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 3 Word count is: 4,042
The OC Cast is: Main: Craig(Fox) More will be added.
Side Characters: Peanut(Pomeranian)... More will be added
Major side Characters: Levi(Rottweiler), Infinite, Trish(Dalmatian), Zander(Dalmatian)... More will be added.
New Chapter will be submitted EVERY FRIDAY.
Forces: Deadly Reasonable Reasons
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.
Chapter 3: Getting In Touch With Help.
Craig stood there trying not to panic while looking at the chaos happening all around him. So many parents worried and scared after their kids went missing.
Re-Attempt on Objective 1: Don't Panic and Remain Calm… In Progress
A Mother near him calls out for her son, "Gabe! GABE! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
Objective 1: Don't Panic and Remain Calm… Failed
"I'm fucked… I'm so fucked," Craig mutters over and over again to himself while having his hand over his crotch as he trembles in fear remembering Zander's warning. "She's going to feed them to me."
Objective 2: Find Answers… In Progress
Trying to stay calm, his eyes dart all around, trying to find any solution or answers. 'Okay, okay… think… fucking think.' He looks up. 'There, camera.' Looking directly up at it, he then turns to the right, spotting another. Back the opposite way he sees another. He nods. 'I got to get to the security room right now.'
He quickly runs following the trail of cameras 'til he sees a single building. Upon approach there was only one door with a touchpad on it. "Dammit," he mutters angrily. 'I have to get in there.' He stops, making sure not to get close to it noticing it's a numbered lock. He shakes his head at it. 'I can't risk looking suspicious being near this building.' Acting oblivious, he paces back and forth waiting for anyone to unlock it for him. A minute later a security officer heads to it.
The officer, who was a massive Lion, puts in the code. He grabs the door handle and swings it open, just wide enough to be able to fit through the doorway.
Craig rushes towards it making sure it doesn't close. He grabs the handle before it closes and slips right into the building not making any noise.
Sneaking down a hallway, he follows the officer 'til he stops at a door, putting his back against it. He looks up seeing a sign saying: Security Room. He goes back to the officer again and complains to himself quietly. "Why the fuck does everyone I go up against, look like they eat for a whole damn family? The officer's built like a truck… probably weighs like one too." Knowing there's no way around him… literally, he knew he had to talk his way into the room.
He steps out letting the officer see him approach.
The officer notices him approaching and informs, "You're not supposed to be here."
Craig sticks out one finger answering back with, "Right you are." He looks at the security room and points at it. "Is that the security room for the cameras?" he asks as nicely as possible with a smile.
Not taking his back off the door, the officer responds with, "Yeah… it is. Now why-"
"Do you have the key for the door?" Craig quickly asks interrupting him.
The officer narrows his eyes down at him. "I'm not letting you in."
"So that means yes?" Craig says with a grin.
The officer takes his back off against the door and stands in the middle of the hallway with his arms crossed.
Craig tilts his head nearly all the way back just to maintain eye contact. He didn't realize just how large and massive he really is. 'Fuck me... he didn't look that big from back there. He's just as tall as Levi… just replace all that muscle with flab and you'll have this guy.' "Okay… uh… that's a yes," he answers warily. His eyes go down to the officer's waist seeing… 'Is that a glock? Ooooo… I want to borrow it.' With his focused robbed, he quickly pulls his eyes away from it, scolding himself, 'FOCUS DUMBASS, you'll play with it later.'
His eyes return back up and linger on the name tag on the officers uniform that says Vince Mason. He also scans the rest of his uniform; he notices that a couple of important things were also missing. He tries to hide his smirk. 'He's not a cop.'
The officer asks again, "Why are you-"
"Next question," he quickly asks, interrupting again, raising up a finger.
"What is it?" he asks annoyed.
"Are you a… Rent-A-Cop?" he asks mischievously.
The Not-an-officer growls, feeling insulted. "What does that have to do with this?"
Craig prepares himself for what's about to happen after his insult. He gives the officer a smile, "Just need to know if you are," Then completely switches, becoming serious, changing his tone, "…so I can at least know that you can't fight for shit."
