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-Reader 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 2 Word count is: 3,483
The OC Cast is: Main: Craig(Fox) More will be added.
Side Characters: Will add later.
New Chapter will be submitted EVERY FRIDAY.
Forces: Deadly Reasonable Reasons
Chapter 2: A Good Fun Time… Right?
As Craig approaches the helicopter, one of the pilots gets out holding handcuffs. The co-pilot then puts his hand up making him stop. He looks at a picture and then back to him and nods, but just to make sure he asks, "Name?"
"Craig."
The co-pilot just stares at him expecting something else, "And… last name?"
Craig sighs, "I… don't know. So it's… Unknown."
"Umm… okay… inmate number?"
"2-5-8-2."
"Alright." He raises the handcuffs and orders, "Turn around with your arms behind your back."
Craig puts his hands together and turns his back to him, letting him get handcuffed.
Once done, the co-pilot instructs him to get on board.
Craig steps inside and sits. The co-pilot helps put his seat belt on for him. The pilot then also gets on board to take off to the Resistance Base.
Along the ride, Craig eyes them both and asks, "Do any of you know what this is all about?"
"Not a clue. You're nothing but a package for us to pick up."
"Yeah. They'll tell you everything once you get there."
As they fly over the Resistance Base, Craig notices it was left the same as it was a year ago when he was spying on Tails. The building that his experiment exploded in was teared down and replaced by another building.
Upon arrival, he's greeted by someone he thought he would never meet face to face… the Scary Field Secretary of the Resistance. She was dressed in her field secretary uniform, almost covering all of her spots being a Dalmatian.
He approaches her with concern… but why? Thinking to himself, he remembers, 'Oh yeah. She fucking gives me the creeps.'
She analyses him in his prison uniform as he approaches her. "You must be Craig," she said.
He nods. "That's right."
"I would shake your hand but I don't involve myself with deadly criminals."
He gives her a smug look and casually says, "Well that sucks." With his hands behind his back, he reveals them as he scratches the side of his face and then crosses his arms. "I was going to at least try to be respectful around here."
The Pilot baffled from it, "What the...?" he looks at his co-pilot. "I thought you cuffed him?"
The co-pilot looks right back confused, "I did. At least I think-" He tries to answer back, but looking back to Craig, he sees the handcuffs being thrown to him.
"Thanks for having them loose for me," Craig mocks back.
Trish glares at him, not impressed by what he just did. "Thanks for bringing him here. You two can go now," she says to the pilots making them leave.
They both leave as the pilot jabs his co-pilot in the shoulder. "How the heck did you screw that up?"
"I know I cuffed him. I-I swear I did," he answers back still confused, checking the hand-cuffs.
Trish then pulls out her clipboard and writes into it. From the clipboard, she looks up to him again… and holds her gaze on him. Unsure, she asks, "Why do you look so familiar to me?"
'Oh shit... I think she knows. Gotta crank up the charm.' He smiles, remaining calm answering with, "I have an unforgettable and lovable face?"
Eyes locked onto him, she slightly shakes her head, rejecting that notion, "That's definitely not it… and it never will be."
'Ouch… that stung.' He shrugs, "Welp, let's see if you remember by the time I leave."
"Oh, I will." she remarks. Putting her pen to her clipboard, she asks, "Craig, what's your last name?"
"I don't have one," he answers.
Rejecting his response, she then asks with attitude, "Don't have one or you don't want to say what it is?"
He answers right back with attitude, "I don't have one 'cause I don't remember what it is. So use whatever you want. I'm fine with Unknown."
She scoffs at him. "I know that you were with the BOA. I also know what you did while you were with them. Your smooth talking or attitude isn't going to work with me." She writes on her clipboard. "And another thing…-" Someone gets close interrupting her, grabbing her attention.
The Dalmatian guest quickly backs off along with his high pitched voice apologizing, "Sorry. I'm not even here."
She looks right back to Craig. "My name is Trish. Remember that name. I know that you're here for Peanut and that you're going to escort him for the day." She gives him a piercing Death Stare.
Craig just stands there with a smug look while the guest near him is utterly petrified with fear.
She takes a step forward to Craig and threatens, "If anything were to happen to that child… I will personally make your prison sentence a hell of a lot longer and a lot more terrible. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, sure. I promise nothing bad will happen to him," he answers calmly to her threat.
She turns and walks to a table.
