Guess it's time for a new chapter! One thing I'll say that I think I'm improving on is the sequence of events and pacing in its chapter. So that more information is presented while still maintaining a cohesive narrative. At least I hope. If that is the case or not, do give your feedback about it and other various pieces of advice. It does mean a lot to me to read out the reviews I have and to keep moving forward. Also, one last thing. I've decided to add a little teaser for the next chapter at the end now. Kind of like how IDW and other comics hype up the next issue.
Chapter 14: Cry for Help
G.U.N. HQ: Barracks
Arsonal laid down on his back against the stiff mattress in the condensed room. The lights were killed, but his bright white eyes glowed through the blankness like fireflies. He needed to rest, but he couldn't. He wondered why that could be. What was troubling his conscience of leaving him uneasy? Everything was going to plan. The planet was practically theirs, and soon the vessel would be under their control. Yet something felt… wrong about it all. Was it because he was naive? After all, this was his first big mission, and swallowing a pill as big as this required additional prerequisites. 'Why am I feeling this way?' He thought to himself. 'I'm just being irrational. This is just another job to do. Unless…' Arsonal fidgeted around his right hand, lifting up his glove to peek inside. Despite the lack of light, he could make out a scar imprinted on the back of his hand. A cross with a line dashing through it. It was ingrained deep into his skin.
"I thought you promised we'd forget about that." Arsonal is spooked as he jolts his head above him. His dear friend, Vulnter, had peeked down from the bunk bed above. Curiosity and a sore aching expression lingered inside her eyes. "That's not our life anymore." Arsonal puts his glove back on.
"Can't sleep too?" Vulnter gracefully leaps off the bunk and lands without a sound escaping her fall. She kneels next to the bed and rests her head on Arsonal's bed.
"There's a lot on my mind. But what is more important is that you are holding up. I know it can be much, dealing with Harrow, but you have to keep it together. The Abyss Voyagers are counting on us." Vulnter grabs Arsonal's wrist and places her thumb where his scar was. "Don't let what happened get to you. Not again." Arsonal gently grabs Vulnter's hand, making her lightly release his hand.
"I understand. But it's not easy to cut out a part of your life. I can't forget what they did to us. What they did to Harrow, most importantly. We all share the same mark." Arsonal tilts Vulnters hand and points at its back. The arctic fox sighs and slightly lifts her glove up to show the same symbol Arsonal has on his hand. "The mark of a traitor." Vulnter swipes her hand away, hardening her face with thunder ready to be released from her lips.
"We did nothing. It was our parents who got into trouble. They were the traitors."
"And when they were gone, does that mean we had to take their faults?"
"Yes!" Vulnter exploded. "Justice must be delivered to those who oppose the Abyss Voyagers. Our parents were extremists who denied what was law. When they fled, we had to take their transgressions."
"We were just children." Arsonal calmly put it. They've had this same conversation numerous times. They were both integrated into the Abyss Voyagers at a young age by force. Arsonal tried not to think back, but he always fell to reminisce about that day. Back at their home planet, bunkered underground. Afraid, confused, and concerned about what would happen to them after the first shells blasted through the walls. He remembered being on the floor, covered in soot and gray dust. The blinding sun shining through as Abyss Voyager enforcers funneled into the tight space. Yes, it was true that their parents had left, but someone close to Arsonal stood in front of him to protect him. They were just a fading image to him now, but he had never cried harder in his life after seeing them get shot down by the enforcers. Their corpse rested by his meager and pathetic body, as the enforcers took him, Vulnter, and Harrow at the ripe age of four. "We didn't deserve what we got. Harrow… she's slipping away from her sanity every day."
"You think like that and you'll freeze again. I can't protect you from The Highest forever. If that time comes again, what will you tell him where your allegiance stands?"
"...I'll say that it's with you." Arsonal looks into Vulnter's eyes. "You and Harrow are all I have left. If it ever came to obeying the Abyss Voyagers or saving either of you, then of course I'd turn my back on The Highest." Arsonal sternly says. He waits for Vulnter to respond, but she holds her tongue as she looks away from him. She solemnly climbs back into her bunk and leaves Arsonal to rest. He didn't know what she was trying to say with her silence, but he still stood by what he said.
Hallway
James was strolling down the halls, putting on a long black fabric coat as he prepared to leave the HQ. Trailing behind him was an assistant, eager to catch him. "Sir?" She walked close beside him.
"What is it?" He coldly responded.
"Carrier Alpha-I has lost signal in Pumpkin Hill. But before its connection dropped, it broadcasted a rather intriguing picture." The assistant raises a tablet to James' face, but he was quick to brush it away with a sway of his hand.
"Another time. I have an important meeting with The Highest and I'm busy enough as it is."
