Gear was hanging out with Gadget, waiting for our next mission. Gear was doing push ups as Gadget was working on a device he made that the red wolf wears on his wrist.
"What's that your working on, Gadget?" Gear asked.
"A grappling wire I recently made. It lets me grapple on targets and reach high places." Gadget replied.
Gear could help but smile a bit. 'Guess some things haven't changed. Even when we were kids we would be tinkering with all short of machines.' Gear thought to himself.
Nicole's small hologram appeared next to Gear looking at Gadget's wrist grapple. After fiddling with the nanites a bit, she figured out how to project her hologram around Gear without being limited to just appearing on his palm. "That's impressive, Gadget. If you want, I could offer some tips on how to improve it."
"Thank's, Nicole. I appreciate that." Gadget said.
Just then, the three got a call to meet in the war room immediately. Gadget finished up his work and they made our way to the war room. Once everyone arrived, Knuckles spoke up.
"I've just received some incredible news! Sonic is alive!" The Echidna told everyone.
"What?!" Gear and Gadget said surprised. With the Masked Jackals reputation, they assumed he ended Sonic.
"No way! That's excellent!" Silver said, surprised as well.
"What!? Oh, thank goodness! I knew it! I knew it!" Amy exclaimed, overjoyed that her hero was alive.
"He's captured in the orbiting prison. Our spy there says he's in a solitary confinement cell, and they've been torturing him for months." Knuckles informed everyone.
"That's horrible! We have to rescue him!" Amy said.
That's easier said than done Amy. The orbiting prison is protected by a fleet. The Retribution would never get close without getting destroy. But we have an alternate plan in motion." Topaz told the pink hedgehog.
"We've sent a squad to the Space Port in the Chemical Plant to 'borrow' a shuttle." Knuckles told them.
"Once everyone is onboard the commandeered shuttle and lifts off, the Retribution will launch a missile barrage, destroying the catapult ramp, preventing any enemy ships that might follow." Chris added.
"C'mon, guys. Who's up for an old school style jailbreak?
Everyone in the room cheered.
Time Skip
Nicole, Gadget, and Gear were on a G.U.N. razorback shuttle towards the Chemical Plant. It was an industrial area, with structures risen up from the sea. This chemical plant supplies the nearby space port, where they'll steal the space shuttle. The Razorback dropped us off at the chemical plant and we made our way through the horde of robots. Gear was smashing robots left and right with the Smack Hands as Gadget was incinerating them with his burst wispon.
"Espio here. My team's engaging the enemy in the orbital tunnel! I think we can hold them off for now. No, wait!Watch out! The masked one's here! The monster that took down Sonic!" Espio radioed.
Gadget stopped for a bit with his eye's widened. Dire Dog next to him quickly notice his partner stopped. "You good, Buddy?" He asked.
"Umm… yeah. I'm alright." Gadget replied, though hesitant. Gear and Nicole had a difficult time believing him.
"Stay focused, rookie! We're off to find a shuttle!" Vector told them on the radio.
"Copy, Vector. We're moving." Gear replied back before looking at his friend.
"You sure your good?" Nicole asked.
Gadget nodded his head. "Yeah. Let's go."
Gear was worried about Gadget, but he knew they needed to get to the shuttle. Once they reached a large gap in the road, Gear pushed himself into the air with the Smack Hands while Gadget swung around on his grappling wire. The both of us continued forward, destroying any badnik that got in the way. Gadget jumped into the air and grappled a robot with his wire, performing something like a homing attack. After grinding on the rail, Gadget triggered an explosion with his burst wispon, blasting himself into the air with Gear following behind him.
"Hey, that looks like a freight train!" They heard Vector on the radio.
"It's carrying supplies. I don't think it's armed or anything." Amy said.
"Perhaps we we could hitch a ride on the train." Nicole suggested.
"Good idea." Gadget responded as he launched himself in the air with Gadget not far behind swinging with his grappling wire.
They got over the large gap and landed on the moving train. Gadget almost fell off, hanging of the side of the container. Gear went over to the red wolf and helped him up.
"Guys! Tunnel!" Nicole quickly warned them.
The two looked toward the front of the train just as is was entering the tunnel. They both looked around to see where to go. With no place to land on the sides, Gear launched myself up again as Gadget grappled above using his wire. Unfortunately, the red wolf friend zipped to a track with a train heading right for him.