Craig stands there with a smirk then looks at the Dalmatian Guest with the terrified look on his face. Curious, he asks, "What the hell's wrong with you?"
The guest points at him. "You… I don't know who you are… but… you do not want to disobey an order of hers," he warns in a whisper while looking at Trish.
He scoffs at him. "I've heard it all be-"
"No…!" he interrupts. And with a dire warning, he whispers, "You really don't get it. Whatever balls of steel you have… she will tear them off and shove them down your throat. You do not want to get on her bad side."
Craig notices that he's also a Dalmatian. He asks as looks back to Trish, "So you're her brother?"
"Yeah, so I know what I'm talking about." He puts his hand out. Craig shakes it as he introduces himself. "I'm Zander. It was really nice knowing you, probably for the last time too." He then quickly backs off as Trish comes back.
She comes back with a duffle bag. "Here you go."
Craig reaches out to grab it, but she releases it before getting a chance to, letting it plop on the ground.
She goes through one of her pockets and hands a card to him.
He looks at the black card. "What's this?"
"It's a debit card from the Resistance."
Surprised by her answer, he asks, "What, you really going to just hand something like this over to me? How much is in this?"
She informs, "As much as Peanut needs for the day. In other words: It's not for you. Whatever he wants, you buy it. Understood?"
"Yeah. Got it."
She heads back to her table.
About to put it into his pocket, he realizes that he's wearing his prison uniform. "Got anything for me to wear?"
"Guess what's in the bag," she says back.
He grabs the bag and heads to the nearest bathroom to change.
As he enters, he drops the bag on the floor and goes through it, taking out a dark green shirt. "Not really my color, but at least it's not fucking black." He looks over himself in a mirror, seeing himself in his orange prison uniform. "Whatever color it is… it's way better than what I'm wearing right now."
Exiting back out, he was now wearing a dark gray jacket, dark green shirt, loose dark blue jeans and black sneakers. He heads back to Trish and Zander.
Trish studied him, and was glad that everything fitted on him okay.
Craig places the bag on the table and asks, "When's he going to show up?"
"He'll be here in a bit," she answers.
"So it's just going to be us?"
"That's correct. It's what 'he' wants. 'I'… am against it…" She sighs. "But… it's what 'he' wants and he's the one calling the shots," she answers while she goes through his prison uniform.
Craig reassures her again, "Like I said, I'm not going to let him out of my sight. Nothings bad is… going…" His eyes open wide, ashamed, seeing her looking at a picture.
She awkwardly looks at it. "Why is this-"
He quickly takes it away. "It's nothing. I just happen to like weird colored horses." He shoves the picture into one of his pockets. 'Dammit Levi,' he thinks to himself.
Knowing that he's lying, she doesn't pry into it. "Everyone has their own things that they're into. Dealing with a younger brother has taught me that."
Off in a distance, a whiny excuse is heard, "It's called an awkward faze and I'm over it."
They both hear a car, making them turn towards it. "Damn… that's one stylish car," Craig mutters.
"You got that right. It's a wet dream to ever afford something like that," Zander adds.
Once the Lamborghini GT stops and the door opens, two short legs pop out. Peanut exits out dressed in his brown shorts, yellow shirt, and brown sneakers with knee high white socks that almost fit his two foot five Pomeranian figure.
Craig starts walking forward while saying, "See ya later."
Trish glares at him. "Remember what I said," she warns, reminding him.
Craig approaches Peanut and smiles. "It's been a while."
Peanut smiles back then spreads his arms out wide to his sides. "Well? Eh? Eh?"
Craig awkwardly looks at him. ""Eh", what?"
"What do you mean "what"? Do I look different?" he says still smiling, spreading his arms out even further.
With a quick scan, he stops at the top of his head answering with, "You… uhh… got a… haircut?"
"No." Peanut slumps his shoulders along with his arms slightly.
Eyes on his blank yellow shirt, "A… new… yellow shirt?"
"No…" He loses his smile, getting irritated while lowering his arms even more.
"Umm… You hit… pu…ber…-"
"NO!" he shouts annoyed, putting his arms down to his side. "I'm taller."
"Oh… right. Didn't realize you grew a whole quarter of an inch… nice."
He narrows his eyes at him. "You really are evil."
Craig smiles back. "It's great seeing you again Peanut."
Peanut laughs and comes in to hug Craig.
Trish and Zander watch them from a distance, and when she sees the two hug, she smiles.
