AN: Chapter 100! I really appreciate those that have made it this far on the journey! Thank y'all so much!

Chapter 100

The Silent Fortress

There was no choice to be made. The Underking had Levi encircled by his guards, an array of rifles primed at the unarmed fox. Sonic relaxed his grip on the Chaos Emerald as he approached the throne. After transporting to safety, Sonic had spent the rest of the way back to the Underking wondering if he should just take Levi and use the power of Chaos Control to save Silver. However, it seemed that the Underking had taken precautions to ensure he would not be betrayed a second time.

A greedy smile spread across the Underking's face as his eyes beheld the red gleam of the Chaos Emerald. Though he was surrounded by treasure, it appeared that the luster of more riches had not been lost on him. "Well well," He said eagerly. "You are a cut above the usual riff raff. I did not expect to see you alive."

Sonic shrugged. "If you knew who I was then you wouldn't be."

"Sonic the Hedgehog wasn't it? I won't forget the name." The Underking's throne groaned as he heaved himself forward. "Now, bring it to me."

Sonic paused and caught Levi's eye. The fox inclined his head signaling to Sonic to go on. "You got it, but you better not try and back out of your deal." Sonic ascended the dais and held out the Chaos Emerald. The Underking snatched it out of his grip and clutched it to his breast. His wide eyes reflected the crimson glow of the emerald. "Spectacular…" He whispered. "O yes, you must be rewarded for this." The Underking snapped and his soldiers jumped to attention. "Bring them to the tunnel." He then turned towards Levi. "I can get you into the Hive, but once you are inside there are no guarantees. If you are captured, I trust you will remember to keep this a secret?"

Levi bowed curtly. "We don't intend to get captured. This is a do or die mission."

"Then be gone with you." The Underking returned to admiring the Chaos Emerald. Sonic watched him with disgust until Levi pulled him aside.

"You did well, now let us hope this hasn't all been for nothing."

Sonic and Levi followed the guards back through the Burrow streets. They were then led down a seemingly abandoned passageway which brought them to a partially collapsed rockwall. After sliding through the gaps between the rocks they emerged onto a flat railway with a high ceiling. Glimmering stalagmites hung down from the ceiling partially illuminating the darkness. "Of course," Levi said with a dry chuckle. "It's so simple, no wonder Mesto didn't think about it. These mines were abandoned centuries ago. I would have thought Mesto would have had the passageways sealed up."

"He thought they were," Explained one of the guards. "We've been moving rubble and rock for years now. The Underking thought we might find a way into the palace, but the tunnels don't go underneath it. By the time Mesto took over the old governor's mansion and built his Hive, we discovered that the mines ran just beneath it."

The expanse of the mines shifted as they delved deeper inside. At times, they were forced to go in a single file line while at others they passed great underground colosseums. At last they reached a tunnel that was clearly recently made. The bandits had broken a crude passage through the walls that twisted and curved around the harder pieces of rock.

Sonic held his breath as he crawled through the grimy passage. Thick clouds of dust and sand kept wafting against his face. His gloves became black with thick soot and by the time they emerged onto the other side, his face was slick with grease and dirt. They had arrived at a dimly lit cellar. Three bandits sat around a steel table clearly guarding the ladder set in the center of the room.

"Open the hatch." A guard pulled a steel chain and there was a low grinding sound. The hatch above the ladder opened faintly allowing a slip of white light into the cellar. Levi climbed the ladder first, struggling to pull himself up with just one hand. Sonic followed after, feeling slightly anxious as they left the animonty of the darkness below and towards the piercing white light above.

Sonic had to press himself flat to pull himself through the narrow gap. As soon as he was through, the guards pulled and the hatch vanished. Now that it was gone, Sonic saw nothing except smooth white tile floor. Levi had risen to his feet and was brushing himself clean. They were now inside a narrow storage closet. "Now what?" Sonic wondered as he stood.

"We find Silver and we get out." Levi pressed himself against the door and listened.

"Stealth isn't exactly my strong point. Why don't you stay here and let me go get him?"

