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 6 Word count is: 4,241
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 6: Violent Tendencies
WARNING! Halfway Through This Chapter, It Will Contain Harsh Violence And More Intense Bad Language. Bad Language will be used much more frequently. You Will Be Warned Again When It Will Happen.
Type of Violence Involves: Stabbing, Shooting, Physical Hand to Hand and Bloody descriptions.
You Have Been Warned.
Craig makes his way through the park and as he reaches the center of it, his phone rings. With no need to check who it is, he answers it. "Forgot something?"
He smirks, hearing her tap on her desk. "You do realize that I can fry that phone from here… right?"
"Sorry, sorry." He clears his throat. "Hello? This is Craig, how can I help you?" He smirks and waits for her response… but she remained silent. Getting a little worried, he stops walking wondering why, but then remembers what she did to him a long time ago. "Oh shit." He quickly pulls his earpiece out of his ear as a high pitch screech comes out of it. "OKAY! OKAY! SORRY!" He shouts to it.
Once the high pitch sound stops, he cautiously shoves it back into his ear, hearing her scold him. "Alright smart ass, tone down the charm because it doesn't work with me."
He slumps his shoulders, 'Geez… did I really lose my touch? I don't think I'm ever going to recover from this.'
She continues, "As I was going to say, I found out more information on your next target. His name is Trey Jones and he was sentenced to prison for his many acts of torture. It's what he's mostly known for. And the worst of all, once he's done with you, he'll make you disappear as if you never existed. So… be careful out there."
He smiles back, hearing her concern. He teases, "Aww… are you worried about me?"
She scoffs, "Oh hardly. I still hate you. I just want to make sure that you find this kid."
"I'm still making my way through the park." He informs, limping along the way.
"Still? The park isn't even that big. You should've been there by now."
'Yeah, if it wasn't for…' He stops, looking down and massages his knee. He answers, "During the fiasco at the… Bo…" he quickly cuts himself off, 'Shit. I almost said BOA. I'll never hear the end of it if she knew I was with them.' Cautiously continuing, "I mean, the group of criminals that I was with, I got into a fight that I wound up fucking up my knee. So… I'm not as fast as I used to be." He sees the truck shop. "I'm almost at the truck shop," he informs.
"Oh yeah, the truck shop has nothing to do with the recycling center that's behind them. Needed to also make sure that you understood that. So just avoid and sneak by them."
Heading to the truck shop again, he reminds her, "Don't worry. Sneaking around is one of my specialties."
He hears her lean back on her seat. "Really? Do you still have it in you after being in prison for a year?"
"Damn right. Who do you think I am, Chris? Pfft, Can't sneak around if his life depended on it." He chuckles.
He hears her rise up from her seat in surprise. "Wow… there's a name I haven't heard in a long time. What is he up to?"
Craig just stopped and what soon followed, was regret. 'Shit… why did I say his name? I can't tell her. I have to lie.' "Umm… He… well… he's living the life and… he's settled down."
He hears her lean back on her seat. "Really...? So… do you know where he is?"
He lets out a quiet regretful sigh. 'I can't… I can't tell her. How can I tell her? That Chris is just a subconscious in his own body being controlled by someone else? That he's now known as Wally? I know where he is, but I can't. I have to lie.' "No… I don't know where he is."
"Uh-huh… well then… what about you? When are 'you' ever going to live 'the life'?"
"Umm… Soon as it stops getting delayed," he answers, uncertain.
He hears her sigh. "Craig? Look… I know that you're a great saboteur… but do you ever realize that you're so good at it… that you don't even know that you're doing it to yourself? To the point that you have to ask yourself… When am I going to stop?"
Craig stops walking and looks down at the ground. "I'll stop… when I stop putting skeletons into my closet. I fucked up enough lives as it is… Peanut's not going to be one of them." He looks up at the truck shop. "I'm at the shop. I'll be going dark and once it's over, I'll call you back."
"Sure… just… just…-" She sighs in frustration and hangs up.
