Forces: Deadly Reasonable Reasons is the next set of chapters that I was nervous to submit. Why? Because Sonic, Tails and Chris/Wally story has come to an End. Everything has all come full circle for them. Especially for Tails. They're not going to be around anymore. Even if it's set in the Sonic Forces Universe, the tone remains the same and so is the realism.
Now it's time for someone new to take center stage.
10 months has gone by after the chaotic events that happen within the dense forest near Nue Heaven. Ex-BOA Saboteur, Craig now having to spend his remaining life behind bars at the Resistance Correctional Prison. Can there be anything to free him? Even if its for just one day? Could it take just one letter?
A MAJOR thanks to the Beta-Readers here on that helped me put this into words and to fix it as much as possible till I felt confident with it. Thanks to...
Cyberpolaris
Ivyshade24
Omesta
RevenantTP
Thank you so much.
WARNING/DISCLAIMER! This is written with TEENS to ADULTS IN MIND. Bad Language is UNCENSORED.
The Story is Drama first, Suspense and Action. In that order.
Another thing is that there aren't any Wisps elemental weapons of power. The weaponry is typical weapons used in military. Knives, Pistols, Assault Rifles, and Shotguns.
Chapter 7 Word count is: 4,856
The OC Cast is: Main: Craig(Fox), Corrigan(Cheetah), Drew(Raccoon)
Side Characters: Peanut(Pomeranian), Marcus(Gecko), Bert(Wolf), Tai(Panda) more to be added.
Major side Characters: Levi(Rottweiler), Infinite, Trish(Dalmatian), Zander(Dalmatian), Vince(Lion) Vector
New Chapter will be submitted EVERY FRIDAY.
Forces: Deadly Reasonable Reasons
Chapter 7: Little Town, Big Dark Secret
Outside of the warehouse, Bert and Tai were still waiting for Captain Corrigan to exit out. Tai turns his attention to Bert, seeing him with his helmet still on. "Are you ever going to take that off?" he asks.
"Heck no, I need it on and ready as soon as I see the Captain. Plus… it makes me look like a badass with it on." He goes into a kung-fu stance throwing punches and kicks. "Makes me feel like I can take on Perfect Chaos… Just like Vector did."
Tai slowly face palms in shame. He sighs correcting him, "That's not true. You know exactly what really happened."
Bert quickly argues back, "That's what a hater would say."
Hearing a commotion at the main entrance of the warehouse, they both see Corrigan, Drew and…
Tai checks on Bert being unusually silent.
Bert was in shock seeing Vector. He slowly raises his arm and points muttering, "It's Vec-tor… he's here." In excitement, he eagerly says, "I'm- I'm going to ask'em to sign my helmet."
Tai slumps his shoulders, "Captain's going to kill you if you do that," he warns.
"And it's going to be worth it," Bert adds, accepting the risk.
Corrigan, Drew and Vector exit out of the warehouse after Vector explained everything that he said to Craig. They walk to Corrigan's squad car with Drew still wearing only his underwear. He says, "Prison Escape, Country Fair Kidnapping and Mercury Town. Everything is connected but we don't know anything about the prisoners that escaped."
Getting closer to her car, she looks around, noticing that all of the town officers were gone. The only ones around were two… She narrows her eyes at one of them. 'Of course he's here.' She notices that Bert and Tai are here.
She sees Bert wave right back knowing full well that there's a big smile underneath that confiscated helmet of his.
Trying to ignore Bert, she turns her attention back to Vector as she gives her plan, "We have to find the fugitive. Let him know that we're on his side."
The lieutenant walks up to them as Drew reaches her car. He complains, refusing the idea, "On his side?" He opens the back trunk, taking out a second pair of his uniform to put on while he still complains, "He hit me over the head and took my uniform."
For the first time in months Corrigan smiles hearing Drew's complaints. She mocks, reminding him, "Weren't you admiring him as a hero not too long ago?"
Drew stops before putting his uniform shirt over his head and glares back, rejecting the thought. "He stole the uniform that YOU GAVE TO ME! He's a THIEF! A NO GOOD lou-" putting the uniform shirt over his head, his muffled complaints can still be heard within it. His head successfully pops out, finishing with, "THIEF!" and continues on with his torrent of complaints while he puts the rest of his uniform on.