The officer growls, and lunges to grab Craig.
Craig slightly backs away and sways to the side as the officer misses him. As the officer's right arm goes past him, Craig then grabs it and tries to flip him but he barely makes him move.
The officer stops and raises his right arm up, picking Craig off of the floor by it.
Unable to touch the floor anymore, Craig was surprised by his strength. 'Are you fucking kidding me? How much do I weigh?'
The officer glares, seeing him latched onto his arm. He clenches his fist.
Craig's eyes widen, knowing what's coming next. '…Oh shit.'
The officer swings right at him, but Craig releases his arm as his fist goes over his head, making it collide into the wall. "Gah!" the officer yells out in pain.
Once Craig lands, he quickly goes for the officer's gun, unlatching it and removing it. He then places it on the floor.
Once the cop stops shaking his hand, he sees Craig and lunges at him again.
Craig, having his back up against the security door, in one quick motion, puts his foot on the doorknob to flip up and over his grasp as well as the officer. He awkwardly lands on the floor, straining his knee and almost losing his balance. He quickly picks the gun up from the floor and shoulder tackles the officer from behind, causing him to slam into the door face first, busting his nose.
The 'cop' tries to recover from the impact but then feels the cold steel of the gun behind his head.
Breathing heavily, Craig demands, "Open the door… OR I'll use your fucking head as a silencer to open it myself. OPEN IT!" he demands, shoving his face into the lock of the door.
The officer goes for his key card and swipes it, unlocking the door.
Craig grabs the door and demands, "Get in." The officer takes a couple of steps into the room but then Craig kicks him to get inside faster.
Inside the security room, Craig demands while pointing the gun at him, "Up against the wall." He walks to the camera monitors trying to find the right cameras. He then looks down at the control panels shoving the gun into his jacket pocket. 'How the fuck do you even use this? I don't have time… to…' He looks back at the officer and nods. He points at the controls asking, "You know how to use this?"
The officer with a bloody nose nods.
He points at the seat. "Get over here."
The officer sits and waits for the next instruction.
"You know what just happened out there, right? Kids… missing?"
The officer nods. "That's why I came to the security room."
He points at the monitors. "Okay. What are the right cameras?"
The officer points. "Those four are the closest ones."
Craig looks at them, seeing that he's right. He asks, "Go back to when it happened." The officer rewinds the camera footage until he sees himself on it. "That's me." He points at the camera.
With Craig pointing, the officer sees his gun in his jacket pocket in plain sight, able to grab it. He then looks up at the camera that he's pointing at, seeing that it was him on it in front of the toy store… with his hand over his… "Why do you have your hand over your-"
"Keep going back," Craig ashamedly asks.
The officer rewinds too much and now sees Craig with a kid outside of a toy store. He sees him talk to the kid then steps into the store, leaving him alone outside. He looks at Craig. "Nice babysitter you are."
Craig slowly turns to him, upset.
"Sorry," he quickly apologizes.
They both pay close attention to Peanut, seeing what he's doing.
Peanut remained outside keeping an eye on Craig in the toy store with a biggest grin on his face.
"Is he smiling at you?" the officer asks.
"At my misery," Craig answers.
They both see Peanut turn around and check the rest of the stores that are off camera. Something then gets his attention as he points to it. Eager to go to it, he turns back to Craig, but a group of family walk in the way, causing him to lose sight of Craig. As he tilted from side to side… and just when Peanut was about to move to get a better view of Craig…
One of the visitors that's tailing the family in a light grey, large hooded jacket with a hood over his head, steps to the side, and jabs a needle into Peanut's neck.
Peanut's arms go limp to his sides as his body becomes unresponsive. The kidnapper quickly covers him and takes him away.
In utter fury, Craig explodes in anger and demands out loud, with his voice echoing in the security room, "FUCKING FOLLOW HIM!"
