The gun I showed you in Act One must go off by Act Three...
Sorry I've been gone so long everyone. I am soooo glad I can give you this next chapter. Thank you everyone for your support!
You know it! Don't own it! Enjoy!
When Omega got the signal he emerged from his hiding spot like a breaching great white shark already with its prey caught in its teeth. The battle tank that had been sitting directly over the dugout rolled twice before settling upside down, one set of treads hanging uselessly. He didn't pause to survey his work. Chaos would be their best friend in this conflict. He needed to throw up as much dust and confusion as possible. War was his business, and business was good!
Sonic dropped Tails off in the cockpit of the Tornado. The fox immediately began preflight checks, although Sonic could see the haste of panic in his fumbling fingers. "Tails," he said gently. "Breathe. If you can't get it together, I don't want you in the sky at all."
Tails took a breath and waited until his hands had steadied. "I can do it, Sonic," he said quietly.
Sonic swallowed down the pain in his chest. Tails was just a kid. He shouldn't have been anywhere near this. "Support only, you know the drill," he said firmly.
"And if it gets too hot, I get out," Tails said. "I know Sonic, but they have the scrambler. We need to warn the others! Especially Shadow!"
"I'll handle that," Sonic promised. "Now get up there, and don't you dare give them a target!"
"They'll never see me coming," Tails promised.
Sonic patted the edge of the cockpit and hoped down. "I'll see you on the other side!"
The Tornado was already stationed on the main runway. Tails gunned the engines and the small craft lifted off in less than ten seconds. Sonic shook his head. If he let himself worry about the little fox, he'd be distracted and he'd already learned that lesson the hard way… multiple times. Now it was up to him to warn the others. He took off like his tail was on fire.
Knuckles grumbled under his breath as he climbed down the mountainside he'd just helped to demolish. "Sure, of course your role is important," he grumbled under his breath. "Somebody has to push the button. Darn hedgehogs and their over complicated plans. Why can't we ever just knock some heads the fun way? Something to be said for good clean violence…"
"Knuckles come in! Shadow? Rouge? Anyone!"
Knuckles paused as he considered how he was going to answer his communicator while hanging off a decently sheer slope. Making a brief grab for his wrist, Knuckles opened the channel. "Sonic I've got you," he said. "What's up?"
"Towers has the scrambler!" Sonic said. "I repeat. Towers has the scrambler!"
Knuckled definitely cussed.
"We need to get word to Shadow!" Sonic continued. "I'm almost there!"
"I'll try to reach Shadow and anyone else I can find," Knuckles said, glancing behind him, and out over the valley. Easier said than done. Explosions and the motion of all the people and vehicles had thrown all kinds of dust into the air. A tank at the edge of the field had been overturned and one set of its treads were broken and hanging. Shadow was easy enough to spot. His chaos energy flared inside the cloud like red lightning, but it was never in the same place twice. He must have been using chaos control to get around that quickly. It would make him almost impossible to catch.
Knuckles tried his communicator first. "Shadow, come in," he said loudly. "Towers has the scrambler… Shadow! …Dammit Shadow, answer me!" The echidna growled in frustration, punching the rockface. The only thing he could do was continue the climb down.
It was so dark that it took Towers a minute to figure out what had happened. The tank must have taken one hell of a hit because his restraints were the only thing keeping him in his chair. One second, the gunner was trying to get a bead on Shadow, shouting directions to the driver, and the next… It almost felt like the blow had come from beneath them. He was hanging upside down at an angle so the vehicle must have rolled. He fumbled a little until he found the flashlight on his belt and clicked it on. The sounds of combat outside seemed much louder and he realized it was because the engine must have quit for some reason.
The restraints were harder to undo with his weight on them, and he narrowly avoided a head first drop to the ceiling of the tank. The driver and gunner were hanging in their seats silent and still. It took him a second to locate the hatch and he crawled over to it, pulling on the emergency release. It opened, the hatch making it about a quarter of the way before hitting the ground. A thrill of panic shot through him as he realized he might not fit.
Taking a breath, he looked around the inside to see if he had any other options and his eyes landed on the prototype. It was still strapped in place against the wall and floor, but he could still reach it if he stood up. Towers had to scramble to catch it when it came free, but it made him feel better to have the weapon. Now he just had to get out of the tank. His knees creaked as knelt down to examine the hatch again. The space was awkward and narrow, but if he laid down, he might be able to fit. He set the prototype down near the hatch and decided to try going head first.