After Liz hangs up he kneels down behind a tree looking at the truck repair shop across the street. Trying to figure out how to get past the workers without getting seen, he keeps thinking about Liz instead. He rubs his head then looks at the store connected next to the repair shop. And with luck, it turned out to be a donut shop. 'Hmm… That should work. Bathroom always has a back exit right next to it.' He heads to the donut shop and enters it.
Upon entering, he hears someone's voice heading to the exit with his batch of donuts reminding the Employee, "I know he's coming by, so what's the new rule again?"
The young adult squirrel from the behind the counter slumps his shoulders answering back with a voice to match his disappointment, "No more free samples to Kenny."
"Good," the owner says back, but then notices Craig at the door way. "Welcome," he gestures to the Employee, "He'll help you out. Have a good day."
Craig steps to the side allowing him to exit out and remained close to the entrance. Looking around, then down to his side, he sees a sign displaying, 'Open 24hrs' at the window.
The young adult squirrel employee awkwardly looks at him just standing there. Unsure why, he then asks, "Are you just going to stand there? Can't help you if you're just going to stand by the entrance."
Hearing the Employee's high pitched voice, Craig walks to the counter looking to the little hallway leading to the bathroom, but the Back Exit wasn't near it. 'Shit… it's not there? Then where is it?'
Reaching the glass display case for the donuts, he then turns his attention to the employee able to see over him and unfortunately, right behind him in the kitchen room is where the Back Exit is. 'Dammit.' He looks down looking at the donuts while he puts his hands in his jacket pockets feeling one of the handles of the guns. 'Should I… Should I do it? Use force just to get to the exit back there? Maybe I could just talk-'
"You're not from around here… are you?" the Employee asks.
Craig looks up to the young adult squirrel that's wearing his cooking uniform for the place. On the uniform had his name displayed as Carl. "What gave it away?" he asks back.
Carl then points out, "The fact that you're a fox. Foxes tend to keep their distance away from small towns and just stay near the big cities."
Craig chuckles and smirks, "Didn't get the memo, but I guess you're right. I'm just passing through."
"Passing through? So you're here for the Country Fair?" Carl asks, being spot on about him.
Thinking to himself, being a little surprised that his insight about him. 'Maybe I can talk myself to be able to use the back exit.' Craig then answers, "Yeah. You're right. That's why I'm here."
"It's crazy what happened over there. Kids being taken," Carl mentions looking away concerned.
Craig trying not to think about it, he tries to keep his anger in check. "Yeah… shit was nuts. I hope they get found, and whoever did it gets what they deserve."
Carl looks right back happy with Craig's response. "Damn right. The Country Fair has a long history for being safe for kids. You really have to be a piece of shit to kidnap one of them. It just isn't… right." Once Carl mentions that, he begins to look at Craig a little bit more thorough.
Craig looks at the exit behind Carl and politely asks, "You don't mind if I… exit out the back… right?"
Carl looks at him confused and looks behind himself at the exit. He looks back to Craig. "Exit out the… Why?"
"So I can get to the recycling center. I don't feel like walking all the way around the block to get to it."
"What?... A recycling center? That back there isn't a…-" Carl turns his gaze to the main window, looking at it.
Craig notices Carl's eyes go to the window, he slowly also does the same, seeing a clumsy mongoose stumble and fall to get out of view. He looks back to Carl, as he returns a concerned look.
Optional: Kill or Spare Employee… In Progress
'Shit. That must've been Kenny. He was bound to show up.' With his hand still in his jacket pocket, he puts his hand around the handle of the gun getting ready to take it out. About to take it out-
"Out the back… right? Th-that's all you want… right?" Carl quickly asks with his arms to his side scared.
'Carl just stood there, looking at me worried.'
Optional: Kill or Spare Employee… Abandoned
'No. I can't do this. He doesn't deserve it. Pulling out the gun was a bad idea.' Craig releases the gun, and takes his hand out of his pocket showing him that he has nothing to hurt him with. "You know what… never mind. I'm just going to-"
"No!" Carl blurts out, looking back at the window then back to him. "It's ok. I don't give a shit what they say about you. What you did for those kids is all that matters and that makes you okay in my book. Out the back… right?"
Craig looks at the back exit then back to him, "That's right. That's all I wanted to do. I go out that door and you'll never see me again."