"But, sir, it'll only take a second." James sighs and stops in his place. He nabs the tablet away and disinterestedly scrolls his eyes across it. The picture was an overview of Pumpkin Hill. A still frame peering into a row of jagged mountains. Nothing out of place at first glance. James tilts his head back to the assistant as to say, 'What am I looking at?' to her. "Look closer to the peak of the central mountain." The assistant reaches in and zooms in closer with her fingers. A pixelated glimpse of a golden ring was hovering in place, and for James to keenly spot. "We believe these are gateways to special zones. The only times we've seen them open is when the chaos emeralds are ready for someone to collect them. This must've been where the lost chaos energy was placed in the event of its scattering. That's only half of what makes this photo interesting." The assistant swipes to the left to angle the photo. With another tap on the screen, it enhances on a white speck in the air, covered in a blue light. The speck clears, and forms Silver II. James is immediately intrigued.
"That's odd." James brought his palm to his chin. "This looks nothing like the Silver I met." Something irked James' mind as he scrambled to find a conclusion. He could see it in Silver's quills which were longer, duller, and jaded. It was like he was looking at a completely different hedgehog. Right now, the only thing he could assume is that he was the one who brought down the carrier. If that was the case, then he had become a looming– no, an immediate threat. And if he was going for the chaos emeralds, then more boring meetings had to wait. "Contact The Highest. Say that I'm going to have to cancel the meeting."
"Why, sir?"
"We're in a race. A race for the chaos emeralds."
Tails' House
"Why are you here?" Whisper directed at Mimic. Despite his cover being blown, he still felt cocksure at where he was. He had his target and all that was to stop him was a broken ghost. Although he didn't want the fireworks to start yet, so he held his hands in response to Whisper pointing the wispon at him.
"Got a job offer from the new director of GUN. A lot of money to bring him in." Mimic eyes Tails, who is still crumbling on the floor. He tried to help his stab wound by wrapping a rag across it to put any kind of pressure to stop the bleeding. "It wasn't easy, you know. Having to convince the news to air me in my disguise, and praying that the kid was clever enough to put together where I was. So at least throw me a bone here." Whisper tightens onto her wispon. Her finger was ready to pull the trigger. Mimic exhales and relaxes his raised arms, slightly lowering them. "Are you really still mad at what I did?" Whisper pulls the trigger and the laser bolt flies next to Mimic's head, missing by centimeters.
"You're a coward and a murderer. How dare you try to call me out, when your loyalty is about as shallow as your dirty money."
"I'm a survivor. Couldn't you see that Eggman was eventually gonna get to us? I made a choice, and I get to live because of it. The money was just an added bonus."
"After everything we've been through together, as a team, did it mean nothing to you?" Whisper's voice started to break. Tails saw a stream of tears drip from beneath her mask.
"Don't think of what I did as personal." Out of sight from Whisper and Tails, Mimic shifts a dagger through his poncho and ready at the back of his wrist. "Surviving hardly ever is." Mimic flips the dagger to his palm and explodes into action. He throws the dagger forward at Whisper, but she was able to duck in time before it hit her forehead. However, the dagger instead pierces through an outlet and causes a short circuit through the port. The lights in the house start to flick before dying out into a blank darkness. Whisper snapped back forward, but it was too late, Mimic had escaped. It wasn't over for them though, as Whisper gathered that Mimic would not leave without Tails. She wasn't going to let him take him away too. Whisper stood closer to Tails and reached her hand out to him. The fox grunted as he extended his hand out, but before he could reach her, his eyes widened as he saw a silhouette encroaching upon her.
"Look out!" Tails yelled. Whisper swiftly turned around and activated her wispon. The barrel charges up and a ball of pink spikes emerges. She swings forward and almost catches Mimic's head with the end of the spikes. But Mimic reacts fast enough to dodge out of the way and submerge back into the shadows.
"So you still have them, huh? Guess I'll play too." He chirped from the darkness. Whisper wasted no time chasing after him, illuminating the area around her with a green glow from the wispon. She scurried to every corner to look for him, but nothing was there. Suddenly, a creak in the wood floor alerts her and she turns to give another swing at the approaching target. But she hesitated, once she saw his face. Not Mimics, but another's. A burly brown lion presented himself to her. "Whisper! Don't hurt me, it's Smithy!" Whisper's attack has now halted. "I- I got away from Eggman. We all did!" The lion retreated into the darkness. Next in line was a green-furred howler monkey. Her face pleading to Whisper. "It was horrible! How- how could you just leave us like that?"
