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 5 Word count is: 4,110
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)
New Chapter will be submitted EVERY FRIDAY.
Forces: Deadly Reasonable Reasons
Chapter 5: An Unexpected Visitor
Exiting out from between the boxes and crates in the warehouse, Craig makes his way back to the crime scene, witnessing the bit of brutality that he's left behind. As he shoves an earpiece into his ear, he hears Liz speak to him. "You're lucky his uniform fits on you," Liz mentions. "Let me guess… you're borrowing them… right?"
"Yup, totally borrowing it, but the earpiece is a definite steal," he answers back adjusting the uniform.
"This is nuts that you're heading back."
"He didn't tell me jack shit. He fucking kidnaps him and knew nothing as to why he fucking did it!" Craig complains trying to contain his anger.
"Calm down. Maybe someone knows something we don't."
He stops and looks back to where he hid the weird raccoon officer's unconscious body. "That one cop was acting weird. Looking at the floor and talking to himself." He looks at the name on the uniform he's wearing. "Drew Quadir. Well, sorry Drew." Keeping a low profile, he looks around for any high ranking officials that might know anything. He nods at one of them confirming, "Found the lieutenant."
"Stay around him. He might know something."
"He's around the office, looking at my decorating skills."
"Going overboard? Great stuff."
"I couldn't help myself… I just lost it. He's the one that fucking stuck a needle into him, drugging him. I returned the favor by sticking a knife right back… into…" Stopping mid-sentence, he sees a huge visitor come into the building. He stops at the main entrance and looks around scanning the area. Craig just stood there concerned, looking at him. "Oh shit… who the hell is that?"
Liz asks, "What? Who? What does he look like?"
"Alligator. Dude is huge too."
"Really? Is he wearing-"
"Why the heck is he wearing a headset? Who wears a headset any… more…" His eyes widen in fear, slowly tilting his head upward going pass the 5 foot mark… then 6… still going pass 7 'til hitting close to the 8 foot mark as a shadow looms over him.
He hears an audible seat being moved from Liz. "Uh-oh… Craig… Is, is he wearing a black leather jacket?"
He answers quietly, "Uh huh…"
"Is there a skull on it?"
"Mmmhmm," answering back, not saying a word.
"Craig… Is he standing right in front of you?"
Re-Attempt on Objective 1: Don't Panic and… Failed
Craig doesn't answer. He just stands there looking up petrified.
"You're a fucking idiot," Liz scolds him.
The visitor looks down to Craig examining him. He then looks directly into his eyes and cracks a smile showing him his sharp teeth. He asks, "New to the police force?"
Craig nods fearfully trying not to panic.
"Don't worry…-" He looks at the name on Craig's uniform. "Drew. Things get better once you get passed being a rookie."
"Thu-Thanks… g-good to know," Craig answers back, trying not to panic.
The visitor looks slightly to the right and sees the Lieutenant glaring right back. "Welp… Time for an argument." he walks over to him.
Once he left, Craig starts having a panic attack and hasn't taken his eyes off of him. "Son of a… Who-who the hell is that?"
Liz informs, "Well… for starters, he's a Crocodile for one thing and not an Alligator."
He complains back, "Same shit. Who is he?"
"His name is Vector. He's a private investigator… and a somewhat decent detective."
He calms down after hearing what Liz said. "Really, what's so bad about that?"
"There's more, 'cause here's the kicker… He's the leader of the Chaotix."
"Are you kidding me, that fucking group?" he says, taking a step forward curious about Vector.
"Craig get out of there before he figures out who… you…-" She sighs. "You're walking right to him, aren't you?"
Objective 6: Find out any Answer from Vector… In Progress
"There has to be a reason why he's here. I have to know why." He gets slightly close to hear Vector and the Lieutenant arguing with each other.
"I can't hear them. What are they bitching about?" Liz asks.
Making sure to be alone and away from any cops, he then whispers back the information. "Lieutenant keeps saying that he's not allowed here, but the Overgrown Gator is arguing back that he's here on other official business and doesn't need his authorization or permission to be here. Now the lieutenant is asking for what kind of official business it is, and now he's saying its confidential… and now the lieutenant's really pissed off and asking him to leave. The Overgrown Gator is now just getting mad and is saying that he won't leave and also says that he'll pick someone... to… to… keep an… eye on…-"
Vector turns his head to Craig.