Able to still hear his complaints, she tries to ignore them, but fails to do so.
"Is he always this whiney?" Vector asks.
"He has his moments." She tries to reason with Drew, "We have to let him know. Get him to stop killing people."
"But why his side if he's dangerous?" Vector asks.
"Because it wasn't eight kids… It was nine. The one that wasn't counted belonged to him." She looks back at the warehouse crime scene. "Even if he's dangerous, he looked like he really cared about him and will do anything to get him back. That's why."
Two officers from her precinct arrive at the warehouse and one of them salutes to her. She nods to him letting them both know that she noticed them. "Is everything prepared?" she asks.
"Yes Captain. A perimeter has been set all around town," one of the officers answers.
"Good," she says back.
"A perimeter... did you actually give the order to lock down the whole town?" Drew asks.
"WAIT, WHAT?! Are you kidding me? I'm stuck here?" Vector complains.
"Lieutenant Kaiser, are you there? Answer right now!" The lieutenant quickly answers his radio and steps away from them.
"That's right. You're stuck here 'til all of this is over. So sit tight or make yourself useful around here."
"Can't believe I'm stuck here," Vector walks away upset.
The Lieutenant comes back putting his radio away. He gives them the news of his orders. "I just got a couple of leads to go check out."
"Good, pass them around and we'll help," Corrigan eagerly accepts.
"I was ordered to check a residential area located on the southern side of town. Another spot is an… uhh an abandoned building." He looks past her as he continues, "I'll go check the abandoned building, but with my officers sent all over the place I'm going to have to borrow a couple of yours."
She looks over to her officers. "Umm, okay." She knows exactly who she wants to pick to go with him, but Tai and the two other officers were the only ones around. 'Where is he?' She does a quick search around for Bert, to no avail. To not waste any more time, she points at the two officers that arrived to go with him.
"Thank you very much," the lieutenant says and just as he's about to leave…
"Drew, go with him and see if you can spot anything," Corrigan orders.
The lieutenant quickly stops and turns back, looking directly at Drew. He sees Drew stare back as his eyes flicker blue towards him. He quickly raises his arm up shaking his hand, refusing, "That's not necessary. I'm fine with what I have already."
"But both of you did so well together here," Corrigan insists.
The lieutenant looks back to Drew, still seeing his eyes flicker then back to Corrigan eagerly saying, "He really shouldn't come. He should stay with you."
She looks at Drew and orders, "Go with him."
"Are you sure?" Drew asks.
"I'll be fine. I'll go check the residential area." She looks over to Vector who's pacing back and forth mad about the lockdown. "I know someone who can assist me."
Drew looks at Vector and nods in agreement. "Yes Ma'am."
The lieutenant sighs. They both walk side by side away from Corrigan as he orders, "Whatever I say, you do it… alright?"
"Alright, alright… you make it sound like something bad is going to happen."
She turns to Vector and smiles giving him the bad news. "We're going to go check out the residential area."
Vector stops pacing around after hearing what she just said. He turns to her and scoffs at the idea of it. "We?"
"That's right. 'We'… unless you have something better to do… Oh wait, you don't. You're stuck here."
He crosses his arms narrowing his eyes down to her. "Fine." Walking up to her squad car, Vector looks at it, seeing her step into it. He then looks down to himself then back at the car. "Uhh… no."
She sticks her head out of the car. "What do you mean-" She then looks up at him and she realizes what the problem is. "Oh… right."
"That's right. I can't fit into your toy car." He walks back to his truck. "I'll see you over there."
Seeing him walk away upset, she smirks as she warns, "Alright, but if you see him again, don't listen to a word he says. Don't want to get fooled by him again."
She hears him growl. He turns around angry getting reminded about it. "Trust me, when I see him again…" He clenches his fist. "Bringing him in isn't on top of the list to do first."
Once she starts her car and hears the engine purr, it is soon overshadowed by the loud obnoxious roar of a motorcycle revving up. Annoyed, she slowly sighs knowing exactly who it is. She looks out of her car window, seeing Bert hunched over on his bike, eagerly waiting for her to move an inch.
Rewind a couple of minutes…
The two officers step forward being picked by Corrigan.