Startled from Craig's reaction, the officer follows the kidnapper going past the hair salon and from camera to camera, the kidnapper turns his face away from it. Trying to see his face or anything to identify him, but unfortunately, he walks around a corner losing him. The officer leans back on his seat and sighs, disappointed. "That's it… no more cameras after that point."
Craig clenches his fist closing his eyes. "Dammit."
The officer sees his gun again, and then looks back to Craig seeing how concerned he is. Turning his attention to another security monitor, he reminds Craig, "There was more than one kid that went missing." He sees a mother, and he points at her.
Craig opens his eyes, knowing that he's right. He looks at the monitor, seeing her.
The officer rewinds the cameras again and it was the very same issue. Every perfect angle to see one of their faces, the kidnapper would turn away from it unable to see the kidnapper's face 'til they go far beyond the reach of each camera, going around a corner making their escape.
From parent to parent it was the same failed attempt. "Nothing. It's like… whoever planned this knew where the cameras were. I can't tell who anyone is. Sorry," the officer says.
Craig frantically kept looking, trying to not give up 'til he sees himself standing by the hair salon. At the salon, he notices the many mirrors on display and sees his own face on one of them. Remembering about a certain light gray-hooded figure and which way he went, 'Did he walk by it? …He did.' He points at the camera anxiously, demanding, "HE WALKED BY IT! REWIND IT!"
The officer rewinds it again and plays it again. They both watch the kidnapper walk right by the hair salon.
As the kidnaper walks right by it, Craig then shouts, "YES, THE MIRRORS!"
The officer zooms in on it, seeing a Lemur with a light grey hood up.
Craig backs away from the monitors and just focuses on him. "Can you print it?"
The officer presses a couple of buttons, making a printer turn on.
Craig grabs it and folds it, putting it away. In a calm voice he says, "I… need you to do something."
He pulls a rag out from his pocket and looked at Craig surprised by his sudden change of tone, he asks back, "Do something?"
"Yeah… a favor. I need to trust you to do something."
With the rag on his nose, he asks, "A favor… from me? After what you just did?"
He knows that he's right, considering all the threats that he just gave him, not to mention hurting him… but he had to set things right. He had to reason with him and get on good terms. He then points out, "I saw you look at the gun a couple of times. You could've grabbed it and used it on me, but you didn't. So yeah… I trust you."
The officer sighs. He leans back on his chair. "What is it?"
"All of this. What you just saw… hide it and don't tell anyone."
"Don't tell anyone?"
"Right - I need a head start from the cops. I need time to find them before they do. So that they don't get in my way."
"In your way? What are you going to do when you find them?"
Craig looks at the camera monitors with violent intentions. "I'm going to find them… and kill every single one of them, 'til I find him." He points at Peanut's unconscious body that the Lemur is holding. "Okay?"
The officer nods, agreeing.
"Thank you… Vince," he says, and leaves the room.
Vince sits there shaking his head. He takes a deep breath to calm himself. "About damn time something exciting happened," he mutters, messing with the cameras, setting the times on different points. He looks back at the exit. "Good luck."
Objective 2: Find Answers… Complete.
Exiting out of the building, Craig heads back towards the crime scene. When he gets there, a couple of high ranking officers pass right by him, heading to the security building. With time breathing down his neck, he at least knows one of the kidnapper's faces.
Passing by the multiple crime scenes, he stops to count them all. 'Eight? …Eight other kids were taken.' His eyes go to where Peanut was last seen… but no one was investigating his disappearance. 'No one knows he's missing.'
Continuing on his way, he limps to where Peanut was taken. Going past the hair salon he reaches the corner where the cameras go out of view and around it was a hole in the fence. On the other side of the fence are car tracks that lead to a road. Further down the road, it leads back into a small town. As Craig looks at the town, to him, it looks like it is run by industrial buildings and warehouses.
'No car… No phone…-' He checks his pockets. 'A glock 9mm handgun, a Resistance debit card and this toy figure is all I have.' Scanning the fair, he looks at everyone, picking the perfect target to steal their phone. He whispers, "You. Sorry granny. I'm going to have to borrow that." He walks by her and takes her phone. With phone in hand, he heads back to where the fence was and exits out through it.
