Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 12
An iron door that hides a secret behind its hinges rests at the bottom of a dark staircase in the basement of a building a psychopath calls home. Having descended the other floors and checking them one by one, this was all that was left. A portal to the sub-basement, usually just used for storage. What lied behind it? No one knows.
Well, that's not entirely true. Max knows. So does Scourge. The others have an idea, having been told by the two. It's a tunnel dug out underneath of the city and filled to the brim with S.W.A.T. Bots.
Sally, in making their plans earlier, had made a point of not coming down here. And for good reason! Even with the entire team together once again, a few thousand S.W.A.T. Bots were too much for them to handle.
Nevertheless, here they were, waiting for someone to open the door and let them enter to meet their collective demise. But, no one moved. They all just looked at each other.
Finally, Mighty spoke up. "Well... could somebody open the door?"
Antoine, ever the coward, replied through chattering teeth: "I am not zinking zis eez ze course of ze best options!"
"We don't have any choice Antoine." Sonic said with little regard for his friend's paranoia.
Antoine opened his mouth to protest again but was brushed aside by Knuckles, who shouldered his way to the front of the group and put his hand on the handle. "Are you guys ready?" He asked the group.
Though no one spoke up, there was a collective halfhearted nod. So he spun the handle, opening the door and exposing them to whatever lay inside.
They stepped through and saw the huge tunnel that took up the entire wall on the far side of the room, probably about twenty feet wide, and nine feet tall at least. The tunnel extended far beyond the end of their line of sight, cutting through sewer lines, water pipes, electric cables, and other assorted things as it continued on seemingly endlessly.
As they took in the 'sights', Sonic noticed a small yellow speck at the far end of the tunnel. He let out a pained sigh and waited for the inevitable. Sure enough, a split-second later, Fleetway was hovering over the group and glaring at them with every ounce of menace he could muster.
"You don't give up. Do you?" Fleetway asked as he stared Sonic down.
Sonic took a deep breath and stepped forward to face Fleetway and to make sure that there was no one else in his immediate vicinity, just in case. He set his face to the hardest edge he could bring to bear, glaring at Fleetway with a lazer-like intensity that cracked his facade of impenetrable strength just a bit. He said nothing.
"You're a pitiful fool!" Fleetway growled. But still Sonic showed no signs of cracking.
Fleetway let out a powerful roar and charged at Sonic who sidestepped and kicked Fleetway in the back as he passed, causing him to end up running head first into the wall behind the blue hero. He pulled himself off of the wall and turned to face Sonic again.
Sonic kept his expression rock solid as he said: "You're in the wrong city pal!" Then it was his turn to charge his adversary.
He jumped toward Fleetway and latched onto his shoulders. Then he thrust himself to the side to rip Fleetway down to the ground and end up on top of him. He raised his right hand in a fist to hit Fleetway with all his strength, but Fleetway struck first, blasting red lasers from his pupils and burning Sonic's raised arm before he could get in a strike.
Sonic was forced to retreat a handful of steps from the blast, leaving Fleetway room enough to regain his footing and return to neutral ground. He readied himself for another attack on Sonic but was hit from behind by a massive punch from Knuckles that sent him flying over Sonic and up into the ceiling of the tunnel at the far end of the room. Sonic nodded his appreciation to Knuckles for his help, then moved to Fleetway to keep up the attack.
He dashed toward the grounded hedgehog, jumping up and rolling into a ball mid-air, then unrolling and swinging his right foot out in a vicious axe kick that connected square on Fleetway's head as he pulled himself up.
Fleetway growled, then roared in anger. Then he disappeared in a flash right out from underneath of Sonic.
Sonic couldn't see him anywhere. Where did he go?
Fleetway appeared behind Sonic's friends, then connected blow after blow, knocking them all out in just one powerful strike each. First he hit Antoine in the back of the head, then Rotor, Tyler, Max, Tiara, Blaze, Knack, Tails. Sonic tried to jump in and stop the attack, but it was no good. Fleetway simply swatted him away and continued knocking out his friends until, finally, only Sonic, Scourge, and Sally remained.
Sonic took a moment to catch his breath, as fighting Fleetway was again leaving him exhausted after only a few moments. "This guy's a tank!" Sonic shouted through hurried breaths.
"We should attack him in unison." Sally shouted back as Fleetway came to a stop between the three of them, almost daring them to attack.
"You don't get it, do you?" Fleetway snarled. "I'm the deadliest thing alive! You don't stand a chance against me!"
Scourge charged, taking Fleetway's challenge. He tried to slide, aiming for Fleetway's legs to trip him up. But Fleetway simply jumped into the air, just barely clearing Scourge's head.
"By the time I'm done with you there won't be anything left to bury!" He exclaimed as Scourge turned and charged him again, this time in an attempt to tackle him.
Fleetway simply held out his arm and let Scourge run into his fist at a couple hundred miles per hour, knocking Scourge to the ground and causing him to careen across the floor. He slammed into the wall to Fleetway's left and just laid there, shaking in pain.
Sally was terrified! Sonic had said that this guy was bad news, but this was far and away the worst thing she could've imagined! And, to tell the truth, she had no idea what they would do now.
Fleetway lowered his shoulder and ran into Sonic, knocking him into the wall behind him. As Sonic slid down the wall and held his chest in pain. Every breath felt like a stab in his chest on his right side where he'd taken the brunt of the impact from Fleetway.
As Sonic tried to figure out if his ribs were broken, Sally rushed over to Scourge to see if she could help him off the floor. He was on his hands and knees when she got there, panting heavily. He looked up at her and wiped the blood from his mouth.
