied.

"Did Scourge authorize it?"

"Yes…can you let me out now?" the blue hedgehog was growing impatient. He had a job to do. The guy grunted and opened all the latches and locks on the door, stepping aside to let him through. When he was finally outside and door shut, he immediately ran off in the direction of Rouge's house, taking a quick shortcut he knew. Where else would they leave from?

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"This is taking too long…" Silver whined. He was ignored…again, "I should've ate that pizza…I'm hungry…" he continued. Shadow gripped the steering wheel tightly, wishing he'd shut up. Tails was banging his head against the window, and Knuckles…he just crossed his arms to keep from lashing out. He was in the back seat with him, after all.

"Can you pull over? I have to pee again."

"No, Silver…"

"But I really have to go this time!"

"No…"

"Please?"

"I said no, damn it!"

"I'm hungry…"

"Nobody cares, Silver! Just shut up!" Knuckles howled. The silver hedgehog cowered in his seat and looked away. He crossed his legs and whimpered. They left the house at exactly eleven and pulled over at eleven-fifty so he could pee, which he didn't. Eleven-thirty, same story, same result. Now, it was eleven-forty, and he started again. That and the song of being hungry.

"I know, I'll call Blaze!" he exclaimed.

"What good will that do?" Tails asked, irritated.

"She's a lot nicer than you guys…" he complained. Then he got another idea, "No, I'll call Amy." Shadow's ears twitched hearing the pink female's name. Was he being serious…?

"Hello?"

Yes…he was…

"Hi, Amy!"

"…What do you want Silver?"

"Your boyfriend is being mean to me and won't let me pee. Tell him to do so…please."

"…Goodbye, Silver."

"No, wait!"

"…"

"I'm bored and hungry…keep me company…?"

"There are three other people in the same car as you and you had to call me because Shadow won't let you pee?"

"He's driving…"

"Silver…you've lost it…"

"He has!" Tails exclaimed.

"Get out my conversation!" Silver shot back.

"You have me on speaker phone, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. I really have to go, tell him to-"

"I will not."

"But-"

"NO!"

"Meanie!"

"Goodbye, Silver! -click-"

"You call yourself telling on me?" Shadow asked mockingly with a smirk. The silver hedgehog kicked his seat and pouted.

"I want out!"

"Throw yourself out the car. Nobody stopping you." the ebony hedgehog retorted. There was a silence between the males before Silver once again broke it.

"I need to pee…" They all groaned.

"He called you to tell on Shadow?" Cream questioned.

"Yes."

"You have a very strange taste in men, Blaze…" the rabbit stated.

"I know…"

"Can we get back to the game?" Rouge asked.

"It's not a very fun game…" Amy complained. They sat in a little circle facing one another with a bottle in the middle of them on a cutting board. The ivory bat spun it and it landed on Cream.

"Not again…"

"Tell us one thing we don't about you already." the bat instructed. The little rabbit looking around in thought. The objective of the game was nothing really- at least not when Rouge explained it- but really it was a way so the bat could have dirt on them if she needed a favor sometime in the future. A knock sounded, which Cream was relieved for.

"You're still going to talk." Rouge said as she got up. Cream groaned. When she made to the front door, she had probably expect two things; a guy trying to kidnap them or Knuckles saying he forgot his key again, but not…Sonic.

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"Let me get this straight; you came all the way over here to tell us that Scourge was still there when we're not even with them?!" Amy exclaimed. The blue hedgehog shrugged in response. When she said it, it sounded stupid, of course, but he was in a desperate situation seeing as one of the females wanted to kill him, another was a hammer-wielding maniac with a grudge against him, and the other two…they weren't all that happy with him either…

"Sonic, surely you must have some kind of brain activity in that head of yours that said find the guys and not us?" Blaze asked.

"I wasn't really expecting them to leave so early…" Sonic said.

"That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard, and I've a lot of them from you, Sonic." Amy said.

"Well, we could always go help…" Rouge suggested.

"We can't go with Blaze like this! One of us will have to stay back and watch her…" The girls chatted amongst themselves before coming to a conclusion.

"Okay, Sonic, this is what's going to happen. Cream and Blaze stay here and Amy and I will go with you to help the guys. Understood?" Sonic nodded and headed for the door, but stopped when they didn't follow.

"You guys coming?"

"Um, hello? We can't leave in our pajamas!" Amy said, hands on her hips. The blue hedgehog sighed and leaned against the door while they left to get ready.

"Sonic…you've got to be the stupidest hedgehog I've ever met…and considering I've met Silver, that's saying something." Blaze said. Sonic couldn't argue with that…

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Alright, let's go over this one last time; Knuckles will knock on the door and hide. Whoever is there, Shadow, you'll…knock them out-quietly- and signal for us to come in, Silver you stay in the car-"

"What?!"