This was why he didn't go out into the field anymore, he thought as his arthritis flared up in the undignified scramble. All the dust was making him cough as well. At the same time, he knew he would sleep better once he could shove Shadow's body into an incinerator. Some things had to be handled personally. The area outside was obscured with the sheer amount of dust in the air, but the immediate area around him looked empty. The cries of men and the sharp report of gunfire was much louder outside. Blossoms of red light struck here and there like lightning.
Towers growled and reached back into the tank to grab the prototype. That damn hedgehog had been the bane of his existence from the moment it had first managed to draw breath. Of course it would take some one who knew what Shadow was to have conviction enough to kill it. He could still remember the horrible moment Dr. Gerald had succeeded in giving it life. Only he truly understood the full evil of that abomination. It had to die, no matter the cost.
The device was heavy, which was something they'd have to work on, but he could set it down and wait for an opportunity. He just needed a clear shot. Shadow would have to come to ground eventually. Staying in the shelter of the tank seemed like a good idea.
He was fairly certain he saw the hedgehog once or twice, but it wasn't until the sound of the conflict started dying down that Shadow finally came to a halt. He was looking into the settling dust cloud triangle ears trained forward. Towers grinned and lifted the gun to fire it.
Shadow's ear twitched towards him and he turned to look.
Towers began squeezing the trigger.
A look of horror dawned on Shadow's face and he began to move, one hand producing the white chaos emerald the other held up to form a chaos spear. "No DON'T!" the creature shouted.
Towers felt the weapon kick as it went off.
In a flash of light, the chaos emerald disappeared, and Shadow's chaos spear left his hand, but the wave of energy from the prototype prevented the bolt from striking its mark. The energy stopped cold and began to flash through every possible color in the visible spectrum in no particular order. It was dizzying. Then the wave struck Shadow.
The creature went down in a jerking motion without a sound, almost as if it had been shocked, but Towers didn't get the satisfaction of watching for long. Gravel, twigs and other debris had begun to fly with no wind to move it. A particularly large pebble struck him in the chest and the man backed off, staring at the growing patch of strangeness in the wake of the weapon's invisible beam.
A ringing sound had started in Shadow's vicinity. The sound took a sharp spike in pitch and intensity, ending in an explosion. Bits of sharp metal flew everywhere sounding like a nest of angry wasps. A larger piece hit his shoulder, burning right through his clothes and lodging itself in his flesh. Tower's stumbled further back, reflexively dropping the business end of the prototype to clamp a hand over the wound.
Shadow's chaos spear hadn't dissipated. In fact, it seemed to be getting larger and more chaotic. It was making him feel sick just looking at it, but he continued to watch, some instinct telling him to pay attention. Before his very eyes, the storm of chaos energy began to whirl and churn almost like a young tornado picking up strength but with no cohesive direction, and it didn't show any signs of stopping. Something the size of a watermelon struck the ground with terrifying speed near his legs. The debris flying around was getting larger and larger.
Towers backed off further with a growing sense of alarm. Was it supposed to do this? A bolt of multi-colored energy struck the main gun of the battle tank causing a patch of metal to super heat in an instant, and the soft metal crumpled under its own weight, but the barrel of the gun never hit the ground. It flew off into the combat zone with deadly speed. The man looked down at the prototype in a moment of disbelief. Perhaps they had been right to fear it after all.
He turned away to put some distance between himself and the growing pandemonium behind him. There was a treacherous looking path heading up further into the hills. Perhaps he could find a place to shelter. He could contact his science team and have them fix their mistake. Looking back over his shoulder, he realized the storm was expanding too quickly. He abandoned the prototype on the hillside and began to flee.
Knuckles let himself drop the last handful of feet, twisting his body like a cat so he landed facing the conflict. Grinding one fist into the palm of his other hand, he looked around for his first target only to see a rapidly growing patch of pandemonium. All fighting had already stopped as everyone present turned to face the new and growing danger.
The echidna threw his head back in annoyance. Not only did he not get to bash some heads, but now he had to climb all the way back up the mountainside to get the Master Emerald. With a vicious growl, Knuckles turned and began climbing, but not before venting some of his frustration on an innocent boulder which split in half under his fist.
"Why does this always happen to me? Just when things are getting interesting it's time to go back. This never happens to Sonic…"
In the basement of the cabin, Maria gave up on reading the book in her hands. Truth be told, she didn't even know what the title was. The distant thunder of the conflict was starting to fade, but that wasn't much comfort. She had no idea what had happened and who would be coming back from it, or even what state they would be in. She sighed and closed the book with a snap that echoed around the empty basement in a way that had her flinching.