Levi smirked. "I'm not exactly thrilled at the prospect of risking my life you know? But I don't think it will be that easy. I can't say for certain what you will face, you may need my help."

Sonic resisted saying what he really meant. However, Levi got the gist of it. "I know I'll slow you down, and I'm sorry. But I can't risk losing you and Silver. You two are too important." Levi held up a finger to stop Sonic from responding. "Wait…I don't hear anything. This may be our chance." Levi slowly turned the handle and pushed open the door. They stared down an eerie, empty hallway bathed in a cool blue glow. The walls and floor were constructed from a sleek, obsidian-like glass, embedded with a mesmerizing latticework of dynamic blue stripes. These lines snaked and intersected across the expanse, creating a disorienting optical illusion that played tricks on their senses, making it challenging to negotiate the floor from the ceiling.

"Come on," Levi crept forward with Sonic behind him. Their bodies casted distorted reflections against the dark glass. Sonic breathed slowly and was surprised to find that his breath condensed in the air. He shivered. Why is it so cold in here?

They moved forward cautiously. There did not seem to be any end to the hallway. Sonic felt as if the room was completely disconnected from the outside world. As though they had been transported into a pocket dimension which stretched into infinite vastness. Further compounding their apprehension, Levi abruptly halted as the seemingly solid expanse in front of him smoothly split apart. In its wake, a transparent door materialized bringing them into an expansive room. Once again, the entire space was constructed from the enigmatic dark glass, but this time, the pulsating lines etched within glowed an intense shade of crimson.

Sonic reached back and squeezed Caliburn's hilt. He had been in plenty of creepy places before, but for some reason the cold emptiness of Mesto's Hive gave him the chills. There was no sound except for a low electric humming that seemed to be emitting from the pulses of light. Levi stopped in the middle of the room and turned to follow the streaks.

"I see you." Sonic's heart skipped a beat. The dark glass of the walls suddenly changed into a repeated series of images. Lord Mesto glared back at them. "You are all my loyal subjects. Your efforts are not unappreciated. Everything you do, every sacrifice you make for the empire is known and rewarded. Work diligently, for the pride and honor of our glorious nation. But be warned, disloyalty has no place in our future." As suddenly as he had appeared, Lord Mesto vanished.

Levi exhaled slowly. "Mesto's going insane."

"Why would anyone take this?" Sonic wondered.

"Once one starts the path of tyranny, it is difficult to stop. Tyranny poisons the mind and turns what was once a strong, intelligent people, into the worn out, fearful many feel that things have become worse, they dare not voice it. It is a silent march to the grave with the only solace being that at least someone will go before you. It will start with the Thirteens, but a tyrant must always have an enemy to vanquish."

Sonic grimaced. "Then it all comes back to Eggman. He's the reason for all this…and I…I'm the one who let him."

Levi's expression softened. He placed a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "You are the one that is here, trying to stop him. It is not only Soleanna that must be saved, but for everyone in the empire as well." Levi pulled away from Sonic and continued to lead the way. The red room had no clear borders and just as before, glass doors suddenly slid apart to lead them to a green room.

Here they found the first sign of security. A dozen sentinels roamed the hall along with four heavily armored imperials. As soon as the doors opened they had all turned. Sonic unsheathed Caliburn and sprang into action. He spun into a ball and dashed through the Sentinels, cutting them into pieces. Three of the imperials rushed while the last attempted to pull an alarm on the wall. Levi dashed forward and cut the imperial down before he could reach it. The fight was short as Sonic and Levi converged upon the last three guards and dispatched them with ease.

Levi took the last guard and dragged him to the console on the far wall. He used his hand to activate the device. "Here's a map of the facility." A holographic projection of the Hive sprang up before them. Sonic deflated as he realized the sheer size of the place. It would take forever to search for Silver room by room. "There's no point in searching for him manually." Levi said. He pointed to the top of the projection which highlighted the top floor of the facility. "Mesto would put his office here, where he would have a view over the entire city. My guess is that Mesto will have Silver near him."