After a long walk to town, he reaches the main highway, heading to where the convenience stores and hotels lie. Not knowing how or even where to start looking, the only clue he has is a picture of the kidnapper's face. Stopping under a tree, he looks at his 'newly borrowed' phone and studies it.
Objective 3: Call Liz for help… In Progress…
And yet Craig just stood there staring at the phone concerned…
ABORT OBJECTIVE 3: …Denied.
He shakes his head, but then nods… and then goes back to shaking. "Dammit. I have to call her… but… I know she hates me and I definitely know what her first two words are going to be." Gathering enough courage, he starts dialing the number, but stops at five numbers tapping the phone over his head.
ABORT OBJECTIVE 3: …Denied.
He looks at the phone again and puts in the rest of the numbers.
He takes a deep breath hearing the ring tone, making him nervous. Slowly breathing out, the phone answers.
"Hello?" her voice is heard, unsure who it is on the other end.
The sound of her voice made Craig's heart skip a beat. He slowly opens his mouth and answers back nervously, "Hey… Liz. Remember me?" Nothing but silence is returned. "Umm… Liz-?"
"FUCK YOU!" she yells out and hangs up.
He sits down on the ground with his hand on his face, tapping the phone on his head again. He looks at the phone again, predicting when she's going to call back. "C'mon… call back. C'mon. She's pacing… around. Swearing a lot too while she's doing it. Now? …No… she went into the kitchen and grabbed yogurt. Now...?" He shakes his head. "No. The yogurt reminds me of it and now… she threw it out the window. Now? …No… now she's apologizing to the neighbor about getting hit by the yogurt."
The phone starts to ring. He looks at the number seeing that it's hers. He answers, "Liz…? Are you-"
"FUCK YOU!" she yells again and hangs up.
ABORT OBJECTIVE 3: …Denied.
Back to tapping the phone on his head, he worriedly says, "Third time's a charm… or fifth? I just know I'm going to be at this for a bit."
Meanwhile, back at the crime scene, a squad car pulls up. The partner eagerly exits out first. (Raccoon, Age: 23, Height: 5'2, Male, Name: Drew Quadir.) He looks at all of the parents who were scared and angry with what's going on. The Captain also exits out also to observe. (Cheetah, Age: 38, Height: 5'4, Female, Name: Kathy Corrigan.)
Drew looks over to her and says, "I heard it was around eight kids. Eight kids! Can you believe that? And in broad daylight, too."
She goes through her squad car, grabbing a note pad. She then points at the crime scene, ordering, "Go do your thing, Drew."
Drew shakes his head, correcting her, "Sorry Miss… umm, I mean Captain. There's no murder here."
She apologizes back, "Oh… Well, sorry. I still don't get what makes you tick."
"I'll let you know if I… see… some-" He smirks as he points. "I see something."
"You do?" she asks, looking in the direction he's pointing to. She narrows her eyes in annoyance.
"Is he doing this on purpose?" he asks.
She sighs not answering, as they both look directly at one of the officers, sitting on his motorcycle.
Drew recommends, "All you have to do is slow down and allow him to keep up with your insane driving. Then he'll stop pestering you."
She glares at the motorcycle officer as she adds, "That… or demote him to a tricycle. That's one option I'm considering."
Off in the distance, the slim wolf officer, wearing a robotic dark purple wolf helmet, sitting on his bike staring directly at Captain Corrigan.
A huge Panda officer approaches him as he greets, "Hey Bert."
He greets back, not looking, "Hey Tai."
With Bert's meager greeting, Tai already knew who he was focused on. "You know… you look more like an obsessed lunatic when you do that," he mocks.
His voice echoes within his helmet as he whines back, "I almost beat her getting here."
"So you actually kept up with her?"
He slumps his shoulders. "I don't want to talk about it. But in due time… just you watch."
"Are you even paying attention to what's going on around here?"
He quickly answers, "Yeah, yeah, kids missing, parents crying, someone needs to get their ass kicked."