Standing up, she unzipped her duffle bag, examining all the shiny new supplies for the umpteenth time. Unfortunately, that exercise left her imagining all the ways her friends could be hurt. Zipping the bag closed again, she buried her face into her hands instead. Moments later found her pacing, staring fruitlessly at the front cover of the book in her hand.
Some strange instinct had her holding out a hand and the next thing she knew, in a flash of light, she was holding the white chaos emerald. Dread pooled into her belly like molten lead.
Towers kept pushing further into the hills above the valley. He'd had to do more scaling then he liked, but at least he'd gotten out. However it was becoming more and more clear that the mountain walls would only contain that… whatever it was for so long. He had to get to some kind of shelter, then he could make a few calls and begin organizing his R and D team to begin studying the strange effects of whatever was happening. Maybe there was a way to capture or harness the strange force.
The shrapnel in his shoulder was also clamoring for his attention. Now that he was out of immediate danger, his face also felt raw and burned in places. It was possible that spray of sharp metal was responsible for that as well. He needed a first aid kit.
A dirt road caught his attention and after a moment's hesitation, he chose a direction and began to jog along it. It wasn't long before he was celebrating his good luck. There was a cabin up ahead that looked like it might even have some basic utilities. It was locked, but there were long glass windows framing either side of the door. Taking out his side arm, he pistol whipped the glass and was able to reach in and unlock the door by feel.
Maria stared at her wrist communicator doubtfully. They had agreed she would maintain radio silence unless it was an emergency. Did this count? Shadow had somehow managed to use chaos control to send her his chaos emerald, but no one was calling anything in. Maybe it was best to just wait and see?
Minutes passed as she paced, staring in turn at the gem in one hand the communicator on her other wrist.
There was a sound of glass breaking upstairs and Maria looked up sharply. The front door opened and someone larger than a mobian by the sound of their footsteps entered the house. Anyone who knew she was here would have knocked. They had all agreed to avoid causing property damage. Anyone breaking in now couldn't possibly have good intentions.
Heavy rapid footsteps caused the floor to creak overhead as the intruder explored the small cabin. Cabinet doors clunked and bonked and she could hear him tuning on light switches. They'd left the utilities off so the owner wouldn't get an unexpected bill. Whoever this guy seemed to have no such qualms. He would have to come down stairs if he wanted to turn on the water…
Stuffing the white chaos emerald into the pocket of her jacket, Maria looked around the basement. It was unfinished and the only thing close to a hiding place was the cramped area beneath the stairs, slightly enclosed by open wooden framing. Holding her breath, she carefully picked up the duffle bag and began taking careful slow steps toward cover. This was entirely too much like the times she had to hide a weakened and sickly Shadow from the people trying to run more tests on him. Her pounding heart felt like it was doing its best to climb into her throat. It didn't get much better once she'd reached her hiding spot, she still felt far too exposed.
Pulling the dark hood over her bright blond hair, Maria did her best to make herself less visible. She'd kind of been hoping this era of her life was over. At least the tension wasn't making her heart feel funny. Though it skipped a beat when her wrist communicator chimed. White blank panic had her scrambling to silence the device. How could she be so silly? Closing her eyes, she focused on listening to the sounds upstairs.
The intruder had stopped walking. For a second, nothing happened, then with measurably quieter steps, the person began making their way to the basement door.
Maria set down her duffle bag. If she had to make a run for it, the heavy supplies would only slow her down. The door to the basement upstairs opened, and she tilted her head back, breathing as silently as she could through her mouth.
Each step creaked as the intruder came down. Maria huddled a little farther into the shadows, heartbeat thundering away in her own ears.
The man came into view. His clothes were dark, but his hair was gray, and despite the tension of the moment, Maria blinked in confusion. Wasn't he a little old for breaking and entering? He briefly scanned the rest of the basement then turned toward the only logical hiding place.
Maria braced herself to run.
The intruder got closer.
It was only a matter of time before she was discovered.
Maria bolted for the stairs. It would have worked but the old man proved to have the reflexes of a cobra. He caught her by both wrists and pinned her against the wall.
"Let me go!" Maria screamed, struggling against the vice like hold on her arms. Her hood slipped off as she bucked and pulled as hard as she could manage.
One ninety pound girl was no match for a lifetime career military man. Transferring both her wrists to one hand, he reached for something at his belt. It turned out to be a flashlight. The light came on, and they both paused to adjust.
Maria's mouth dropped open in shock. Beneath the age and creased skin was the shape of a face she knew, besides, no matter how much time had passed, she'd know those mismatched eyes anywhere.
Abraham Towers gazed back at her with even more shock on his face.
"...Maria?"