Part 1
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Sonic winced looking at James's unconscious body. Knuckles rolled his eyes placing a chaos emerald in his glove. "He'll be fine." He thought for a few moments. "But...he'll probably wish he weren't when he wakes up." He and Amy pulled Sonic up, holding him by his shoulders.
Amy raised an eyebrow at Sonic who chuckled. "Hey, how's it going?"
"Fine I guess. How long until you can walk?" Amy asked.
"Uh, let me check." Sonic did a diagnostic of his systems. The EMP hadn't messed with his organic parts just short circuited his nerves, but his core had been completely drained of energy. He only had his biological power. "My super speed won't work until we get outside and recharge it. But my muscles should be working fine in a few minutes." He turned his neck to look at the destroyed lab around him. Knuckles hadn't killed anyone, but Chaos Control wouldn't be recovering for a long time. He just hoped GUN didn't get called in. That would be a serious problem.
Amy and Knuckles carried Sonic out of the lab as he gave them directions through the building. They went through a few rooms and up a flight of stairs. Then they came to a large room with a desk in the middle. Sliding glass doors sat on the edge of the room leading outside.
Knuckles tried the doors, but they budge. Then he punched them, but didn't make a dent. "Ow!" He shook his hand. "What are these made of?"
Sonic managed to stand up on his own. "Bullet proof glass, they're strong enough to take armor piercing bullets." He looked at one of the security cameras. "Hey Tails."
A voice came from the side of the camera. "Yeah? What's up Sonic?"
"Can you open that door?" Sonic pointed at the glass doors.
"Maybe, but they've got pretty good security. I cracked the rest, but I'm not sure the doors are connected to outside systems. Let me see if I can get a work around." Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles waited for a few minutes before they got a response. "Looks like the doors are a closed system, but I did find an elevator shaft in the building plans. Head to your right, there should still be an old panel."
Knuckles walked over to the panel pulling it off. An empty shoot held a steel rope running through. "Ok, now what?"
"Climb up the steel rope to the next level. Take your first right at room 215. There should be a balcony you can jump from."
Amy nodded. "Will do. Thanks Tails!" The trio climbed the rope and up the shaft to another panel. Knuckles pulled it off and climbed into a metal hallway. He looked to his right and found a door with a red number 215.
The trio went through the door and a security turned toward them. "Hey guys, there's a roof you can jump to from the balcony that should lead pretty close to where I am."
"Right." Sonic waved at the camera. "Stay out of sight until we reach you."
"Can do."
Sonic felt the sunlight hit his face as he walked onto a white tile floor with a metal railing. Knuckles and Amy followed as Sonic stepped onto the rail. He watched Amy and Knuckles jump to a brick roof. He waited a few seconds letting the sun hit him as his systems recharged. Then he jumped, following Knuckles and Amy.
Then his body collapsed. He felt his limbs go numb and his vision went dark. Amy and Knuckles looked back as he yelled. "Ahhh!" Pain ran across his body like an electric shock going down from his head.
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Part 2
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Percy and Kya handed Sonic's tracker to Chief Oran in his office. He looked at it for a few moments, weighing it in his hands. "I can't believe Sonic managed to remove this thing without killing himself."
Percy shrugged. "It is what it is. So, what's the plan now sir?"
"Well, for now hold on to Sonic's kill switch, trading it with squadrons 12 and 32, eight hours on and sixteen hours off. Head over to Harold, and you'll get the device back from George. I'll let you know immediately when we get any leads. But hold on a second before leaving." Chief Oran turned to Kya. "As for you, Kya, somethings come up. I need you in Sepview City. The commander of GUN will give you more details. And take the driverless car, I want you rested." He threw a set of keys to Kya.
Kya caught the keys. "Understood sir." She saluted before walking out of the office.
Oran turned back to Percy. "I understand you have some history with Sonic. Any ideas on what his next move might be?"
Percy thought for a few minutes. "Well. I suspect he'll avoid killing anyone if at all possible. Though I suspect you know that too since you haven't called in team X. He's ever really cared about property damage, so it wouldn't surprise me if he attacked some buildings. I'm still not sure why he left though, so it's hard to say what he'll do. Maybe break someone else out of prison? I mean he already did it once. Cheese seems like a possible target I guess."