"Wow… I didn't think you had it in you." Tai then looks around, realizing something. "Hmm… that's weird."
"Weird? I didn't hear your stomach growl… so it can't be food… wait… that is weird. Are you on a di-" He gets bopped on the top of the helmet. "GAH!"
"LOOK AROUND, smartass."
He complains, readjusting his helmet, "What is it? I'm not fucking Drew."
"It's only us. This is Mercury Country Fair, right? So where's Mercury PD?"
He takes his eyes off of Corrigan. "You're right. Maybe they haven't gotten any…-" He turns his attention back to Corrigan. "SHUT UP! She's talking to someone."
Tai slumps his shoulders, "You are a lunatic."
One of her officers approaches Corrigan. "Glad you made it, Captain. We have camera footage of the inci…dent… but… umm…" He cautiously looks around him.
Unsure as to why he's stalling to finish, she asks, "But what?"
He leans closer to whisper, "They've been tampered with."
Drew gets closer to listen as she asks, "Let me guess. No one knows who did it, or the cause all of this, or its involvement?"
"Umm. No Captain… but you're not going to believe this. Even though the footage was tampered with I did manage to figure out one person that was around at the time."
"I hope it's not anyone dangerous," Drew mentions.
His eyes go to Drew. "Well that's left to be determined if he wants to be or not," the officer answers, concerned.
Corrigan looks at him confused. "What?"
The officer hands her a picture of the footage. "He looked directly at the camera. He was part of the BOA group. He was around at the time it happened. He was probably the one who beat up the security guard and messed with the footage."
Looking at it she remembers that every BOA member was sent to prison after Resistance swarmed their base in the forest. "How is he out then? Did he escape?"
He leans to her and whispers, "I don't know. I'm the one who spotted him. So far it's just us that know about it right now-" He looks at the parents and the people around. "-to make sure not to cause a panic."
Drew asks quietly, "Should I call the Resistance? Let them know what's going on?"
She shakes her hand. "No. I can handle this. It shouldn't be hard to find a fugitive BOA on the loose. We don't need them involved."
The officer puts his hand on his ear piece. "Captain? I just got word that the Fugitive left the security building and headed straight to where we are… going pass the crime scenes… and continued on…" He points, "That way… to Mercury town. On foot too."
"Why would he go that way?" Drew asks.
"To hide. If he knows something then we have to find him. We don't have time to waste. Eight kid's lives are on the line," she says, getting back into the car.
Back with Craig, lying on the ground, he waits for her to call for a 4th time, hoping she can say more than two words this time. The phone rings. He answers it without looking…
"HEY! GIVE MY GRANDMA BACK HER PHONE, YOU SON OF A-"
Craig instantly hangs up. "At least that was more than two words." He sighs. "I really fucked up didn't I?" he mutters in regret.
The phone rings again. This time he looks at it, seeing that it's her. Answering it, he calmly asks, "Hi… how many times do I have to say sorry, cause I really am?"
He hears her depressing voice say, "I hate you Craig. I hate you so much."
Hearing her words on how she felt, he had to apologize, "I know. I don't deserve to hear your voice… but-"
"Shut up. Why are you calling me?"
"I know that you still do what you do… right? So… turn on your broadcast station and tune into… fuck I don't even know where I am."
He hears her sigh and sits down on the same old squeaky chair of hers, letting you know every movement that she does. "I'll find you," she says, tapping away on a keyboard. He chuckles knowing that she still does what she does. "You're in Mercury Town?"
"Yup," he answers as he hears her still tapping away.
Confused, she asks, "What the fuck happened over… You were at a fair? …Kidnapping?"
"Yeah… I was there when it happened. One of the kids was with me. I need your help."
"Dammit Craig, I really do hate you."
"I know… Liz… please?"
He hears her sigh again and she says with regret, "What is it… how can I help?"
Objective 3: Call Liz for Help… Complete.
End of Chapter. Thanks for Reading.
Next: Chapter 4: Leaving A Trail