Once far enough away, Tai just stands there with his arms crossed, and Bert cautiously peeks around Tai hoping not to be seen. He lets out a victorious chuckle and from his gaze to Corrigan, he turns his gaze up to Tai noticing his displeased expression. Bert pats the side of his gut as he compliments, "You're perfect the way you are. You don't need to go on a-" He gets bopped on the helmet. "GAH!" Readjusting his helmet, he grumbles within it, "STOP THAT! That hurts."
"Tai growls back, "I know."
Meanwhile, Drew and the lieutenant reach the abandoned building and they both exit out of the Jeep. Drew exits out and looks at what is supposed to be an abandoned building, but it seemed like it was just a regular house. He asks, confused, "I thought you said this was an abandoned building."
The lieutenant looks at it also. "Yeah, you're right… weird. They must've mentioned it wrong." He looks over to Drew, still seeing his eyes flicker blue as he rubs them. He advises, "Just stay out here until we're done in there."
"Out here? Why? You might need me in there to see something."
"No. Just… stay out here. Like at the warehouse, once it's clear, I'll come back and let you look around."
Drew nods agreeing, "Alright." He leans on the Jeep to wait as he goes back to rubbing his eyes.
The lieutenant heads to the house with the other officers. He orders them to enter first. One of them announces, "This is Maple and Mercury police. Come out with your hands up!" and one by one they enter the house cautiously, guns drawn.
Drew simply stood outside, looking at the house. He then backs away from the Jeep to look around town. Once looking across the street, he sees a house with a resident staring right back at him from the window. Drew raises up a hand to wave but the resident quickly closes the blinds on him. 'Weird.'
Looking to his right, he sees someone else talking into his phone avoiding to make eye contact with him. 'Okay… Also weird.'
To his left, he hears the squeal of a car's brakes, which comes to a stop. Once Drew turns to look, the driver quickly looks away. 'He just arrived… why isn't he exiting out?'
Trying to remain calm, he takes a step back from the Jeep and moves closer to the house. 'What's going on?'
He looks across the street again at the house, and the closed blinds move… Then, a sign was placed with the word 'RUN' in big bold letters on it.
He backs away from the Jeep even more as a sudden dread and fear shake him to his very core. 'Why do I suddenly fear for my life?'
A loud smash come from inside of the house followed by a gun shot, making him turn to it.
His sensory intuition activates as blue swirls and lines point him to the house. "What's… what's going on?" He mutters worriedly, heading to the front door of the house. Cautiously approaching the doorway, he looks into the house seeing the living room. He quietly calls out, "Lieu- Lieutenant? Lieutenant?" Taking a step back, he turns to check the house's window across the street seeing the resident staring right back.
The resident just shakes her head, warning not to go into the house.
Drew turns back, seeing the blue swirls intensifying, pointing to go into the house. He calls out again, "Lieutenant? Are you… are you okay? …Lieutenant?" With no answer, he slowly enters the house.
Meanwhile at Douglas' pizza parlor, the cashier, a young white Mouse fresh out of high school, sits in the main lobby in front of the cash register, waiting for any sign of a potential customer.
She hears the window behind her that leads to the kitchen slide open as a male voice exits out, beginning with his throat being cleared. "Honey?" he asks, knowing that it annoys her.
She rolls her eyes. "Daddy?" She mocks asking back.
A middle-aged, slightly overweight grey Mouse places his arms on the windowsill. He crosses them as he responds, "Go to the fair… before it ends."
She looks at the clock, with the time being 8:13pm, and refuses, not turning to look at him. "Just because you sent the staff away early doesn't mean I was going to go with them."
Knowing that he's still at the window being silent, he then says, "Honey?"
She slumps her shoulders. "Daddy?" She mocks back again.
"Leave. After the little scare from this afternoon, you need it."
"It wasn't a "little scare". He's still out there." She swings her seat around to face him. "And that's exactly why I didn't leave, leaving you here alone."
"I can handle anything that comes through that door… even if it's a party of five. Plus if he ever does show up again…" He sticks an arm pass the window, clenching his fist. "I'll give him one of these and toss him right back out."