"So we just fight our way to the top?"

Levi spun the projection around. "It looks like there is an elevator here. We are a few floors below that, but if we can reach it we can take it to the floor directly below Mesto." Levi shut down the console and led them onward.

The Hive was built like a massive psychedelic honeycomb. Rooms of dark glass and dizzying lights spiraled into more rooms which all seemed to connect one to another. Sonic and Levi encountered only a few guards as they passed through the maze. It seemed as though Mesto believed that his fortress was impregnable and anyone who managed to enter it would quickly be overwhelmed by its complexity. Sonic had lost all sense of direction and simply followed Levi, hoping that the fox knew where they were going.

Every five minutes the black glass walls would turn into screens projecting the face of lord Mesto. The constant reminder of vigilance gave the Hive a sense of hyper awareness, as though the very walls were searching for intruders. Yet, what struck Sonic as odd was just how empty the place was. Every time they entered another room he kept expecting to find a host of soldiers and sentinels, but instead they entered cold dark rooms with no life to be found. This lack of confrontation only made Sonic more uneasy. He much preferred to fight his enemies out in the open, he hated waiting.

At last, Levi found the elevator and it responded to his summons without requiring any kind of password. They sat quietly, listening intently to the faint humming all around them. Sonic tapped his foot repeatedly against the cold glass floor. It was too easy. Levi's hand rested on the hilt of his sword, his finger tapping against the pommel. His eyes darted to and fro as though expecting enemies to come flooding in from the shadows.

Ding. The doors of the elevator slid open. Sonic and Levi stepped inside. The car was made of a sleek dark blue metal and outlined in pulsing neon light. Sonic's eyes were stung by the assault to his senses. Levi set the elevator to the highest floor it could reach. The car started to move without so much as shaking. It made no sound as it rose. Sonic realized that he was holding his breath as though afraid to break the deep silence that hung over them.

"This is an evil place," Levi surmised. "There is no warmth here."

Sonic agreed. The deeper they penetrated into the Hive, the more he felt a profound sense of isolation from the rest of the world. As the elevator reached the top, they prepared to burst out of the car, ready to meet any foes that awaited them. However, when the doors slid open they faced an empty hallway. They both stepped cautiously out of the elevator.

The dark glass walls and ceiling had been replaced by sparkling panes of white crystal. It was as if they had delved into the heart of a deep cavern and found a den of diamonds. Mirrors were set on either side of the hallway causing them to lose all sense of space. Sonic's mouth hung open as they strode forward. Though the crystals were beautiful, there was an ominous luster about them that made Sonic's spine tingle. The white light was not chosen for beauty, but for its harshness. There were no shadows here, nowhere to hide.

Beyond the next turn, they spotted a console set upon the wall. Levi approached and the machine responded to his touch. A map of the upper floors projected to life. Levi studied it for a moment before pointing to a highlighted room. "There, that is where Mesto will be keeping Silver."

"Are you sure?" None of this made any sense to Sonic. "There doesn't seem to be any security."

"None that we can see. Mesto is more cunning than that. This place would be flooded with guards if he thought it was vulnerable." Levi shut down the console and led the way.

They crept forward slowly, but there was no need. With every step, Sonic felt more and more certain that they would not encounter any resistance. They were being drawn forward, and whether it was a trap or Mesto's own hubris, Sonic couldn't say. White halls followed white halls and soon, Sonic had lost all sense of direction. He had no idea how Levi was managing to direct himself when everything looked exactly the same.

At last, they approached a hall with only one door at the end. It opened with a mere touch of the nearby console. Sonic and Levi entered a tall, spacious room. The crystal light faded behind them as they were absorbed into a gloomy darkness. There was only one thing in the room. A large mechanical apparatus with dozens of metal arms was set above a tank of swirling green liquid. Silver was strung up over the vat with his arms spread above his head.

The door hissed shut behind them and the sound caused Silver to stir. He raised his head and when he saw Sonic and Levi his eyes expanded with terror. "No!"