"Stop it…" Whisper's pained words choked out. The monkey went back into the shadows, leaving only one left to pop out. A teal ocelot, with heavy scars on his face. "Stop…"
"If only you came." The ocelot spoke. "We wouldn't have had to endure all the pain Eggman gave us. If only you just came to help." The ocelot's voice became more hostile. "If only you-" A sharp clink strikes the back of the ocelot's head. He falls to the ground and groans as he grasps the back of his head. The ocelot morphs back into Mimic and angrily turns around. Tails was standing above him with a frying pan in his hands. But he was losing strength quickly as his injured leg gave in and he collapsed to the ground again. "You… little… BRAT!" Mimic was right back up on his feet and charged Tails with a knife in his hand. Tails was too weak to do anything, as he lost more blood. But before Mimic could attack Tails, an orange rocket springs into his back and sends him flying to the wall. He was disorientated and vulnerable once he hit the ground, giving Whisper time to come forward and activate another wisp power with her wispon. A blue hammer. She raised it above her head and aimed for Mimic's. Quickly thinking, Mimic tried one last attempt to squeeze himself out of this mess. "Blue?" Suddenly, the wispon hammer powers down and the cube wisp emerges from it. Its sorrowful look gazes at Mimic's wretched face, but the octopus tried to turn his sour demeanor into pity. "It's me, remember? You wouldn't want to hurt me, right?" As the blue wisp started to back away, it was stopped by the other four wisps, huddling around it. They help embrace the blue wisp and comfort the broken alien. This was the moment that the wisp needed, as it gained the confidence to return back into the wispon and reform the hammer. "Blue-" Mimic was cut off as the hammer struck against the side of his beak, knocking him out. Whisper breathes heavily as she removes her mask. The tense feeling on her face slowly fades away as her mind is freed. One word could describe what she was feeling at the moment. Resolution.
Special Zone
It wasn't what he expected. In fact, Shadow was expecting something else entirely. He was transported to a temple. A staircase leading up to an altar settled upon him. He was encompassed by a lush jungle, and he was feeling at ease with his surroundings, if not just a bit tired from the nonstop rush he had to persevere through. Shadow guessed there was only one way to go. Up the stairs. He marched up the case without activating his air shoes, which was one thing that he envied about Sonic. He could just run up these stairs and be done with it, but he had the misfortune that most of his speed came from skating on surfaces, leaving stairs as an annoying obstacle, but nothing major. Shadow reaches the top and approaches the altar. Looking down, it appeared to be more of a cauldron in comparison. A translucent fluid distinctly reflected back Shadow's face without any disturbance in the shimmer. It was like looking into a mirror, with how clear the water was. But something was down there. He could see it glowing in the infinite depths below the surface. A green glimmer of light breaking through to him, enticing him to reach down and grab it. His hand effortlessly passed through the reflection like a blade through thin air. No ripples or waves to follow. Shadow could see his hand covering the light as he reached further. There was no doubt in his mind, this is the chaos emerald. But what was bugging him was how easy this was. There had to be some kind of trick here. "Wait!" A disembodied voice echoed through the temple, startling Shadow. He pulls back his arm in a hurry, finally causing waves in the cauldron to form. Shadow looks around, on edge and on the prowl for whoever called to him. "Please, let me explain." Her voice was soothing. One that you would feel calmed by if it called to you. It was enough for Shadow to put his guard down, for the moment. Another shining light pierced his eyes. A red glitter descending from the sky and down toward Shadow's face. He was entranced by its glow. The light entered through the waters of the cauldron and disappeared into its depths. It was only a matter of time before something else entirely emerged.
Elegantly rising from the waters was an echidna. She wore a tribal dress, beads in her long dreads, and a golden tiara with a blue gem in the middle. She looked down at Shadow with a warm and genuine smile. "Who are you?" Shadow asked.
"I am Tikal." She sensed that Shadow was still a little on edge, as he still had his hands clenched into a fist. "Don't be afraid, I am here to help you." Shadow released his fists, although reluctantly.
"Prove it. Tell me where we are." He commanded.
"This is the chaos realm. This is where all forms of chaos energy travel through, and all spirits guided by it will go when they die. Don't be alarmed, you're not dead. I've just guided your soul to this altar, where you will be given a choice." Shadow raises an eyebrow. He was still cautious about this plane of existence. He didn't like how warm it felt. He didn't trust it, thinking it might be just a trick to play on him.
"A choice?" He inquired.
"Indeed." Tikal kneels on the cauldron. Her knees reacting to the water like the ground, staying afloat. She extended her arms into the water and reached for the green glow in the depths. She rests it within her palms and raises it above the surface. Tikal was now holding a chaos emerald. "I sensed the chaos emeralds have been returned to this world, but haven't been restored back to their shells. So I called them back through the special zones to repair them. However, I cannot retrieve the other six to this position, even if I wanted to, since each special zone is only loosely connected."
"So what's the choice? Cause the only way I see things ending here is that chaos emerald falling into my hands." Tikal's eyes soften. A wave of sombreness flooding her face.