All she does is just stare back, knowing that it isn't true. "Ha! You know it better than me, that you'll be the first to rush out the back door with your tail between your legs."
The main entrance door opens as a welcoming jingle sounds off.
Still looking at her father, she smiles, "See? Someone did…come…" She notices how terrified her dad was, as his eyes are locked onto the entrance. She slowly turns to look also, as any semblance of being polite was replaced with intense terror. What she sees is half of the violent fugitive's face covered in blood and in worst shape from the last time she saw him. 'He came back.'
Trying not to make any sudden moves, she hears her dad's voice behind also trying to remain calm as he instructs her, "Under the counter… the button. Press it. It might scare him away."
She puts her hand under the counter to try to find the panic button to sound the alarm. Once she finds it and just when she's about to press it, she sees the fugitive turn to open the entrance, letting four kids enter. 'More kids?' She stops and moves her hand away from the button and watches him approach the register. Staring at him trying to remain calm as he stands there, she looks at the cut on the side of his head worried about it seeing fresh blood ooze out of it. She asks, "Umm… S-Same as the last time?"
The Fugitive simply nods.
She puts down the order. She then asks, "Same toppings as before?" and then looks down at the kids.
One of the Kids requests, "No pineapples."
She then looks back up to him as he says, "No pineapples," in a trance like state.
'He's so hurt… that he's delirious from it. I can't… I… I can't help him…, but to see him like this…' She then asks as calmly as she can, "And… call the police… once they're done eating… again?"
The Fugitive nods again then swipes the card. He turns and walks to one of the booths, showing the kids to sit in it.
She accepts the order and sees him say a couple of things, unable to hear any of it.
Walking away from the kids, the Fugitive heads to the entrance saying, "Thanks."
Hearing his tired weary voice, she quickly says going around the counter, "No!" she then pleads, "Please stop."
The Fugitive warns her, "I have to go. I can't stay here."
"No. What you are doing… thank you. The town really needs it, really needs someone like you in it. What you are doing… Thank you."
"LET HIM GO! IF HE WANTS TO GO, THEN LET HIM GO!" her dad shouts from the kitchen.
She turns around, upset at him. "Hush." She turns back to the Fugitive and requests, "Please stay. Let me do something about that cut. Please?"
Exhausted and in pain, he nods, accepting her request.
She grabs his bloodied, dirty hand and leads him into the kitchen.
Leading him into the kitchen, she gets him to sit down. She grabs a white towel and the first-aid kit. With towel in hand, she wipes the blood from his face and from his hands.
"This is crazy," her dad says worriedly, hiding where the ovens are.
"Dad please just… just go give the kids some food."
He shakes his head as he grabs some pizza slices. Heading to the door, he stops at it and takes a deep breath to get rid of some of his worry. He puts on a fake smile and goes out saying, "HEY! Who wants some pizza?" They hear the kids getting happy and excited.
As the door closes, she looks back at his cut, trying to be careful with it. Grabbing a cotton swab, she then applies iodine to it. She looks at him and asks, unsure, "Are you ready for this?"
Looking directly at it in concern, he slightly shakes his head.
"Me neither. I'm sorry for this."
Outside in the main room as her dad keeping the kids entertained, he can hear muffled yells coming from the kitchen from the fugitive.
"Gah!" The Fugitive pounds the table near him trying to remain still getting stitched up.
"I know… sorry. This is something I don't do." She tries desperately to be careful to tie the knot and to cut it. She grabs a bottle of water and pills. "Here. Take these."
He grabs ahold of the bottle and pills. Not even hesitating, he swallows the pills and relaxes.
She washes her hands as she says, "Just relax and I'll go look after the kids. If you want pizza… well you're at the right place." She hangs the blood-stained white towel near the exit, then leaves the kitchen with some more pizza slices.
As she exits, her dad was there waiting on the other side. She looks at him not saying a word as she gives him a concerned smile. She says worriedly, "I know we're not supposed to help him… I know."
He hugs her and says warmly, "I'm proud of you."
With pizza slices in her hands, she places them down and hugs him right back.
Craig sits back in his seat to relax and decides to take his jacket off. On the verge of removing it, he hears a voice come out of it. He narrows his eyes as he plunges his hand into his jacket pocket taking out the figurine. "You…" he angrily says holding onto it.