Oran nodded. "Hmmm. Yeah, I could see that happening. I wonder…" He thought for a few moments. "Oh! Before I forget!" He pulled out a drawer with a few large square batteries. "These should let you use the remote more than once." Oran handed the batteries to Percy.
A voice came from the watch on Oran's wrist. "Sir! We've detected a breach in security!"
Oran and Percy turned to the desk. "What!? Where!?"
"Our entire system's been hacked. And since we lost contact with the lab, we believe that's the source!"
Percy and Oran dashed out of the room and several flights of stairs before coming to the lab. The lights were still on, but everything else was off. There were several researchers lying on the floor unconscious. Others were struggling to move around through destroyed equipment. Several had bruises, but there didn't seem to be a single drop of blood around. He looked at Oran when one of the researchers saw them. "Sir! Sonic broke into the lab with Knuckles and Amy!"
"What!?" Percy pulled out the remote, about to press the button.
Oran stopped his hand. "Hold on. Make sure you're in range. Remember, we've only got one shot before you need to replace the battery." Oran turned to Percy. "Head to front desk. I'll check around back."
Percy nodded, dashing to the front desk with his finger on the button. He went up the stairs, clicking a button on his suit to hide from the security cameras. He came to the front desk and saw a missing rectangle portion in the wall with a steel rope behind it. He checked the rope strength and climbed up to another missing chunk of wall. He swung off the rope, jumping through the hole.
As he landed, Percy saw a typical hallway, but one of the doors was open, room 215. He ran through the hallway as quietly as possible, pulling out the remote again. Then he looked over to a balcony to see Sonic landed on a roof, several meters away. He started running and was getting further and further away before Percy pressed the kill switch.
Sonic collapsed. Percy pressed a button on his watch. "Sonic's on the roof of Stoton 280. He's currently neutralized."
A voice came from his watch. "Copy that. We're already heading that way."
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Part 3
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Knuckles looked at Sonic as he fell, struggling to get to his feet. He and Amy ran to Sonic, grabbing him. Knuckles grimaced. "So, the emp hasn't stopped affecting you."
Sonic didn't answer. "Hey!" Knuckles barked. "Sonic! You awake in there!" He looked at Amy. "Sorry, guess we're carrying him back."
Amy and Knuckles carried Sonic as fast as they could across the rooftops before a group of a group of armored officers with guns cut off their path. Knuckles' eyes went wide. "Come Sonic. You better wake up, or we're gonna get killed out here. And they're coming for Tails next."
A woman in black body armor with yellow stripes on her shoulders walked to the front of the officers. "Knuckles and Amy. You are under arrest. Any attempts to resist will result in your deaths."
"Yeah. And what kind of guarantee do I get that you won't kill us the moment we surrender?" Knuckles spat on the ground, feeling a chaos emerald hidden in his glove.
"No harm will come to any of you. We merely wish to keep you from harming others in a safe containment."
Knuckles shook with fury. "Why, so you can scorch the Earth unchallenged. How many more of us are you gonna take away?" He took a few minutes to think. He could use the emerald, but he didn't know if he could avoid killing anyone that way. He was also sworn to protect the planet at all costs, but once more, he shouldn't abuse the power he held now. Did this situation justify it?
Amy nudged him. Her thumb touched her middle finger, with her index pointing at a canopy near the street below. He turned back to the woman. "Well Knuckles, it's your choice. Will you come quietly, or do we have to put you down?"
Knuckles and Amy glanced at each other before jumping off the building with Sonic. They bounced off the canopy and landed on the street. Then they ran as fast as they could.
Knuckles legs burned as he and Amy ran further and further. Then he saw a large river with sides made of concrete. The water flowed out from a pipe up ahead. Chaos control wouldn't follow them into the sewer line and risk poisoning the entire city. Or at least they wouldn't use any weapons in there.
Darkness surrounded Knuckles as he and Amy carried Sonic into the tunnel. He wasn't sure how long it would take to get to Tails, but he had to make sure he was all right. Maybe he could fix Sonic too. Whether Knuckles liked him or not, Sonic was useful. They needed that hedgehog's help, and Knuckles would break all his bones before letting an ally get killed. "Sonic, I'm going to kill you if you let that EMP kill you."