"I can see that you have been drained of your stable energy. I bet you think that if you get this emerald, the missing link to your powers will be reforged, and your sickness will be cured. But taking this now will cause an unnatural reintegration of stable energy back into your body. You'll regain your strength, but your sickness might escalate, or even deviate into something else entirely. This is your choice. Take the emerald and use the most of your power to finish off the evil invading this world, or refuse, and try to find another way. This is the choice you've been waiting for, Shadow." She was right. Shadow finally had a choice that he could make that would turn the tides of everything. But he couldn't help but think about the vagueness of her words. Did she not even know what would happen to him if he took the emerald? But why would that matter now? At this point, he didn't care if it cost him his life. He would save this world from the Abyss Voyagers no matter what. He would have the strength to take down Harrow. So naturally, he couldn't refuse.
"It doesn't matter if it is or isn't my last fight. I will never back down from danger." With that, Tikal steps down from the cauldron and raises the emerald to Shadow, waiting for him to take it. Or could her silence also be her waiting for him to reconsider? 'No, now is not the time to turn back.' Shadow reassured himself. He grabbed the emerald. Suddenly, the emerald started to charge and vibrate in his hand. He couldn't let go of it now, as it surged a chain of green bolts into his skin and traveled through his vein. The pain was unbearable, but he had to do his best to hold on. There were strands of his quills that changed hue from black to chartreuse-green.
"Good luck, Shadow the Hedgehog." Tikal pushes her hand forward, causing an invisible force to propel Shadow back into the forest, and into darkness.
GUN HQ: Outside the Base
At the top of the base, on the helipad, James was headed to his helicopter, which was awaiting his arrival. Before he could enter, he sees an aircraft making way for a landing on the helipad. It has the symbol of the Abyss Voyagers, so James isn't alarmed by its presence. The craft lands and its hanger doors open, revealing Harrow strolling a covered capsule down the ramp. A look of curiosity takes James' face. "Whatcha got there?"
"None of your business." Harrow responded, continuing to push the capsule to an elevator. She enters it and she leaves the roof without anything else to say to James. The human just shrugs it off and resumes his departure. He taps the pilot on the shoulder, signaling him to take off. The heli leaves, escorted by a swarm of GUN beetle drones. Meanwhile, outside the base's walls, there was movement in the bushes. Sonic, Knuckles, Silver, Amy, and the Chaotix were scouting out the area, watching as the drones flocked away from the base.
"Now's our chance, come on!" Silver ordered. They all hurried to the outside wall in quick succession. "Dig us in, Knuckles." Knuckles immediately starts to dig down, creating a tunnel for the others to follow him in. Underground, Knuckles is drilling through the dirt at a rate Sonic has never seen before. He was determined to get this done quickly. Vector looks down at his wrist, where he has a GPS watch attached. There, he can see that they are now directly under the HQ. He holds his right hand up to halt to others, and they all look up. For most of them, their hearts were racing, beating like an out-of-tempo drum. Short and shallow breaths mixed with weary eyes. None of them were sure what would happen, even with the plan that they had. The plan was for Sonic, Espio, and Knuckles to reach the computer room to send out the signal. It had been a while since the last time Espio fidgeted with computers, but he wasn't an amateur. Silver, Amy, Vector, and Charmey would head to the detention zone. There was a chance that GUN had already caught Tails and were holding him there for the time being and that maybe Commander Tower was being held captive too. But it was all just the concept they could work on. Despite Silver being inside the HQ for a day or two, he still wasn't familiar with its layout. It would be easy to get lost, and if either Harrow or Arsonal were there, it would be an all-out brawl. There wasn't time to look back now. There was only going forward.
GUN HQ: Inside
Through the floor, small cracks formed around in a circle until it collapsed underneath. Espio poked his head out of the hole and looked around for anyone stopping by. Luckily, the coast was clear. Espio camouflages himself and blends into the walls. He stops by a door and opens it into a break room. Once again, no one was there. He turns back to the hole and signals the rest to follow him in. They all funnel in, leaving Silver to connect the chunk of the floor back in to fill the hole. Inside the break room, Espio and Vector search the cabinets and walls of the room for any map of the base. "You can't remember where the rooms are from here?" Vector asked Silver.
"This place is huge!" He exclaimed. "Besides, if we just blindly run around, we might trigger a security alarm, or bump into someone we could've avoided."
"Guess we'll have to take the vents then." Charmey called out as he flew to the corner of the room. There was an air duct. A tight fit, but manageable. Well, mostly manageable for everyone except Vector, which will be a tight squeeze for him.
"Charmey, are you kidding?" Vector questioned.
"Nuh-uh!" Charmey pulled the vent cover off and zoomed into the duct. His muffled voice still hollered out to them. "Come on! We can move freely in here."
Later
In the vents, everyone was struggling to crawl through such a dense space. All expect Charmey, of course. Vector's hide struggled to shift through the rough metal vents. "This is worse than being underground." Amy complained, which was met with agreement by all the others. "I just hope we're almost there by now."