"Hi, am Pencil Pouch and-"
He snarls at it in his hand, "I KNOW WHAT YOUR FUCKING NAME IS! It's YOUR DAMN FAULT THAT ALL OF THIS HAPPENED!" He shouts at it, but then slumps down on his seat feeling guilty. "If I didn't walk into that damn store… I wouldn't be here right now."
The pony figurine starts playing cheerful music.
Becoming even more upset, he clenches it tight and raises it into the air to throw it… but as he raises it, a key chain swings down hitting his wrist making him stop. Lowering it back down looking at it, he takes ahold of it, reading what it says. "Pencil Pouch Pony, Limited Edition Collector's Item? …Really?" He flips the tag over. "82 out of 100? What? They only made one hundred of these? How much did this cost…?"
He looks at the price tag in disbelief, as if all the blood drained out of his body, leaving him pale white. "Wha… WHAT?! ARE YOU…" He gently places it on the table near his jacket and scoots the chair far away from it while staring right at it in worry. "Oh shit… Oh shit… The Resistance is going to kill me. It's no wonder she said in payments."
The cashier walks back into the kitchen with dishes seeing him sitting somewhere different. She looks over at the figurine playing music on the table then right back at him with a smile.
Craig, ashamed of it as he quickly says, "It's what all the cool, violent and dangerous people are playing with these days."
She dumps a couple of dishes into the sink and checks his forehead, touching it. "The bleeding's stopped."
"Gah! …But it still hurts," he whines. Once she was done, he watches her walk away to wash the dishes. "I never got your name."
"It's Dana. That's my dad out there. He owns the place."
"The owner, huh?" He looks out of the small window seeing her dad keeping the kids entertained. "Guess that means he's Douglas?"
She laughs. "Yeah, nicest person you'll ever meet… despite not being very courageous."
He slightly chuckles. "I noticed," he remarks, but then remembers the first time he saw Dana here. "You were the same person as before behind the register. Sorry about what I did, I just needed to drop them off somewhere that was safe."
She turns off the faucet and turns to look at him with a smile. "You had the whole 'tired dad look' bringing in those kids. You practically blended in with everyone."
"Blending in is something I'm really good at doing," he says back, touching the side of his head.
Seeing him touch his stitches, she asks, "So what happened this time?"
"I was… unfocused, too impatient… too desperate thinking that I was finally going to find him… but I wound up getting ambushed instead."
She watches him slumped on his seat, worried about the kid that he's searching for. She reassured him with soothing words, "You'll find him. Just don't lose hope. That's the worst thing you can do, is to lose hope."
Remembering about the first three kids that he brought in, he asks, "What happened to the first three kids?"
"The police were called, like you asked… but I made sure that they were in good hands. Marcus, a lieutenant from town, was in charge. He made sure that they were okay."
Hearing her talk about the police caused him to remember what she said when he tried to leave. "What did you mean by "you needed someone like me"? Don't you have the police?"
Being hesitant, unsure how to answer, she responds, "The police in this town… they're… they're not… They can't be trusted."
He looks at her in confused asking, "What do you mean?"
"The police here… are just-"
The door flies open as her dad comes back into the kitchen in a hurry with the kids. "Go, go. Over there," he tells the kids.
She looks at him concerned, "What? What's going…-" She looks at the main room windows as a beam of light flashes through them. She cautiously walks to check only to quickly back away turning back to her dad in surprise. "You called them?"
"No. I don't know why they're here," he says shaking his head.
Craig also gets close to check, seeing that it's the police. He looks back, seeing how scared Dana and her Dad are. He wonders to himself, 'Why are they afraid of the police?'
They hear a welcoming jingle echo through the kitchen, as one of them enters the building.
Meanwhile, Corrigan arrives at the residential area. Parking her vehicle, she opens her car door getting ready to exit out of it… only to be greeted with the sound of a motorcycle parking right next to her. She hears him laughing from within in his helmet as he's gets ready to remove it. "What's so funny?" she asks, annoyed.
He answers back in a teasing manner with his helmet still on, "The fact that I actually kept up with you the whole way, feels like an achievement to me."