Zander sees her smile knowing exactly how she feels. "Are you still worried about him?"
With her eyes still on Craig, she sees him enter the car and as the chauffer waves goodbye to them. She answers seeing them drive away, "No. I know for sure that he will keep him safe."
But… as Zander eyes go from the car and back to her smile… he sees it slowly fade away as realization slowly settles in. "It…it was him." He hears her mutter. "Uh, oh." he says concerned taking a step back. The expression of realization on her face soon converts into her DEATH STARE. "…Oh crap!" Zander worriedly says rushing away from her.
"IT WAS HIM! HE WAS THE ONE SNEAKING AROUND!" she yells out remembering everything now.
Inside of the car, almost arriving at their location, Peanut hands him a blindfold. "Put it on."
"So I'm a hostage now? …Ugh… This is embarrassing," he says putting it on.
"It's a surprise."
He feels the car come to a stop then hears a door open. The chauffeur says, "We're here Mr.-"
"Don't do that," Peanut quickly argues back. "My dad isn't here." He then grabs Craig's hand and leads him out.
Exiting out, Craig can hear country music playing in the distance. After a couple of steps, Peanut says, "You can take it off now."
Removing the blindfold, Craig was surprised and unable to hide his smile. He was standing at the front entrance of a Country Fair. He looks down to Peanut. "A Fair?"
"Yup, a once a year fair," Peanut answers excited.
"Really? Soooo what about Wally? Is he too good for fairs?"
Peanut quickly answers, "No. He really wanted to come, but he got swamped with work at the last minute."
"Ha! Sucks for him." He remembers Peanut saying dad, he then asks, "You said "dad"… what about your parents?"
Peanut hesitantly answers, "They also got too busy… especially my dad." He looks at the fair. "But I really wanted to come so I asked them about you."
Craig remembered about what the warden said about Heavy Rope Pulling. He looks down to him. "Your dad…"
Peanut answers cautiously, "…Yeah?"
"Does he know anything about me?"
"Yeah… He knows a lot about you. He even knows what you did for me on that day. When I talked about you, he didn't even let me finish and said yes."
"Alright then, let's go have some fun."
They rode ride, after ride, after ride, but once Craig got off of a roller coaster that had one to many loops in it, he stood there staring out into nothing feeling sick. "Urp!" 'This is how I'm going to die.'
Peanut walks next to him noticing the blank expression on his face. Looking up at him with concern, he asks, "Umm, are the nachos having a hard time staying down?"
Craig nods in discomfort.
"Bathroom?"
Nods again.
Peanut quickly searches everywhere then points. "That way."
Craig slowly wobbles to it, trying to keep it down, and upon reaching the entrance… he runs inside.
At the entrance of the bathroom, two guests exit out and one of them says, "Geez… dude sounded like he was dying in there."
Craig soon followed out, being able to hear them. He rubs the back of his neck mumbling to himself, "Fucking felt like it." He limps and sits down on a bench to relax with his head tilted down and eyes closed. Feeling the bench move, he opens his eyes seeing a soda can in front of his face brought by Peanut for him. "Thanks," he takes it while rubbing his knee.
Peanut sees him rubbing, knowing exactly why. He asks, wondering, "Does it hurt?"
"Nah, it does feel weird though and starts to bug." He looks at Peanut. "What about you? You doing alright, after what happened?"
Peanut looked around, seeing all the kids enjoying themselves and having fun. "It was weird once it was all over. I just felt… different. I felt like… like I just grew up about ten years in just a couple of seconds. No matter what, I can't cry anymore. When you were hurt and I was standing there with the gun held out seeing you on the floor with blood all over it… watching what he was about to do to you… I knew I had to pull the trigger. Use the gun that you told me not to use… but I used it anyways. Remembering how the back of his head… just…-" He looks up to Craig while rubbing his wrist. "His name was Curtis? That's what you called him. I killed him."
Craig sees Peanut rubbing his wrist from the Magnum that he used to save his life with. 'Curtis was a fucking monster.' He looked down to his own hands. They were clean but deep inside of them they weren't. 'It wasn't just Curtis - everyone was. Even me. Even I was a monster. All of the sabotaging, the literal backstabbing… I was the worst one out of all of them.' He looks down to Peanut's eyes, seeing how they were filled with concern from what he did to Curtis. Craig looks away as he sighs, "What you did was the right thing. You don't need to feel bad about it. I'm the one who should be feeling bad. I was the one trying to keep you safe. To make sure not to let you see the terror of violence. That kind of shit can change a person." He chuckles, disappointed, "Guess I did a lousy job."