"Did you hear the news?" A softened voice said beneath the vents. They must've been above a hallway or meeting room if they could make out whoever was talking. Sonic assumed it was just some GUN soldiers talking to each other. They didn't sound like anyone they knew. "We're getting new orders. Something about an extraction."
"Extraction? For what?"
"Beats me. All I know is that we're supposed to enter a place called 'Special Zone.' I don't know much else." Sonic's heart sank. Could it be? Could the chaos emeralds have already been returned to their shells? If that was true, and if GUN knew where the special zone portals were, they were in trouble. It was like every path they took to get an edge over GUN and the Abyss Voyagers was shortly cut off at every crossroad. They were always a step behind.
Later: In the Computer Room
Monitoring the vast rows of servers was one guard. He paced around the room periodically to check up on things, but he could never spot anything with his flashlight. He yawned as he leaned back on his foldable chair. It must've been a long day, as his eyelids flickered up and down. He fought to stay awake, but he couldn't help himself. Out of the blue, a sharp noise of something scurrying along the ground stirs him back up. He jumps out of his seat and patrols around the source of the sound. He shines the flashlight at the wall, where he thought he heard the noise, but nothing was there. We wondered if he was just imagining things since he didn't get a lot of sleep in recent times. He concluded it was just in his head, and he went back to his seat. However, he failed to notice that the wall he shined was shifting and changing. Espio was hanging on the wall, camouflaged to be out of sight. He sneaks up behind the guard, covers his mouth, and wraps his arm around his neck. The guard tries to fight back, but Espio is too nimble and small of a target to hit. The guard falls unconscious, and Espio gently sets him down on the ground. "It's safe, you can come down." From the vent, Sonic and Knuckles climb out and meet up with Espio.
"All right, we'll cover you. You go do your thing." Sonic told Espio, giving him a thumbs up. Espio turns to a large monitor, connected by hundreds of wires to the server chain. It was put together clumsily and in a short amount of time. But Espio still wasn't sure if he could get into the system or not. But no one else probably could, so he was the best chance they got. He nods to Sonic before heading to the computer. The last time he did something like this was back on the ARK when the Black Arms invaded. Even then, he felt like he got lucky, mainly thanks to Charmey's ridiculous fortune that follows around him. He can never understand why that kid has the liberty to be so lucky. Nevertheless, he still had to try. All he had to do was get inside the system and send an encoded message to Tails that he will hopefully see, and hopefully, no one else in GUN will notice either. How hard could that be? Well, logging into the mainframe wasn't as hard as he made it out to be, but he hit a roadblock soon enough. There were thousands of lines of code stringed together in a vague order. This was what he had to work with to reach Tails? He would have to send countless signals each time, and who knows which frequencies had firewalls or not? If only there was some way he could find Tails' specific channel, or implement a new line of code only Tails would be curious to check out. "Espio! Hide!" Sonic Yelled, while containing the volume of his voice. Espio checked away from the computer, making sure to log out before dipping into his camouflage. The door to the room opens, and entering was Harrow. What a close call too, since Sonic and Knuckles also had to hide the unconscious body of the guard as well. Harrow approached the computer and logged in to the system. She crouches down to a USB port on the side and she takes out a red chip. Something striking about the chip that Sonic noticed was that it had Eggman's emblem on it. Harrow plugs the chip in and it starts to upload onto the computer.
Harrow sits down on the chair, waiting for the percentage bar to reach completion. Considering the rate at which the upload is going, Harrow decides that there is some time to kill. She grabs a sheet of paper and a pen stacked in a cabinet and quietly draws to herself in the chair. She sketches on the canvas with various symbols and glyphs. The drawing calms the tensity of her fingers and her conflicting mind. She remains focused and engaged in her doodles. Just as she finds tranquility, she abruptly talks to herself. "It helps me clear my head. I find it relaxing." Sonic and Knuckles look at each other, confused about who she is talking to. "You wouldn't get it, would you? You are starting to remind me of the ones who took me away. They seized me of my paradise. Is that what you want to do?" In Harrow's mind, the fox demon speaks to her. His voice being unheard by the others.
"It does not displease me. But the vessel–"
"Will be yours soon. Then we can get to the real show."
"What about Eggman? What about your deal?"
"Eggman is just a pawn. I'll dispose of him once he fulfills his purpose. I will not make the same mistake that Vulnter made." That confirms Sonic's suspicion. Eggman was still around. But was he back on the planet, or did they put him somewhere else in space nearby? Sonic also gathered that Vulnter might be back too. Maybe that is how they found them as soon as they returned back to planetside so quickly. But that didn't make up for the fact that Harrow was talking to herself, which was making Sonic curious the most. "I'm sure you have the patience to watch things out from here."
"I do, but you must hurry regardless" The fox demon said with urgency, sparking concern in Harrow.