Tai finally arrives in his squad car. He sluggishly exits out, shaking his head at them. "Are you kidding me?!" he shouts at them. "Am I going to have to give both of you a speeding ticket? Gawd damn…" He then slams the door.
Bert mocks back, "Is it our fault that your slow ass drives under the speed limit?"
Tai explains back, upset, "I was busy giving Vector a map for directions to the place. I turn my head and what do I see? …Both of you hauling ass down the road."
Bert laughs again finally removing his helmet and places it on his bike. He says with enthusiasm, "Oh heck yeah, can't believe you and Vector are buddy-buddies!"
Annoyed by his tone, she informs back, going through her car, "We're not. It's just an unfortunate circumstance that he's here. I had no choice but to get him involved."
"Is he… going to show up? Mind if I… get his autograph?" he asks.
Corrigan could practically hear his snarky smile spread on his face. Getting out of her car, mildly irritated, she looks at his name tag on his uniform, stating A. Vazquez, then to his face, which displayed a grin on his purple haired wolf snout of his. "I don't know if he's going to show up, and YES… I do mind if you ask for his autograph. Last thing I want is his ego to be more bloated then it already is."
Tai remains near his car and asks, "So what are we looking for over here?"
Both Corrigan and Bert get off of the road and step onto the sidewalk as she answers back, "Anything out of the ordinary, we'll ask questions, and especially look out for that BOA fugitive and for any sign of the kids."
"You really think he's around here? Kinda weird being sent over to this spot," Bert asks.
"A tip's a tip." She looks at the sky seeing that its getting dark already. "If he's here, I have to talk to him."
"And if we do find him and he's aggressive, then what?" Tai asks.
"Well we can start by moving away from our cars. Are you seriously still next to yours?" Bert teases.
"HEY! I'm not taking any chances with you two maniacs," Tai argues back. Hearing a vehicle, he looks over his shoulder and down the street seeing a Mercury Squad Car approach. "BERT! Your new friends are coming." he announces.
Both Corrigan and Bert turn to look, seeing the car approach then do a hard right turn blocking the street.
"What is that all about? Who are they blocking in?" Tai asks, but then another car does the same from the other side.
Bert, feeling concerned again, asks, "Okay, seriously… what the hell is wrong with them?"
"You know something I don't?" Corrigan asks.
"Ever since I got here, they've been giving me weird vibes," he answers not taking his eyes off of the squad car. "Heck, even a squad car I pulled up on at a red light, the dude inside wasn't even wearing a uniform. He was wearing something a chauffeur would."
Seconds later, a couple of civilians exit out of their house at the same time. "It's lockdown, right? …Shouldn't they stay in their houses?" Tai asks, stepping away from his car.
"Yeah," she answers, keeping an eye on one of them. She asks, "Hey… can you please go back inside? It's for your own safety."
"Captain?" Bert asks, trying to get her attention.
Corrigan doesn't turn to him to answer, but just watches one of the civilians. She orders again, "I'm not going to ask you again. Please go-"
At that very moment, everything slowed to a complete stop for Bert. He sees one of the civilians go through his coat and take out an assault rifle.
Bert looks over to Tai. But Tai was already looking back with acceptance to his fate being out in the open. From his gaze to Bert, he turns it to Corrigan, letting him know exactly what he wanted him to do. And with no hesitation…
"CAPTAIN GET DOWN!" Bert quickly shouts, tackling her to the ground as gunfire penetrates the squad car and all over the floor around them. With him on top of her and protecting her, they managed to avoid the bullets.
But Tai was unable to do the same. A multitude of bullets entered his body, as he collapses onto the floor motionless.
Getting off of her, she stays kneeled down un-holstering her gun as they hide behind her car for cover as the sound of gun fire dies down. "What the fuck are they shooting at us for?!" he says.
"No… better question… Why aren't they doing anything to stop it?" she asks, looking at the town police who were simply sitting in their vehicles, just watching.
Night-time is casting over the Town of Mercury and there is no sign of help. With Drew looking for the lieutenant, Corrigan under heavy fire and Craig at the pizza parlor about to get confronted with his own problems… Who will survive this deadly LOCKDOWN?
End of Chapter. Thanks for Reading.
Next: Final CH/Chapter 8: LOCKDOWN