"Once in, Shadow and I will crawl through the vents to find their armory, destroying any and all weapons they have, leveling the playing field. Knuckles, you'll be keeping watch and make sure anybody who gets suspicious doesn't snitch and ruin our cover-"

"When do I come in?"

"Shut up. Once me and Shadow are finish, we'll make our back to Knuckles, find Sonic, and find this 'boss' of theirs. We'll know who he is, beat the shit outta him, and anybody else who interfere, then Silver will call the police to arrest them. Got it?" Tails asked. Knuckles and Shadow nodded, but Silver was still shocked.

"That's all I get? Call the police?!" he complained.

"You can't do much of anything else, so yes, that's all you get. And you better do it!" Tails threatened. Silver crossed his arms and pouted as the car doors closed.

"Alright…let's get this over with."

KNOCK! The guy that let Sonic out earlier jumped, he had dozed off after he left. Another knock came, louder this time, and the male grumbled to himself.

"That Sonic…" He pulled the latches and locks loose again and opened the door and sat back down. When nobody came in, he got up and looked out the door, meeting Shadow. "Who the hell are you?"

"Nobody important…" Before the guy had time to reach for his gun, Shadow grabbed his head and slammed it against the wall. The guy slumped to the floor with a thud, hitting his head on the chair on the way down. When he didn't move for a good two minutes, he peeked back out the door and held up the 'ok' sign with his hand. Knuckles and Tails rushed over and shut the door behind him.

"Did you kill him?!" Tails exclaimed quietly.

"Nah, but he should be out for a while." The fox admired the hedgehog's work, before moving on. Looking around the room, he found a vent in corner near a hallway. He examined it, seeing it hand screws holding it in place.

"Alright, Knuckles, life me up." The echidna cracked his knuckles before picking up the fox and letting him stand on his shoulders as he pulled out a screwdriver and went to work. When Tails finally finished, he handed Shadow the cover and hopped up, grabbed the edge of the entrance and hauled himself in. "I go ahead and wait." he called back.

The sound of him scurrying away was heard as Knuckles looked back at Shadow. "I can do it myself." the ebony hedgehog said. Backing up, he took a running start, jumped off Knuckles and grabbed the entrance with one hand.

"Show off…" The echidna was ignored as he pulled himself into the vent. He crawled after Tails, seeing him by the exit to another room. He was already working on the screws there.

"Just how do you expect us to destroyed three hundred guns and fifty knives and blades?" Shadow asked.

"Step on them, bang them against stuff, destroy the ammo, anything…just make sure they can't use it after we're done." Tails explained, letting the cover clatter to the floor below. The fox jumped down and Shadow came down after him. "Wait…how do you know how many there are?"

"Calculate the size of different handguns and rifles, the volume of the box and how many there are…" he trailed off. The fox was some what speechless, "I know my weapons." he finished. Shrugging, Tails grabbed the first box and emptied it. A couple of handguns and knives fell out and he immediately started to jump on them, smashing them to little pieces.

"I guess that's one way to do it…" Shadow grabbed another box and did the same thing, taking some knives and throwing them into the floor, making them impossible to pull back out. Also dented a few of them, making them useless. They continued until all the boxes' contents were scattered on the floor and broken up.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"And I thought Silver had the most boring job…" Knuckles complained to himself. Unbeknownst to him, a certain lime green hedgehog was watching him from a distance with a distasteful scowl on his face. He had…a shovel in his hands and he was prepared to use it. He could be resourceful at times… creeping up behind him, he raised it over his head and brought it down…but he didn't hit him!

"I don't think that's happening," Knuckles said mockingly, holding the metal end of the shovel, "But a shovel? Really?"

"Let go!" Scourge exclaimed, snatching the thing out of his hands. He threw it to the floor and pulled a gun on him.

"Aw, c'mon man! At least fight fair!" the echidna said. Scourge didn't budge so he had no choice but to surrender. He was unarmed and he knew he couldn't fight with a bullet in his head. He put his hands up.

"I know you're not alone. Where are they?" the hedgehog sneered, pressing the gun to his head.

"That's confidential information," Knuckles said, humoring himself. But the joke wasn't funny when he heard the safety click. He sighed, "Armory…"

"I'd thank you, but I don't like you. Start walking." he ordered. And this is the time Silver would've come in handy…

"Alright, with that out the way, let's go find Sonic." Tails said. He carefully stepped over the mess they made and went for the door. Upon opening it, he found Knuckles and Scourge on the other end of it, and the echidna didn't look too happy…

"Y'know…you probably would've made it had I not been here…Good thing I was!" Scourge laughed. Tails groaned and put his hands up, but Shadow didn't.

"So, you caught us. What use do you have for us?" he asked, crossing his arms instead.

"Well I can think of a few charges…trespassing, maybe murder…"

"But we didn't murder anyone!" Tails exclaimed.