"What's going on with you? What's happening?"
"There is another presence heading to this world. Without a physical body for me to merge with, no one will be able to stop it. If you want, I can show you what I am talking about." Harrow pauses, unsure of what to say. But if things were desperate for the fox demon, she thought it would be better if she was in on it too. To answer, all she did was nervously nod her head. Suddenly, she freezes up and her eyeballs roll back into her head. Her mouth gapes open and emits an ungodly sound that reverbs through the room. Sonic and Knuckles cover their ears, and Espio tries not to fall under pressure and give away his position. Harrow's hand suddenly gains a mind of its own and starts writing into the paper frantically. The tip of the pen sharply digs into the threshold of puncturing and not puncturing through the canvas. After an agonizing few seconds, Harrow's eyes return to normal and she snaps back to reality. She drops the pen and paper to the ground. She is quivering with fear. Her whole body is shaking uncontrollably, along with her face, which looks like it has seen the ends of the universe.
"What was that?" Harrow asked, just before the percentage bar of the upload completes. She gets up from the chair and shuffles over to the computer to remove the chip. "If that is what's coming this way…then there is no choice but to plunge this world into darkness." Harrow exits the room. Espio breaks his camouflage and starts to breathe heavily. He had held his breath the whole, as to not give any indication that he was there. The first thing he did once he caught his breath was to see what Harrow was writing. Seeing so made him even more stunned than before.
"Sonic, Knuckles, come here." The two head to Espio and hover over his shoulder to see what was written. It reads, 'impheles si gnomic'. "The words are scrambled. The last two words are 'is coming', but I can't figure out the first one."
"Are we not going to talk about what just happened with that fox lady?"
"We don't have time to discuss it now. We have to send the message out." Espio tried to get back on track.
"I think I know how we can reach out to Tails." Sonic said, gaining the attention of everyone. "The data she was uploading was put on an Eggman drive. Espio, could you see where that data was stored?" Espio returns to the computer and cycles through the code. Sure enough, he spots a red line of code that obviously is an Eggnet program. "If we can spot that, then Tails sure can too. Try to see if you can put a message in there for him."
"Don't worry, I have a few ideas."
GUN HQ: Detention Zone
Sitting all alone in a cell was the former Commander, Tower. A block of empty cells surrounded him, but they weren't always empty. There were others. Others who didn't convert to the Abyss Voyagers. He remembered their faces, their names, but it didn't matter when they were taken away. When they were next in line for the roboticizer. Then they became just another drone. They became expendable, and it was all his fault. He could've saved their lives, and their wills if he had given in. Shadow is powerful enough to handle himself, so why did he try so hard to protect him? He knew that James was going to keep him alive, just so he can show him how much of a failure of a leader he became to be. "Hey, Tower!" Tower shifted his sight up and he saw a face he'd never expect to see from the other side of a cell. It was Silver. Amy, Vector, and Charmey soon followed. "We're here to get you out."
"What are you doing here? Why did you come back for me?"
"We need you back. Just stay calm and we'll get out of here in no time." Silver uses his powers to force the door to the cell open. Tower is reluctant to leave, but there would be no point in staying any longer than he has been. While he leaves the cell, he looks back around at the other empty cells, still filled with sorrow. Silver can see it in Tower's eyes. The look of regret. Seeing what he is looking at, Silver can piece together what has been happening, even if he doesn't know everything that transpired. He knows that Tower has been grieving the loss of his people. "We'll get back at them." Silver tells Tower, prompting a glimmer of hope in Tower's eyes. "I promise."
Tails' House
As Mimic slowly opened his eyes, he was met with an unpleasant migraine aching on the right side of his skull. His vision was blurry and unreliable at the current moment. He could hear faint voices talking to each other, but couldn't determine who was speaking. The room around him was dark and industrial, unlike the homey living room where he was knocked out. Just then, Mimic realized what had been going on, as his memory started to flow back into him. Whisper and Tails had beaten him, but where did they take him? It had to be some underground bunker since that would be the only logical place to hide him away. With that in mind, he started to make out the voices around him. "Where did you two shut-ins take me?" He croaked, gradually regaining his strength as he stood. He could see Whisper and Tails standing a few feet in front of him. He didn't get why they didn't lock him in a cell or tie him up. But since his vision was still scuffed, he failed to notice the glass barricade containing him, as he runs face-first into it. He falls back with a thud before examining his surroundings closer. "What the…" He was right in some sense, they were hidden away somewhere, due to the laboratory-like aesthetic and heavy machinery scattered around the room. As to where he was confined? It was a ballistic glass cube with one opening embedded with a metal buffer room to push in trays. This was meant to hold someone in. "Not a bad setup, kid. But it won't take me long to break out."
"Unlikely. I've beefed up the security of my house tenfold ever since Eggman disappeared. The chance that you could escape, even if you got out of the cell, is highly improbable."
