Chapter 46: Trails
Location: Backwater Station
Forty minutes later...
With urgency, Amy and Sticks had been able to arrive at their destination far sooner then they would have normally. They benefited from having Extreme Gear stored at the Prime Minister's Residence, which had reduced their travel time.
"I knew that no good alien was up to something," Sticks muttered.
Amy could only ignore the Badger, with her attention completely focused on viewing videos from nearby CCTV cameras. She had accessed the network via the AVA, which wasn't difficult given that it was an unsecured system. She had discovered video of Sally stepping out of a cab, out in front of an establishment called Joeyray's Bar.
"Looks like she headed around back," Amy stated, leading the way.
As the Hedgehog and Badger proceeded to the rear of the building, they found that it was completely deserted.
"She was here all right."
"How do you know?"
"The nose knows," Sticks replied.
Looking around, Amy immediately located another security camera, this one located above a loading bay. Accessing it, the pink Hedgehog was able to pull up the footage going back several hours. She eventually found Sally standing at the back of the bar, no doubt waiting for Tarro's arrival. Instead, a robed figure soon appeared within the range of the camera after several seconds. It looked as if Sally was saying something, but without any audio sensors it was impossible to tell what it was. They watched as she turned to the man seemingly surprised by his presence when the man suddenly lunged forward, slapping NICIOLE from her grasp and jabbed her in the stomach with something that immediately caused her to collapse to the ground.
"Sally," Amy gasped, while Sticks peered over her shoulder.
A black van soon pulled up and several more men emerged, grabbing her, and loading her into the back.
"That sunnuvbitch set her up," the Badger snarled.
"We don't know that," the Hedgehog stated, though her words lacked conviction.
Biting her lower lip, she rewound the footage and watched it a second time, carefully studying it.
"Sally was standing about here when she was attack, which means NICOLE should've landed... Sticks, check out that field over there."
Following Amy's instructions, the Badger took off and immediately disappeared into the tall grass. it took several seconds, but soon Sticks emerged from the brush with NICOLE held high above her head.
"Found her," she declared.
"Great work, Sticks," Amy congratulated.
"Yo NICOLE, wakie-wakie."
NICOLE manifested a small, holographic avatar that hovered over the device, though red and clearly glitchy.
"1 H34r 17'5 4M4Z1N6 WH3N 7H3 F4M0U5 PUrP13 57UFF3D W0rM 1N F14PJ4W 5P4C3 W17H 7H3 7UN1N6 F0rK D035 4 r4W 811NK 0N H4r4-K1r1 r0CK. 1 N33D 5C1550r5! 61!" declared the AI.
"Whoa! What the…!?" the Badger cried out.
"We had better contact the others," Amy suggested, "Tails, you there?"
"I'm here," the Fox said, his voice emerging for the device's speaker, "Rotor just radioed in, he hasn't been able to contact NICOLE yet."
"We've found NICOLE," he stated, "But she's suffering a system error."
"Any sign of Sally?" Sonic asked.
Dreading the conversation that was to come, Amy knew that keeping it a secret wouldn't do anything to help her.
"I'm tapped into the CCTV network down here and I discovered video footage of her being abducted."
There was a prolonged silence on the line, leaving Amy briefly concerned before Sonic finally spoke.
"Get back to the Prime Minister's residence," he said, "We'll inform Rotor and he'll meet you there."
"Alright, but please don't do anything rash."
The blue Hedgehog let out a noncommittal grunt, signalling the end to their conversation. Turning back to Sticks, Amy let out a sigh and immediately relayed what she had discovered to the others.
"Guess there's nothing left to do but to head back."
Removing the Extreme Gear from her back, Amy watched as the metal case unfolded into the Pink Rose. Sticks likewise did the same, except hers was a generic model that was favored by beginners.
"I still say we should head over there and beat Sally's whereabout outta him."
"Sticks, we're not doing that," Amy said, "The X-Tornado speed makes us heading over there pointlessly irrelevant."
"But you agree, right?" the Badger asked.
Letting out another sigh, Amy hopped aboard the Pink Rose and headed back towards the city. She hoped that Bunnie and Tails would be enough to prevent Sonic from doing something rash, she was even willing to put her faith in Geoffrey of all people.