Re-Attempt Objective 1: Don't… Failed.
Eyes widen in fear, Craig whimpers and panics. "Oh… Oh shit. Oh crap."
An audible face palm comes from her. "Oh my… Gee… hmm… I wonder who he picked. Could it be YOU?!"
"LET'S GO!" Vector says, grabbing him by his uniform and drags him along the way.
"Have I reached my quota on how many times I called you an idiot?" Liz asks.
As Vector releases him, he then orders, "Stay right there and don't get in my way."
"Umm… okay," Craig responds, trying to remain calm.
Vector quickly turns around and points down to him, startling Craig from it. His hand WAS bigger than his head. "And don't say anything either," he demands.
ABORT OBJECTIVE 6: …Denied
Craig just stood there shaking in fear as if an earthquake is happening. He scolds himself, 'Everyone, fucking ev-ery-one. Why the fuck does everyone have to be bigger than me? I'm sorry Karma. I'll never make fun of Peanut's height ever again. I swear.'
Once Vector gets far enough away, he whispers to Liz, "T-tell me something about him… anything. Whu-what's something that I can use against him?"
Liz checks his records and informs, "Umm… He has a… major ego and-"
"Good enough," Craig says and quickly pats around himself and feels a notepad in one of the pockets. He whips it out, making sure Vector notices him doing it.
Vector notices him taking it out and gets aggravated by it, he asks, "Are you really going to keep tabs on me?"
He answers back nervously, "Nuh-no… uh… I'm just… taking notes on how… you do things."
Delighted, Vector asks back curious, "Do things?"
Craig answers back in a cheerful admiration and with a fake smile, "Yeah, I'm a major fan of your work. I've heard great things about what you've done, Mr. Vector Sir."
He hears Liz snickering at him and she teases, "Oh my gawd… Hearing you talk like this is so weird and adorable."
"Really, a fan? Well not sure who you've talked to, but I am one of the greatest," Vector gloats, boosting his own ego to great heights while flexing his muscles.
"I know. I sure would like to hear one of your great adventures."
"Well… since you're such a fan of my work… guess I'll tell you one of them." He begins to clear his throat.
As soon as Vector uttered his first word, IT WAS AT THIS MOMENT CRAIG FOUND OUT… HE FUCKED UP.
Thirty agonizing minutes later, Liz says in regret, "I-I hate you Craig… I hate you so much."
ABORT OBJECTIVE 6: …Denied
Craig nods miserably. 'This is torture… absolute torture. I never expected that I would accidently torture myself, but yup… I fucking managed to do it and I hate myself now.'
Vector gloats, laughing, "So after an intense fight, I finally destroyed Perfect Chaos… all by myself too."
He hears Liz far away from her headset yelling out, "Yeah right! He's so full of shit!"
With every fiber of his being…he painfully tries so hard not to roll his eyes… in risk that they might get stuck. He instead gives his fakest appreciation, "That's awesome Mr. Vector Sir, but… shouldn't you finish up on why you're here?"
Hearing what Craig said, Vector slumps his shoulders and looks at the direction of the crime scene. "Yeah…you're right." He sighs and turns back to investigate.
With a sigh of relief that the pain is over, he looks down at his notepad with a drawing of a stick figure being hanged with his name pointing at it. Now that he's gotten his respect and trust he then tries to figure out why he's here. "Why exactly are you doing here for, Mr. Vector Sir?"
In irritation, Vector answers back, "That's confidential. Can't tell you."
With a smirk watching him get annoyed, Craig asks again, "I promise not to tell anyone, Mr. Vector Sir."
He answers back with a deep growl, "No."
'Button has been found. I'm going to enjoy this.' Craig persists, "Not even the lieutenant, Mr. Vector Sir."
"No!" Vector demands.
"But Mr. Vector Sir, I might be a great asset to this investigation."
"I said no."
"But Mr. Vector Sir I can-"
With frustration at an all-time high, Vector gives in, "Grrr… I'll tell you if you stop calling me that, Deal?"
Liz, also chimes in with, "Geez… even I was getting fed up with you."