"No…but my friend back there has a concussion. A real bad one, too…" he trailed off, looking at the ebony hedgehog.

"You said you didn't kill him!"

"I didn't! He's still alive…"

"Not for long, at least not with medical attention, but you has time for that," Scourge held a second gun and pointed it at him, "Although, I don't mind doing a couple years for murder myself. If you would be as so kind to follow me…"

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Sonic skidded to a stop in front of the door and put Amy down, just as Rouge descended from the air. The air seemed very still and chilling. The midnight moon overhead added a mystery glow on the rundown, rusty warehouse and the pink female had a pretty bed feeling about all this.

"This is the place?" Rouge asked.

"Yeah…it worse on the inside…" Sonic replied, knocking on the door carefully. After a few minutes of waiting and hearing no answer, he tried to open the door to find it opened with ease, "Huh…he doesn't usually leave the door…unlocked…" he stopped when he saw the guy who let him out on the floor unconscious and motionless with blood on his face.

"Looks like they've been here…" Amy concluded. A shovel and ventilation cover were on the floor also.

"Scourge has too… We need to hurry. Follow me." Looking around, he led the two females down a hallway or two, before coming to a stop in front of a door. He peeked inside, went in, and came out with three guns in hand.

"What's that for?"

"Well, you'll need to defend yourselves, and some these people have been dicks these last few months to me, so I don't mind shooting a couple in the face." Sonic said. Rouge and Amy took one and he continued on their path. Then stopped again when they heard familiar voices behind one door they were passing.

"This is just all too easy! You'll make great additions to the team, if the boss find any use for ya. Knucklehead probably won't be needed, though…we have enough musclemen here." that was Scourge.

"I wouldn't want to work for you or him!" that was Tails.

"If you want to stay alive, you take any offer we throw at your scrawny ass." Scourge sneered.

"You talk pretty big for someone who acts like they're in charge…" that was Shadow.

"Hey, what can I say…I was meant to rule."

"Rule what, exactly?" Shadow questioned, they could hear his sarcasm and almost feel that raised eyebrow with it.

"What I want! But, you could, too, Stripes. You just gotta drop the goody-two-shoes act and join us." the lime green hedgehog said.

"Yeah, no thanks." the ebony hedgehog retorted.

"Fine, you'll break eventually…" Silence was all they heard for the next minute or so, before Scourge spoke again, "I better go let the boss know we've got fresh fish…stay here and watch that door." he told whoever was in that room. Steps going in the opposite direction was heard.

"Okay, this could be our only chance. Help me break the door down." Sonic asked quietly. Amy pushed him aside and her hammer materialized in her hands.

"I got this." she said, smirking. Pulling back, she let out a small, quiet battle cry and swung, hitting the metal dead in the center.

"What the hell is that?!" someone exclaimed. Amy pulled back again and swung a second time, the metal yielding under the force. A third time and it went crashing to the floor. A scared human male shakily held a gun at them, as Shadow, Tails, and Knuckles sat tied to chairs.

"Well, that's one way to do it, I guess…" Sonic said impressed.

"Stay back you hammer wielding freak!" he exclaimed, pointing the gun at Amy. The pink female crossed her arms in defiance.

"What if I don't want to?" she said.

"I'm warning you! Put it down!" he ordered. Amy raised an eyebrow at the guy, looking at her Piko Piko Hammer for a second.

"Okay!" She flung it at him, knocking him and the gun on the floor. The hammer suddenly disappeared as she went up to inspect her work, "Yep, he's out…I hope I didn't kill him…" Tails and Knuckles eyes were as big as saucers, but Shadow didn't seem to fazed. It was like her to do something like that…

"As much as we appreciate the help, what are you doing here?" Tails asked.

"Sonics' stupid self said, 'I gotta find someone to tell Scourge is still here!', found us, thinking you were still there, and dragged us along to help." Amy replied, glaring at the blue hedgehog.

"I don't exactly have powers to predict the future and know when something's going to happen, y'know…" Sonic said.

"Whatever. Can we do this today, please?" Shadow asked impatiently. Rouge pulled out a knife and cut through the ropes keeping them to the chair.

"Do you usually carry a knife around?" Knuckles asked.

"Of course! A girl has to have something to defend herself nowadays." Rouge said, freeing him then moving on.

"Okay, we got them. Now what?" Amy questioned.

"Now, you realize that it all for nothing!" they turned to find…Scourge and three other guys behind them. Rouge hadn't even gotten to Tails yet and the human was still knocked out on the floor, "Miss me?"

"No, not really."

Ah, don't you just LOVE cliffhangers? I know I do. I actually finished writing out the whole story…the next chapter may or may not be posted today. I make no promises! But, what do you think will happen to them? And will I ever tell you who's behind it all?! I don't even know myself (which is a lie)! Comments, thoughts, concerns. Until then… -D.A.K