Carl unlocks the latch of the counter and lifts it open for him to go by.
Craig walks around the counter keeping an eye on him. "Thanks… Carl." Once past the door to the other room, he heads to the back exit and leaves.
Carl just stands there trying to calm down as he hears the front entrance opens. Turning to it, he sees his friend Kenny cautiously enters the shop looking all around. "Are you okay?" his asks.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"How dense are you? That was him and you were talking to him like it was nothing?"
"I didn't know what he looked like. You think I pay attention to the news?" Seeing Kenny take out his phone, he quickly says, "Don't!"
"Why? That was him. You have to tell them."
"I know. It's just… Just let him go."
"Why?"
"Cause he's the only one who can do something about it. They're not going to do anything about it."
A patrol car pulls in front of the donut shop and they both look at it. Carl checks the back exit while Kenny asks while raising his arms, "Hope you have a good excuse 'cause I got nothing."
Carl turns back to him, seeing his arms up. "Put your arms down. There's no…thing… to… Why are they aiming their guns at us…?"
WARNING! HALFWAY POINT REACHED! LANGUAGE AND VIOLENCE WILL GET WORSE!
Meanwhile, Craig climbs up and over a fence, getting to where he needs to be. He looks back at the donut shop's rear exit. 'That couldn't have gone any smoother.' He looks back at where he is now, unsure about the place. 'So this isn't a recycling center… then what is it?'
Objective 7: Infiltrate and Interrogate Tray… In Progress.
Passing in between large shipping containers lined up side to side, he stares up at them standing nine feet. 'Damn their huge. No way to get on top of any of them. Aren't these shipping containers?… So this has to be some kind of shipping yard.'
As he quietly hides in the shadows making his way to the center area and getting past all the large containers, he sees someone patrolling around.
Low to the ground, following him as if he's stalking his prey, he keeps his distance in the hopes that this guard will lead him to his next target.
Caution: Possibility of Objective 7 to Fail… Reason: Un-Focused.
Getting close to the main entrance of one of the buildings, he stops as somebody else exits out to talk to him. Upon inching slightly closer, kneeling down on one knee, he focuses on them hoping that he can make out what they're saying to each other.
'C'mon asshole. Tell me where the fuck he's at.' With no luck, desperation settles in.
Caution: Possibility of Objective 7 to Fail… Reason: Un-Focused.
He leans in closer to listen, but something from the corner of his eye catches his attention - running right at him. Unable to react in time, he feels the impact of a steel toe boot connect to the side of his head.
"I FOUND HIM!" the attacker shouts, warning everyone else.
Craig tries to get up, but fights with himself trying to stay conscious after the kick. He can feel the blood run down the side of his face. He gets kicked again in the ribs sending him onto his back.
"You thought you could sneak up on us? Good thing he actually said the truth about you," he scolds and just when he was about to kick him again, he stops as others show up.
One of them orders, "Get his ass up and get him inside fast."
They drag Craig into the building.
Entering, they then take off his jacket and force him onto a plastic chair, tying his hands behind his back. Craig just sits there nearly motionless with his eyes closed and head down as blood from his head drips onto his lap.
"Let me see what he looks like," one of them demands as he grabs Craig's hair to look at his face. "Fuck… it is him," he says, pushing his head away in concern while releasing.
"You know who he is?" one of them asks.
"Yeah… I know who he is. I walked by his cell every day when I was locked up. I know exactly who he is," Trey answers.
Hearing his answer, Craig opens his eyes to take a look. It's him. Trey. He's the one that escaped from the prison. Getting angrier, his head begins to throb from the kick.
Trey, noticing Craig staring at him, storms his way to punch him in the face. "Don't fucking look at me!" After delivering the punch, he then walks away and takes out his phone to talk to someone. "Hi, it's me. We got him… Naw, he ain't dead… not yet that is." He laughs. "I love that word… 'Dispose', but you got it." He looks at Craig and smirks. "Gonna chop him up and deliver him all over the fucking place. …Sure, after I'm done here I'll head on over. So I'll see you in a bit."