Craig nods while putting his note pad away and gets closer for Liz to hear him.
Calming down, Vector begins to inform him, "Alright… about a day ago a prison break happened and inmates managed to escape. I'm looking for them and this town is where all my leads lead me to."
'Prison break? From last night's Resistance Correctional Prison? That's right, someone did run pass my cell right before it opened up by itself.' Keeping the conversation going he asks, "A person escaped and he came to this town?"
"Inmates, Drew… Inmates. More than one person escaped. Three to be exact," Vector corrects him as he goes through his inner jacket pocket. "Found this next to one of the murdered victims by the maintenance building."
'Uh-oh…' He sees Vector take out a piece of paper that was torn in half, but now taped back together. He shows it to Craig - on it was the Lemur kidnapper.
"His name is Rodney." Vector then points to the office. "He's one of the three inmates that escaped and just so happens to be in that office. I would go talk to him and get 'em to spill his guts but someone beat me to it… literally."
Craig hears Liz slow clap as she mocks, "Good one genius. He did know."
Hiding his frustration to Vector, he asks with restraint, "Hmm… that's a shame. So in a way… the prison escape has something to do with the Country Fair Kidnapping? Are the other two escapees in this town also?"
Vector smiles at him and congrats, "Good job Drew." He turns to face the office. "Yeah… This might have something to do with the kidnapping. You just might be better off being a detec… tive…?" He turns back to Craig, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Drew? Hmm, where'd he go?"
Craig calmly heads to the nearest exit.
Objective 6: Find out any Answer from Vector… Complete
Once exiting out of the building, he goes directly to the main gate and straight back to town. Walking down the sidewalk, he asks to Liz, "Did you get any of that?"
But just as he asks her, a speeding squad car drives by him and pulls into the warehouse area.
The squad car comes to a stop as Captain Corrigan exits out of her vehicle. Making her way to the warehouse, she notices that she's being looked at by every officer from Mercury Town, up 'til she enters the warehouse. Inside, she sees the Lieutenant again, in a not so happy mood. "I'm guessing something bad happened?" she asks.
"Oh everything's fine...-" He points in anger. "It's him that I'm about to… just…" He stops himself before he regrets what he's about to say.
She looks in the direction that he pointed to, but she didn't need to scan the area to find Vector since he was standing out so badly. Surprised to see him, she asks, "He's here? …When did he get here?"
"About a half an hour or so."
"Great…" She looks around. "Where's Drew? I tried getting in touch with him, but he's not answering."
"No idea. He left the building a while ago. Haven't seen 'em since."
She regretfully turns back to Vector. "I'll go talk to him and figure out why he's here."
Trying his best to contain his frustration, he warns, "Good luck with that. I couldn't get anything out of 'em." He watches her walk to Vector and adds, "Kick his ass if you can't and also relieve whoever he has with 'em."
She stops and looks back asking, "Relieve who?"
"I don't know… someone new I guess. Can't remember who it was."
Corrigan heads towards Vector…
Meanwhile, outside, Bert arrives at the warehouse. Getting off of his patrol bike, he stretches and looks directly at Corrigan's squad car. "Let the race begin," he eagerly says in a quiet voice while rubbing his gloves together.
He turns his attention to the warehouse entrance. 'Now all I have to do is just wait.' Before he can get a chance to relax, he hears footsteps behind him.
Turning to check, he sees two Mercury Officers approach him. 'Whelp, got to be polite.' Bert just gives them a friendly wave.
"You're from Maple PD?" one of them asks.
"Yeah, I'm from that district."
"Really, with a helmet like that? You sure fooled all of us. We thought you were from Metropolis City."
"Nah, my shit's custom made. Nobody from the Motor Division is wearing this."
They look at his Patrol Motorcycle. "Same thing goes with your bike?"
Bert turns to look at it as well and gloats about it, "That's a standard patrol bike that they gave me, but you can guara-damn-tee that I supped it up the first chance I got."
"You didn't get in trouble for it?"
"Well… I did ask for permission first before I did. Now you can go 0 to 60 on it in like four seconds, capping at 175 miles an hour." While Bert shows off, other officers approach and begin to surround him. Noticing them get closer, he begins to feel a bit uncomfortable.