Peanut smiles back feeling more relieved. "Don't say that. Thanks for saving me, and I'm glad that you're here with me."
"Glad to be here," He says back. He then looks past Peanut to a bunch of shops and stores selling accessories and gifts. He pulls out the Resistance debit card remembering about Levi, he asks, "Let's go see if we can find a good souvenir."
"Sounds great," Peanut stands up going through his pocket looking for his money.
"Keep it in your pocket." He shows him the Debit-Card while standing up. "Courtesy of the Resistance." They both head to the Country Fair Marketplace.
Passing by store after store, Craig finally finds the right one. He stands at the entrance with the pony picture in his hand looking into it, being slightly being embarrassed.
Peanut walks next to him looking at the store. "You're not thinking about going in there… right?"
"Something I need to pick up." He takes a step forward. "It'll be quick."
"Nuh uh." Peanut shakes his head taking a step back.
He refuses to hear Peanut's refusal. "Yes sir. Let's go."
Peanut takes another step back. "And ruin my street cred? Not going to risk it."
Craig laughs. "Street cred? What street cred?" He raises his hand slightly over his head. "You need to be this tall to get street cred. So let's go."
"Nope, you're on your own in there." He backs off even more.
He sighs and grits his teeth. "Fine." He points at where he's standing. "But you stay right the fuck there and you don't move." He turns and heads into the store.
Inside the horrifying toy store, Craig looks back from time to time seeing Peanut with a wide grin waving right back. He looks at the picture again and then at every aisle. He also feels ashamed with so many girls around him, being the only adult. 'Pink… Pink… so much fucking pink. This is how I'm really going to die… I can feel it.' He turns back to Peanut, seeing him still smiling right back at him. "You suck Peanut," he mumbles, staring at the picture again.
He looks over to Peanut seeing him still standing there. "Need help? You look like you really need it," an employee asks.
Feeling relieved, he desperately shows her the picture. "Yeah, I'm looking for this thing."
Employee looks at it. "Oh, this? Follow me to the register. We only have one behind the counter."
Reaching the register, he looks over to Peanut again, still standing there.
"Is this it?" the employee asks, getting his attention.
He glances at it. "Yeah. Looks like it," he answers and turns back to Peanut again.
"How are you going to be paying for this, in payments or in full?" the employee asks.
He looks at her confused about the question, "What, in payments? No. In full," he answers and looks back to Peanut.
Surprised with his answer, she instructs, "Wow, go ahead and make your purchase."
Craig goes through his pocket, grabbing the debit card while still looking at Peanut. From Peanut, he looks at the card reader and swipes it. Once done, he looks at Peanut, but he was gone, causing Craig to become a little concerned.
"Here you go. Take good care of it," the employee says.
He grabs the bag, not looking at her. "Sure… thing."
He walks out, looking at the very spot where Peanut last stood. 'Where the hell did he go?' He looks across the way at the other shops and nothing. It didn't seem like he was in any of those stores.
Primary Objective: Find Peanut
Getting a little bit more concerned, he walks to the next door over from the toy store to check. Looking at the store, it was just a hair salon. 'No… not this way. Alright… don't panic. He's just-'
"ALEX! ALEX! WHERE ARE YOU?!" someone calls out in a panic.
He looks over to where the voice is coming from and it's a mother calling out to her son. "Okay… Okay…" he mutters going back to where he last saw Peanut.
Objective #1: Don't Panic and Remain Calm… In Progress
"PATRICK! Has anyone… HAS ANYONE SEEN MY SON?! PATRICK!" another father calls out. Followed by another parent… and another… then another.
Craig looks back down at where Peanut last stood and then remembers the warning that Zander said.
Objective #1: Don't Panic and Remain Calm… Failed
With a sense of dread overcoming him, he mutters fearfully, "Okay… I- I… I think… I think… it's s-safe to panic now." He looks at the many parents that just lost their own kid.
WARNING: Beyond this point and throughout the rest of the story, the Bad Language will be more frequent and Violence will get worse. This story is written with Teens to Adults in mind. There will be points where you will be warned that it will get worse.
Violence Contains: Shooting, Stabbing, Physical and Bloody Descriptions. You have been warned.
End of Chapter. Thanks for Reading.
Next: Chapter 3: Getting in Touch with Help