He hangs up and walks towards Craig. "I don't know how you got out, but you should have just stayed in prison." He paces back and forth eyeing Craig. "What doesn't make sense is why the fuck are you playing the hero? Why? Of all people - especially when you're Ex-BOA."
"What? He's Ex-BOA?" one of them asks in surprise.
Trey answers, "Yeah and with a tag like that there's no way anyone will look at you like a hero. You're nothing but a cold-hearted monster."
Hearing being called a monster, Craig lowers his head as he mutters, "No. It wasn't me."
"Really?" He quickly storms to Craig again and boots him in the chest sending him flying back on his seat. "Fucking denial!"
Two other kidnappers get Craig back onto his seat and sit him up right, then stand next to him.
"So tell me…" He takes a couple of steps away, while rolling up his sleeves. "So how's the uhh, psychiatry sessions going for you?" He scoffs, mocking, "Jack shit, huh?! After all the fucking shit that you did, how the fuck can you fix something like that? You're nothing but a monster."
Craig tilts his head down in regret hearing himself being called a monster again.
He gets closer to Craig, continuing his verbal mental abuse. "I heard what you did at the warehouse. What you did to Rodney. You must've had one heck of a hard on with that knife… huh? Hearing him yell out in pain as you shoved it into him. SLICING HIM OPEN! FUCKING SICK!" He looms over Craig as he still held his head down in shame, hearing his breathing become more erratic.
Not backing down, he continued on, "Even everyone at prison is afraid to even get close to you." He kneels down on one knee to look into Craig's eyes. "Do you really want to know why no one wants to be around you or even try anything on you? It's not because of Levi. He has nothing to do with it. It's not even about saving a kids life. It's like the boss said, you're unstable. Afraid that one day you'll fucking snap and kill someone." He grabs Craig's hair again, forcing his head up. He gets close to his face staring into his eyes as he shouts, "EVERYONE SEES YOU AS A MONSTER!"
Thinking about Peanut and Liz, Craig finally snaps and snarls in fury. He headbutts Trey, smearing his blood onto his face, busting his cut open even worse. "NOT EVERYONE!" Craig shouts as blood runs down his face.
Trey hops back, wiping the blood off his face. Getting angry he clenches his fist and takes a step to punch Craig again, but then stops. Remembering about saving a kid's life, thinking about what he did at the warehouse and why he's here now, he figures it out. He looks to his left and then back to Craig. He points to where he looked at and asks, "Which one of them is yours?"
Craig slowly takes his eyes away from him and looks to where he's pointing. What he sees are four scared kids, watching what's going on. Looking at each kid, he notices that each one of them was a boy, around the age of nine and also Pomeranian… but none of them were Peanut. He turns to him again giving him a glare and snarls the answer, "All of them."
Everyone laughs at him and mocks but it doesn't even faze Craig. He just keeps staring at the one in charge with cruel intentions.
One of the kidnappers goes through one of his jacket pockets, taking out both guns and then lays them on a table. He then goes through the other pocket and pulls out something wrapped in protective plastic. Unwrapping it, he couldn't contain his laughter at what he found, looking at what he was holding onto. "Hey Trey! Check this out!" he shouts to his boss to get his attention.
Once he turns he sees something being thrown at him. He quickly catches it, and then looks at it. "What the…" He looks at the person who threw it at him.
"It was in his jacket," he answers, pointing at Craig.
"You've got to be kidding me. You play with these?" He holds it out showing it to Craig.
Craig snaps out of his anger, seeing the purple pony in his hands. "Put… that… back."
"Even monsters need to have a soft side."
"Put… it back."
"Oh I'll put it back." He walks to a wooden crate next to Craig and places it on top of it for him to see it.
Knowing exactly what he's going to do, he asks, "Don't."
"Hand me my shottie." Someone grabs it and hands over his shotgun.
"Don't," Craig threatens.
"Or what?" he threatens back.
Eyes on the figurine, "You want to see a monster?" Craig turns and looks him dead in the eyes and warns, "I'll show you a monster."