"We need to do something to throw him off." Scourge said in a wheeze.
"But what? Sonic is doing all he can just to keep up with him." Sally said.
There was a moment of silence between the two of them as they contemplated their options. Then Scourge tried to stand up, but his legs gave out from under him. He grunted as he hit the floor, then growled in frustration.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
Scourge shook his head. "I'm dizzy as heck! I can't stand right now." Scourge thought for a moment, then said: "I need some time to get my strength back. I need you to help Sonic keep Fleetway busy for a couple minutes." He held up his hands and closed his eyes to focus.
Sally just watched, waiting for something to happen. Then, strangely, green wisps of energy drifted from Scourge's hands and wrapped themselves around Sally. Suddenly, she felt an incredible amount of strength and energy come over her. She took it all in for a second, then looked back at Scourge, who was now a sickly shade of blue. Then he collapsed to the ground.
"go..." Scourge said in a nearly inaudible moan. "buy us some... time..."
Sally nodded and turned back toward Fleetway and Sonic, who were exchanging blows at an incredible speed; yet, strangely she could somehow process it as if time had slowed, though it hadn't. She took a breath as she waited for her moment, then felt a surge of energy rush through her like a bolt of lightning as she took off in a green streak toward the two hedgehogs.
She injected herself into the fight, throwing punches and kicks at Fleetway from behind him, keeping herself on the opposite side of Sonic so that they could trap Fleetway between them. She aimed one of her kicks right at Fleetway's face, then felt herself lurch backward slightly as it connected, sending Fleetway tumbling through the air over Sonic's head.
Sonic did a double take when he looked at Sally. For a moment, he'd thought that she was actually Scourge due to only being able to see the green fur. His eyes went wide when he realized it was her.
"Hey Sal? What's up with the new hair coloring?" He asked jokingly.
Sally looked at him with a confused expression written plainly on her face. That is, of course, until she realized that her fur had changed from brown to green. "Woah!" She exclaimed as she started looking up and down her own body in disbelief.
Sonic turned, leaving her to finish her 'examination' and instead tried to focus on taking out Fleetway, if such a thing was even possible.
He rushed up to Fleetway and tried to kick him in the back while he was down. As Fleetway hit the dirt, a thought crossed Sonic's mind: He wasn't going to kill Fleetway, that wasn't in him. But, if he didn't kill him, then how would they stop him?
Fleetway jumped to his feet and spat some blood out on the ground and turned around to snarl at Sonic with reddish teeth. He lunged at Sonic's chest and drove him backward into the wall, pinning him there and driving his right fist into Sonic's gut, knocking the air out of him in a whoosh. Then he continued his assault on Sonic's midsection, alternating one fist after the other.
Sally, having snapped back to reality, came up behind Fleetway to get him off of Sonic. She threw out her own right punch, but it was sloppy due to her lack of training. Fleetway caught her fist without even turning around, then twisted her arm around until it was just at its snapping point, then held it there as Sally anxiously repeated "Ow...Ow...Ow..." while she winced at the sharp pain.
He flipped her arm in the other direction, twirling her entire body through the air and slamming her down onto the ground as he fell with her. She landed on top of his left leg, which he'd slid underneath her as they'd fallen. Then he put his other leg over top of her neck and started to squeeze. She was very resilient to his attempted choking, but was nearly suffocated by the time Sonic had collected himself enough to kick Fleetway in the side of the head and knock him to the side, effectively getting him off of Sally.
She coughed as Fleetway rolled away, catching her breath and getting to her knees. She stood up with a hand on her throat in a useless attempt to ease the pain. Nevertheless, she turned toward Fleetway and put the strongest, most fearless expression on her face. She may be outmatched, but she had help!
Sonic moved up to stand beside her and crossed his arms as he too put a fearless expression on his face. He turned and looked at Sally, asking a silent question.
Are you ready?
She gave him a slight nod.
Let's do this!
The two dashed forward and surrounded Fleetway, Sonic on his left, Sally on his right.
Sonic threw a punch at Fleetway's head while Sally spun underneath him and kicked his legs out from under him. Sonic's punch connected, and he used the momentum to turn around put his back to Fleetway as he fell. Then he kicked up his left leg to catch Fleetway and flip him back up into the air. As Fleetway tumbled into the air, Sally met his rising form with a well-placed elbow that hit him in the gut and bent him in half, sending him back down to the ground. Sonic twirled and slid his right leg out to hit Fleetway and flip him around and land on his face instead of his back.
Sally readied her next attack but felt the energy suddenly leave her as she went from pale green to her natural medium brown again. Fleetway was laying on the ground in front of her and Sonic stared at her.
"What was that anyway?" He asked.
She opened her mouth to respond, but her words caught in her mouth when Fleetway pulled himself off of the ground and stood up shakily.
He turned and looked at Sally, ready to take his revenge, but was overrun by Scourge, who was once again green and ready to go. He hit Fleetway with a flurry of punches that crippled his opponent.
As Scourge stepped away from Fleetway, he turned toward Sally and shot her his trademark cocky smirk. "Thanks for the break sweets!"
She crossed her arms, obviously unamused.
Fleetway once again rose, but his form was flickering, turning from a solid state into something more whispy and unconcentrated. He shot the rest of them a look and dashed out through the top of the tunnel and up to the surface, then vanished in a flash.
"Well," Sally said as she heaved a sigh of relief, "I'm glad he's gone!"
Scourge clucked his tongue, making a tisk tisk sound. "That's only one thing. The other thing we need to take care of is at the end of this tunnel."
Sally looked at Scourge and asked in all sincerity: "Do you know what's at the end of it?"
He nodded. "You're not gonna like it."