"Your house? You mean-" Tails was quick to cut Mimic off.
"We're in my hidden lab, just twenty feet underneath the house we were just in." Tails flips a switch located on a dashboard just in front of Mimic's cell. Once activated, the glass on the cell starts to darken and tint, causing low visibility inside. Soon, they won't be able to see Mimic anymore. The octopus starts to panic as he notices what is going on.
"Wait! No! You can't leave me in here! Whisper, help me!" Whisper just stares back with disdain, refusing to say a word to the man she once trusted. Who betrayed more than just her, but the lives of her friends. "I'm sorry! Whisper hel-" The glass fully turns black, and the sound is cut off. If someone else were to walk in, no one would know that Mimic was even there. Whisper sighs, finally relieved.
"Until the old GUN is brought back, he will remain in there." Tails told Whisper.
"Until then, let him rot. I'm sure it will take time." She coldly replied, although her concern snaps back to her as she sees Tails' wound on his leg. "What are you going to do now?"
"With this injury, there's not a lot of places I can go to. So I'll have to stay here until it gets better."
"Will you be okay?" Tails crosses his arms and confidently nods his head. He seemed sure of his position.
"Only you and Sonic know how to get in this place. I'll be fine." Tails uncrosses his arms and heedfully looks down at his wrist, engaging with the device on it. "If you want to, you can head back to your home. I'll be safe here for the moment." Whisper looks conflicted. Just as she found someone in her life she could trust again, would she make the choice to leave them already? Or would she stay to make sure he was safe? She didn't want to be too lenient now. "It's ok. I'll be fine." That wasn't the whole problem anymore. Now, Whisper got a gist back into the fight. Since Mimic had been hired by GUN, they might notice his disappearance and look for him. If they connect the dots and look at his history, they'll see the relationship between him and her. It could spell disaster, and perhaps if that was the case, then she should probably stay.
"For now, I'll stay. Just in case." Tails' ears perked up, and his face was a bit bashful. He rubbed his other hand at the back of his head as he nervously laughed.
"Well, thank you… I guess I could use the company." Tails' attention was soon stolen back by his wrist device, which alerted him of an anomaly. His eyes sparked as he saw an out-of-place code among the various groups of other inconspicuous Abyss Voyager documents. It was an Eggman code. It was strange that it would directly be labeled as such in the database to Tails, which made him wary if this was a trap to see if he would take the bite and click on the code. But it was too interesting not to take a look at. Without any hesitation, Tails clicked the data link and explored all the bits of information there was. At first glance, Tails deduced that it was a sleeper virus. It would lie dormant until the user wished to activate it, then it would start invading the rest of the network. He wondered why an Eggman program ended up in the Abyss Voyager's mainframe, but what was even more intriguing was a line within the code that read a cohesive sentence. 'Are you sure you want to know?' Tails knew that slogan from somewhere. It was too familiar to forget where it came from. Was it from a commercial or a show? He tried to boil it down, but he struggled to figure out what it was. Then it hit him. It was from a billboard. Specifically, a Chaotix Detective Agency billboard. How and why would that be included in an Eggman code was beyond him. Unless, of course, it wasn't him who put it there. Could it be… Could it actually be the Chaotix? Again, what if it was a trap laid out for him to reveal where he was? But there was a chance it wasn't, but how was he to know unless he dipped in to see? Guess there was no other choice but to find out. With no time to waste, Tails started to put in a response to the message.
Pumpkin Hill
There wasn't much else to look at besides the immense ravines and enormous mountains surrounding Rouge and Silver II. But there wasn't much else to do while they waited for Shadow to return. Silver II simply stared out into the horizon, peacefully minding his own business, but it was easy to tell that he was starting to get impatient at the rate of things. Tapping his foot on the rocks and his finger against his arms. Rouge on the other hand was sitting to herself, cycling through the mainframe of the Abyss Voyagers using the tablet that Silver II gave her. As she scrolled through, she too spotted the Eggman code embedded into the system. Right now it was her job to investigate anything that stood out in the Abyss Voyager's system, and this was definitely one of them. It wasn't long until she discovered the Chaotix motto, and shortly after reading it, another line popped up in response. '18°13′N 63°03′W' They were coordinates, but to where? She had to find out. Using the tablet, Rouge pulled up a world map and plugged the coordinates in. She was stunned when they ended up at none other than Tails' house. Perhaps she stumbled in on a secret conversation between Tails and the Chaotix. Silver II did tell both her and Shadow that Tails was alone in the city. And if he was a high-priority target for the Abyss Voyagers, then they had to get there fast. "I found something!" Rouge called over Silver II. The hedgehog quickly floated right next to her and eyed what she was viewing on the tablet. "I intercepted a covert conversation between an unknown party and what I believe to be Tails. He sent coordinates to his house, so it is possible he is cooped up in Station Square."