"So… you're here with the Captain?" one of them asks.
Trying to remain calm, he answers, "I'm here with the Captain. I'm just waiting for her to come out so I can surprise her."
"Surprise her?" one of them quickly asks.
"She doesn't know he's here," another one answers.
'Oh shit… why did I say that? What's wrong with these guys?' Worried and concerned, one by one they take a step forward to him and before they get close, one of them looks slightly upward and backs off. The rest then do the same and walk away.
The last officer quickly says, "That's a great bike you… uh you have. Take good care of it." He quickly walks away with the rest.
He wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or not. 'Son of a…What the fuck was that all about? Why did it feel like my life was in danger? No… why does it still feel like…it still is?' He slowly turns to look behind himself, seeing nothing but a round belly of a gut. He slowly looks upward, towards…
"Hey Bert," Tai greeted.
Now filled with relief, looking up and into his eyes, he lets out a long winded sigh of relief. "Hey Tai," he greets back.
Tai turns his attention to all of the other officers, who all look right back to them. "Making friends?" he asks.
"Yeah… if you want to call it that," he answers, not wanting to admit that he's glad to see him.
"So what was that all about?" he asks, knowing something wasn't right.
"I don't know… some kind of fucked up initiation, I guess. Buuuut…- He quickly points to Tai. "You know what I do know? You're here early."
"Yeah… so…?" he asks back, narrowing his eyes annoyed.
"Which means…" he jabs him in the gut, "you were driving faster than the recommended speed limit, huh?"
Tai simply crosses his arms and glares right back.
Bert clasps his hands together in appreciation as he teases, "Aww… Look at you. Finally going past the speed limit. I'm so proud of-" He gets bopped on the head again. "GAH!"
Rewind back with Corrigan…
Corrigan reaches Vector, keeping her distance and watches him as he gets on one knee searching around for clues. She looks over to the supervisor's office seeing that the door is wide open. 'Shouldn't that be locked?' she wonders then notices the blood stain on the floor and along the door frame. And with one step towards it-
"You don't want to go in there… it's not a pretty sight," Vector warns.
Hearing his warning she stops and turns to him seeing him still investigating. She asks, "Mind telling me why you're here?"
"Nope," he answers back rudely.
Narrowing her eyes at him, she looks around for the officer that was supposed to be watching over him. "Where's the officer that's supposed to be looking after you?"
Vector stops investigating and stands up tall, towering over her as he looks down to her. With a hint of intimidation, he answers, "He just upped and vanished."
She stands her ground trying not to be intimidated by him. Keeping her nerves intact, she then says back, "An officer just doesn't 'up' and vanish, leaving his position."
"Well he did," he answers back again rude.
Getting slightly angry, she asks again, "Why are you here?"
He gives a smug look, "Classified info… Captain…?"
Becoming upset by his attitude, she glares at him, correcting him, "That's Captain Corrigan, and do I really have to ask you again or do I have to force the information out of you, Mr. Vector, leader of the Chaotix?"
He smiles at her, "You can ask me all you want and I still won't tell you. And by force? Hah! I'd like to see… you…-" He looks right past her and begins to laugh. "What the heck happened to him?"
She turns around to check, only to find Drew in his tighty-whiteys, ashamedly walking towards her. Embarrassed and also concerned about him, she asks, "Drew? What happened?"
From behind her, Vector mutters, "Drew? That's Drew? …Uh-oh."
She slowly turns to look right back to Vector, surprised hearing what just came out of him. "Uh-oh...? Uh-oh?!" she responds angrily.
Drew apologizes, "Sorry ma'am… I was hit over the head. I woke up with my uniform gone."
Vector cautiously backs away. "Uhh… I think I'm done with my investigation. I should go now."
She demands raising her voice, making sure not to let him leave, "No you won't. You stand right there and you're going to tell me what you told him!"
"Not when it's classified…-"
She puts her hand on her gun, un-holstering it and then aims it at him, "Last time… what did you tell him?"
Unfazed by her demand, "I'm not saying anything plus you're not going to shoot-"
"True," she interrupts him, "I'm not going to shoot you but what I will do is 'arrest'you."
He breaks into a laughter, "Hah! Under what conditions?"