"Gadget!" Gear yelled, fearing for his friend's life.
The red wolf fired his grappling wire, swinging out of the way at the last second. Gear launched himself off a pillar and made his way toward Gadget, landing right next to him.
"Gadget, please don't give me a heart attack." Gear told him.
"Or myself." Nicole added.
Gadget awkwardly chuckles. "Sorry."
Gear and Gadget continued forward, making their way into a part of the chemical plant. The badniks kept firing energy blasts at the two, but Gear used his Smack Hands to defend them both. Gadget jumped over the Dire Dog and rapidly performed homing attacks on each of the robots.
"Let's head in while Espio keeps them busy!" Silver radioed to everyone.
"We need a shuttle to get to Sonic in time." Knuckles said.
"All quiet at the launch pad for now. Grab a shuttle before they sound the alert!" Amy told them.
With the other teams getting close to the space shuttle, Gear and Gadget both hurried through the complex. Gadget triggered an explosion on his burst wispon to soar through the air. Gear launched himself with the Smack Hands again, jumping from one platform to another. They leaped over another large gap and onto some rails leading to the space port.
"Perfect. They won't mind if we borrow this for a while." Vector radioed, finding the shuttle.
"Hurry it up, rookies! Get outta there as soon as everyone's aboard. Step on it!" Knuckles told the three.
"Understood. We're moving." Gear replied.
The two of them grind on the rails through the shipping containers at high speed. Eventually, they've arrived at the space port, with the shuttle ready to take off. Gear and Gadget made a break to the shuttle to see Amy waiting for them at the ramp, gesturing for them to come aboard.
"Come on guys. We're ready for take off." Amy told them.
Gadget went ahead inside the shuttle while Gears stopped next to Amy. "What about Espio? Is he alright?"
Amy: Don't worry. Espio radioed me that he managed to sneak away. And he should be here soon.
"I already am." The two heard Espio's voice. They turned around to see Espio standing right behind them.
"Where'd you come from?" Gear asked. He normally pays close attention to his surroundings, yet didn't detect Espio.
The chameleon ninja only grew a sly smirk. "A ninja never reveals their secrets. But we should leave. It's only a matter of time before that jackal arrives."
Amy and Gear nodded in response and headed toward the cockpit. Once they've arrived, Gear spotted Vector messing with the controls. From the looks of it, the crocodile was having difficulty getting the ship to active.
"Come on. How do I start this thing?" Vector said frustrated.
"Please, allow me." Nicole asked the crocodile. Walking to the controls, Gear placed his hand onto the control, letting Nicole transfer into the ship's systems. After a second, Nicole's image appeared on the console. "I've taken control of the ship. Everyone please find your seats."
"Aye aye, captain." Vector said jokingly as he took the pilot seat.
Gear sat on the co-pilot seat while everyone else found a seat to strap in. The shuttle shifted toward the launch ramp. After a couple seconds, the ship was ready for take off. Gear looked out the window to see if there were any badniks attempting to stop them, only to notice someone standing in the distance. The Dire Dog's body went cold when he saw it was the masked jackal staring at the shuttle.
"Everyone! The masked jackal! Starboard side!" Gear yelled.
Everyone turned to the starboard side of the ship to see the Jackal just standing with his arms crossed in the distance. The entire group felt fear as the one who defeated Sonic was starring at them. Especially Gadget, who got a first hand experience at the Masked Jackal's powers and ruthlessness.
"Nicole! Take off now!" Knuckles ordered the Holo-lynx.
"Launching the ship! Hang on!" Nicole said as she ignited the thrusters.
The shuttle's thrusters ignited and the space shuttle launches off the ramp, propelling the ship straight into sky. After a couple minutes, the shuttle were in space. The group sighed in relief that the got away.
"There is no sign of enemy ships following us. And I detected multiple missiles exploding from the space port. We're in the clear." Nicole told the group
"Thanks, Nicole. Take us straight to the orbital prison." Knuckles ordered.
"Already on it, Knuckles." She replied. Nicole angles the ship toward the orbital prison and increased the thrusters.
As Nicole pilots the shuttle to the orbital prison, Amy looked out the window into space with a hopeful look. "Hang on Sonic. We're coming." She said softly.
Thank you all for reading and I hope ya'll have a Merry Christmas!