NEW Primary Objective: KILL. THEM. ALL. …In Progress
Number of Targets: 10
Objective 1: Severely Injure Trey
Holding the shotgun with both hands, Trey brings it up to aim at the figurine, but…
In one quick motion, Craig reaches out and grabs one of the exposed handguns from someone standing near him. He aims it at Trey, pulling the trigger. With perfect precision… the bullet enters the side if his neck, proceeds to follow through and exits right back out hitting another thug directly between the eyes.
Targets Left: 9
Craig quickly turns back and fires two more shots into the thug he took the gun from while reaching down grabbing the leg of the chair to swing it around, hitting another across the face with it. He releases the chair and dives behind the wooden crate as everyone opens fire at him.
Targets Left: 8
Hiding behind the wooden crate as it gets pummeled by gun fire, he looks around his cover seeing the one he hit over the head with the chair on the floor trying to grab at anything. With no hesitation, he aims, shooting him in the side of the head causing it to whip to the side as blood splatters on the floor.
Targets Left: 7
As the crate gets hit even more, someone yells out in panic, demanding, "SHOOT! FUCKING SHOOT!"
Feeling the wooden crate getting hit, he slightly peeks around the corner to-
A bullet grazes his face startling him but also equally enrages him. Snarling, he looks over cover, BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Firing off three shots, then goes back into cover taking deep breaths to calm himself.
One of them yells out in panic, "HOLY SHIT! Did he just…" While another warns, "KEEP YOUR FUCKING HEAD DOWN!"
Targets Left: 4
Peering around the side, one of the kidnappers look over there cover of crates. His eyes go down to his boots noticing the jagged metal exposed from it. 'He's the asshole that kicked me.' About to fire back…
Targets Left: …
Something then lands on his lap as it introduces itself, "Hi, I'm Pencil Pouch and we're going to have so much fun!"
!DISTRACTION!
He looks at the figurine talking to him. "You fucking talk?" Grabbing it smothering it close to him, he rolls out of cover just as the crate gets destroyed.
Three other kidnappers yell out to each other, "WHERE THE FUCK DID HE GO!" "I don't know." "SHUT-UP! SHUT UP! …You hear that?"
Craig hides behind another set of crates, still smothering the figurine to keep it quiet. Once it stops talking, he slowly takes pressure off of it only to then have it play music. "Son of a-"
"Over there!" One of them points. Each of them split off taking a different point, listening to where the music is coming from behind crates. Guns out and ready, they get closer and closer. Two of them stop, as they gesture for the other one to go check.
As he moves forward, the other two circle around to flank.
Once he reaches the spot, he quickly aims behind the crate and fires in rapid succession. The pony figurine was the only thing there, that almost got hit itself. "He's not here," he says confused.
"WHAT?!" someone yells back.
Looking back to answer him, he repeats, "He's not-" He then sees Craig right behind them, aiming his gun directly right back at him. "HE'S-" Before getting a chance to warn them, he gets shot between the eyes.
Craig quickly stabs one of them in the back, then pulls the blade out and swipes at the other, slicing his neck clean open. Then goes back to repeatedly stabbing angrily, saying with each stab, "That's… for fucking… kicking… me."
Targets Left: 1
Everything becomes silent once the pony figurine stops playing music. The only thing that can be heard is Trey, the other prison escapee that's in charge, choking and gurgling on his own blood with both his hands around his neck. Staring upwards from the floor, he sees Craig limping up to him with his face still coated with his own blood from his forehead. Unable to say anything, he lets out a final gurgling bloody breath as everything fades to black.
Primary Objective 2: Kill. THEM . ALL. …Complete.
Return to Primary Objective 1: Find Peanut… Back In Progress.
Re-Cap on Objective 7: Infiltrate and Interrogate Tray… Failed. Target Killed.
Meanwhile, the kids watch in fear as they see Craig stand over Tray's lifeless body. With a slight turn of his head, he looks over to them. Limping over to them, he goes through his jean pocket, taking out a black card, but stops… and just stares at his hands disappointed, as they were coated in blood and how dirty they are. He looks right back at the kids again and asks in a tired, weary voice, "Who… who wants some… pizza?"
End of Chapter. Thanks for Reading.
Next: Chapter 7: Little Town, Big Dark Secret