"For withholding information and helping a wanted fugitive who's done all of this. So you either comply or ELSE?" she gives a final warning.
Vector eases up in defeat, and gives into the order, knowing that he screwed up. He looks at the real Drew and then back to her. "Alright, I'll tell you everything I know."
Rewind…
Craig exits out of the warehouse area and walks back to town. He asks Liz, "Did you get any of that?"
He hears Liz tapping away on a keyboard. "Yes. I'm checking on what happened on that night at the prison. There were three people that broke out."
Craig, feeling proud of himself after dealing with Vector, he gloats, "I'm just surprised that actually worked. I didn't expect to get the information out of him so easily."
"Was it worth the panic attack?" Liz says, making fun of him.
"Me, panic? Pfft, never."
"I heard you whimper a few times."
"That was all an act."
"Vector said that his name was Rodney. So with that, I found the prison section that he escaped from. I'm going through every cell 'til I find a match for the other two."
Eager to know who the other two are, he says, "Great. Let me… me… know-" Remembering that he was also there during that night in his cell, he quickly says, "Umm… start on the uhh… at the… the right side of the building. Maybe-"
"Craig...?" Liz calmly asks as she stops searching. "Why is your name on one of the cells?"
"Umm... anyone can be named Craig. Why would you think-"
She scolds, "Don't lie to me Craig. You're the only person I know whose last name is Unknown. Answer, or I'm hanging up."
Craig stops walking and looks at the pizza parlor again across the street. He also notices that all the cops were also gone. He sighs and confesses, "Because I was there when the prison break happened. That's my cell you're looking at."
He hears her lean back in her seat, backing away from her keyboard. "You were in prison, why?"
"It's complicated," he answers back.
"Gee, let me guess… what did you 'borrow'… this time?" she asks.
He slumps his shoulders knowing that she's doing air quotes with her fingers. He answers back shamefully, "Nothing… I didn't steal anything this time."
He hears her laugh out loud swinging around in her seat as she mocks, "JAYWALKING! It's finally caught up to you."
"WHAT?! NO! It's not that either," he argues back, ashamed.
Calming down from her laughing fit, she asks, "Then what was it?"
He looks at the pizza parlor once again then down to what he's wearing. He turns his attention to the alleyway and walks into it to take Drew's uniform off as he explains, "I was there for about a year. As for why? Well it's a long story. It involves me joining a group of hardened killers with no way to call it quits or able to leave. Once you join… you join for life."
He hears her gets up from her seat, not searching anymore. "Is that why I never heard from you again?"
He sighs, disappointed in himself, "Yeah. About a year ago, Sonic found the group and took everyone out."
"Including you?"
"No. I was too busy keeping a kid safe from harm when everything was going down."
He hears her sit back down. "The kid from the fair, It was him… wasn't it?"
"Yeah, it was him. As much as I saved him on that day… he saved me just as much. We both made it out alive once Sonic took down The Leader."
"So he really means a lot to you."
He leans up against a dumpster. "Yeah, he's the reason why I'm not in prison right now." He grips the dumpster angrily. "He wanted to spend the whole day with me at the fair. I was supposed to keep an eye on him and keep him safe… but the one second… THE ONE FUCKING SECOND!" He kicks the dumpster, causing it to echo throughout the alleyway. "…Gone."
He hears her tap away again on the keyboard. "Now I know why you want to find him so bad."
"He saved my life. So yeah… I'd kill to make sure that he's okay and safe."
"That's a deadly reasonable reason. I found one of them. I'll send you an image of what he looks like."
He feels the phone vibrate. As he looks, he sees the time and battery life being 6:45pm, 19% charge. From that he sees an image of a dark brown furred Weasel in his mid-twenties. "Where is he? I'm back at the pizza parlor, two blocks west of the hotel."
"Head north to Mercury Public Park and go clear across it. Once past it you'll see an automotive truck shop. Right behind it is some kind of recycling center. That's where he was last seen and located."
"Got it. Heading over to it right now." He hangs up. He looks through the alleyway and spots the park. "I'm coming Peanut. Don't worry, even if I have to turn this town inside out… I'll find you."
End of Chapter. Thanks for Reading.
Next: Chapter 6: Violent Tendency's