"Good! Once Shadow comes back, we'll head there right away!" Silver II enthusiastically expressed. Suddenly, the ring portal starts to react violently, and out of nowhere, Shadow is shot out from it. The portal collapses in on itself and vanishes from sight. Rouge and Silver II immediately help Shadow to his feet, but they back away once they notice the odd changes that happened to his body. The discoloration in his quills. The unstable electricity emitting from his eyes and hands, in which one of them was holding the chaos emerald. He looked supercharged, but unhealthy at the same time. "Are you ok, Shadow?"
"Don't mind this. Let's get going to the next emerald."
"Wait." Rouge said. "We might know where Tails is."
James' Helicopter
James was sitting in serene silence. His eyes closed and his mind filled with the white noise of the copter's rotors. He always had bad dreams. Those nightmares caused him to mumble in his sleep uncontrollably. Tower had mentioned that James was a ghost in his file. He had no background, no history. He was a nobody, and yet he achieved the impossible and rose to greater heights. Yet, no one knew why he was doing all of this. Why he had a grudge against GUN, Tower, and Shadow. What happened to him that caused his nightmares? "Sir?" The pilot finally awoke the young man. "I'm connecting you to command. You have a message." The pilot soon transferred the headset James was wearing to a new contact.
"Director James?" It was his assistant.
"What is it?" James groaned as he shifted awake.
"We've received an alert that Tower's cell has been opened."
"Under whose directive?" James leaned in.
"We don't know. No authentication was initiated once it was triggered." James soon realized what was going on, as his eyes widened from shock and anger.
"Lockdown the base! Don't let anyone out! Do you hear me?" James disconnects the transmission and leans closer to the pilot's neck. He was practically breathing down on him. "Turn around. There are intruders back at HQ."
GUN HQ
Back in the computer room, Silver, Tower, Amy, Vector, and Charmey climb out of the vent and hop into the space to meet up with the rest of the team. Knuckles was the first to greet them as they entered, while Sonic and Espio look ecstatically at the screen. "Did you make contact?" Silver asked them.
"Oh yeah." Sonic keenly said. For once in these trying times did he show a sign of excitement. "He responded back with a set of coords. Espio here was so kind enough to track them back to our little buddy's home. He's there, and finally, we can do something about it." In an unexpected turn of events, the lights are killed and a dim red light replaces them, followed by a blaring alarm.
"How did they find out?" Amy asked.
"They must've tapped the cell's door." Vector returned with a hypothetical answer. It didn't matter how they were noticed, but it mattered how they were going to get out now. Sonic's first idea, run like there is no tomorrow. He quickly ordered Knuckles, Espio, and Charmey to stay close to him, while telling Silver to pick up anyone else who can't keep up(i.e. Amy, Tower, and Vector). It was a good thing too, as the security blast doors started to seal off the exits in the hallways and rooms, nearly trapping them. There was no time to lose, so as they raced through the soldier-cluttered hallways, they didn't bother to fight back, but only ran. Ahead was the exit, already sealed tight by a sturdy door. What would normally prove to be a prominent obstacle became a pushover due to the combined efforts of Knuckles' and Vector's strength. Utilizing Silver's psychokinesis, he tosses Knuckles and Vector forward at blazing speeds at the door. At the same time they smash through with all the strength they have, and they all quickly make their escape outside the base and head to the city. However, trailing behind them closer in the air was a helicopter accompanied by numerous drones. Inside the heli was James who was planning on keeping an eye on the heroes. Luckily for them, they noticed him right away. It was obvious to Sonic that GUN now knew where they were headed. But they didn't know where in the city they were going. It gave them the advantage of knowing where Tails was where they didn't. Hopefully, just hopefully… They'll come back out without having to lose anyone else.
Meanwhile, back inside the base, Arsonal and Vulnter rush out of their quarters and wander the halls, confused about what's happening. Suddenly, a call is broadcasted through the base's intercom. "Vulnter, Harrow, Arsonal!" It was James' voice. "Sonic and his vexing friends are headed to Station Square. I can only assume that they have Miles Prower's location. Make your way there, on the pronto." Turning around the corner was Harrow, who was racing through past Vulnter and Arsonal.
"Harrow, where are you going? Didn't you hear that the vessel is in the city?" Arsonal barked at Harrow, but she kept running down the hallway.
"You two get going, I'll catch up." Harrow reaches the storage room of the base and trots to the other side of the space. There, she sees the capsule she brought along with her, still covered in its sheet. Harrow delightfully grins as she claws away the sheet, revealing Metal Sonic still inactive inside. "Now…" Harrow places her hand against the capsule's glass. "Let's go hunting." Metal's eyes activate as if on cue and shine a hateful crimson. A monster has summoned the cold killer.
To be continued…
Next up: Awakening!
