6:35
"Ten minutes," Espio muttered. They were behind schedule. Shadow should be here by now. He and Sonic were sitting in the control room's engine. Technically, Sonic was cramped under a desk and Espio was leaning against the wall, invisible.
"Shadow's doing this on purpose!" Sonic muttered from under the desk. Though he couldn't see it, Espio gave him another pitying look. Espio hated going with Sonic. He never stopped complaining and would try to bait him into his stupid jokes. It was like trying to meditate next to Tails' power drills: grating. But Espio retained his calm and returned to scanning the room, looking for hidden threats he hadn't seen in the last 4 minutes of waiting.
SLAM.
Two beasts came through the door, followed by Blaze and Shadow, Shadow being forced to carry the unconscious Jet. Then the cloaked one. The creatures nudged the prisoners to the back wall. With a wave of his hand, the figure dismissed the guards. Now they were alone and there was nothing to stop Blaze or Shadow striking the figure down. And that was disturbing. The figure crossed his arms, leaned back and waited.
Warily, Shadow set Jet against the wall, never taking his eyes off his captor. Jet's eyes flashed open as his head touched the cold steel.
"Storm…" he croaked. The figure laughed, a low, bellowing laugh that made the walls tremble.
"Ah yes, him," he waved his hand. Part of the roof opened, and a rough X of steel came. Tied to the cross was the giant, muscular form of Storm. His physical stature was tall and wide, a bleak contrast to Jet. His grey jacket and shirt were ripped, blood staining the material, and is long grey hair was matted with sweat. Usually he was an imposing figure, but here with his head hanging below his giant shoulders, he looked small and weak. Jet was stunned.
"He wasn't co-operating well, so I was forced to take…extra measures," the sound of Storm's breathing was sharp and ragged. "Maybe you will be more helpful." Jet was staring at Storm's nearly limp figure, his mouth gaping. Then, with speed that couldn't be explained, he flipped and pushed himself off the wall, literally flying towards the figure.
"You Bastard!" he screeched. The figure didn't flinch.
His hand came up; open palmed, and sent Jet flying back into the wall.
Crunch!
"I guess not," he moved to the immobilized Storm. "Now listen! I know you can make this pile of rock warped out of here." He pulled a knife from inside his robe and pointed it at Storm. "He wouldn't tell my how. Now either you do…" he put the knife at Storm's neck. "Or he dies."
"How about this?" came another voice. "You get out of here or I shoot!" Sonic had unfolded himself from under the desk and was now pointing his pistol at the figures back. Shadow sighed.
"Not yet you idiot!" Without even turning around, the figure snapped his fingers. Without warning, Sonic was sent flying from where he was. A second cloaked figure appeared from thin air. It was taller and better built than his counterpart, but seemed to move with less confidence, less assurance in its own actions. Not smart, but definitely not a mere lackey. It must have used a HALOS stealth unit, giving a similar effect a Espio's ability. The first laughed again.
"It's always good to have a hidden weapon." The figure stopped. Shadow was laughing as well.
"I
couldn't agree more." Shadow snapped his fingers. Cold steel
touched the figures neck. "Now, where were we?" The cloaked one
didn't flinch.
"Brother!" he called. "Shoot whoever's
on me." The blade pushed harder in.
"There's no one there," the other called back. The cloaked figure nearly lost his temper. His opponent was obviously cloaked, reaching over his shoulder to press the blade against his neck. Humans were so predictable.
"Shoot at my back, you dolt."
"NO!" yelled Shadow. He felt the blade tremble for a second. He was right!
"NOW!" The second cloaked figure raised it's hand. A length of lava shot out! It traveled through the air and into the first figure's back. He let out an inhuman wail. In from of his eyes, Espio materialized, standing safely in front of him and holding his Kunai backhandedly. The invisible one had tricked him! Shadow cackled.
"Ever heard of acting?" The figure staggered back gripping his chest. Espio let him go.
"There's no way off the Garden," he reasoned. Keeled over, the figure managed to raise his hand. A portal, identical to the one Blaze had seen before, formed and the figure walked forward into it.
"He's getting away!" Blaze called. The second figure dived through after him.
"You'll pay for this Shadow!" the figures voice echoed out as the portal closed. "You will regret displeasing the master of darkness!"
"I'll remember you!" Shadow thought. Blaze let out a deep breath.
"Finally done!" she said. Sonic groaned from his place in the corner.
"Babylon Gardens!" boomed Eggman's voice.
"Shit!" Shadow said. "The Destroyer!" He looked at his watch. 6:47 p.m.
"You have failed to comply with my request. This is stupidly loyal Jet. I expected better of you." The room was in chaos as everyone rushed to activate the warp drive. Ancient terminals buzzed as finger clicked to type the needed systems.
"What co-ordinates?" Blaze called to Jet, who had been forced to stop helping Storm.
"I don't care!" he screeched.
"Therefore, I shall begin firing on you. Goodbye all."
"All power to the warp drive." Espio said. Even in the disorder, he was still deathly calm.
"Co-ordinates set!"
"Jet, the control box!" Shadow barked. Jet pulled a translucent, rainbow cube from inside his jacket. He held it above his head.
"Babylon Gardens! Activate!" he called to the ancient structure.
In the hanger, Tails and Amy, now joined by Silver, Knuckles and Wave, watched as the Egg Destroyer took aim. There were more cannons than they could count. "Hurry up guys!"
Beams of light struck the cube from all directions as the entire floating island began to hum. The hum began to build as the Control Box glowed brighter.
"Babylon Gardens!" Jet yelled in a commanding voice. "Warp!"
From outside, the colossal sight began to blur, then fade, then it was gone completely. Inside the hanger, the onlookers saw the blue skies and plains of Turkey replaced by the burning heat and clear horizons of the Egyptian Desert.
"Yes!" Tails yelled and Silver started doing a little happy jig. Knuckles gave him a look and he stopped.
Similar celebration was taking place inside the central control room. Sonic was zooming round the room to waste off his unused adrenaline. Espio was the opposite, slouching deep into one of the seats and meditating. Shadow walked over to Blaze.
"Listen," he said. "I wanted to apologies for what happened before and…" Blaze cut him off.
"There's nothing to apologies for Shadow," she told him. "You have your weaknesses just like anyone else. It was my fault." Shadow went to say something else, but she held up her hand. "Let's leave it at that, OK." Shadow stopped, but his face was calm again. Jet, who was helping Storm again, called out.
"Now that that's over, can someone tell me why the fuck you're here?!"
Back aboard the Egg Destroyer in Turkey, Dr Eggman groaned. He'd been so close, he should have had them. Now he was down one engine component and had wasted the fuel to get this thing up and running. He ordered one of his robots to prepare his stress drink, prune juice and egg. He get SPEED next time, he vowed it. A sigh built in his throat. Who was he kidding? He was no match for GUN's best team. He needed some advantage, something to get an upper hand on them. Something…
"Sir?" one of his robots was coming through the door.
"What?!"
"Something has been found on the ship. Do you want to see it?" Eggman sighed again.
"Put it up." A holoscreen came up, showing a picture of the hanger. There were two dark, cloaked figures, both out cold.
"Why are you telling me…" Eggman took a closer look at the face of one of the figures, who'd lost his hood. He smiled and then began to laugh.
"Muahahaha!"