Up to now, things were going remarkably well. Lupin's sense of smell was acute enough to detect the scents he needed from one of the many bomb-sites, and the enemy army did not have numbers enough to completely encircle the city. Thus the group of five had found little difficulty in sneaking out through one of the access ways.

"Tails, we're out."

"Good. Look sharp, there's a group moving around about half a mile ahead of you, only a scouting party but big enough to worry about."

Fiona smiled. In spite of his earlier remark that it was nothing to do with him, Tails still wanted to help them. He wasn't as heartless as he pretended to be. "Thanks; they're showing up on the radar. We don't have the kit to deal with all the stations themselves, so we're going to try and target their ammunition stocks instead."

"One can lead to the other. The energy cores in their ammunition isn't the most stable, so the ammo dumps are quite likely near the positions themselves. You don't want to have to keep carting around unstable material – the longer it remains stationary, the better."

"What? So we kick it around?"

"I wouldn't recommend getting within one hundred yards if you plan to make it explode. The shells have a limited explosive range, but the shockwave could crush your lungs, and the combined blast…doesn't bear thinking about. You might want to make sure Retis doesn't attempt any unnecessary heroics."

This was their advantage. Of course, the separatist army had some of the best weapons in the world – Tails had designed them and you couldn't get much better than that – but it was also quite a huge blunder. Once Tails had a design, he didn't forget it. As she sat in the shade of the massive wall, leaning against the bark of one of the forest trees, she guessed that Tails could probably rattle off every constructional detail to everything he had ever produced, if he so wished to. Tails knew how to make his own equipment, and so equally well knew how to cripple it, and the female vulpine was about to use it to her full advantage. "I'll make sure he knows." She replied with a soft laugh. He was joking of course, despite the serious element. Retis was thankfully one of the more cool-headed ones.

"Oh, and Fiona?"

"Yea?" she felt, for some reason, a little breathless as she said the word.

"Now you're out, don't come back into the city until I give an all-clear. Cornered rats fight desperately, and we don't want them to mistake your kill-team for a second force joining the combat. All sorts of things can happen that neither of us would like to happen. Oh yes, and I almost forgot. I meant to apologise for earlier. I'll listen next time you say no."

"Thanks Tails, that means a lot." It really did. A bit of work was needed, but maybe she could get him to be less encased in that steel shell of his.

"Are you sure you're up for this? You sound a bit emotional."

For a moment it was fear. It sounded, in her mind at least, that he had got an idea of what was going on, and he was still with Amy…it wouldn't work out. "No, n-no, I'm absolutely fine, you not very Mobian, sometimes though Tails. We can talk more when I get back."

"Not Mo- yes, you're on a mission. I'm going to have to go, after all, I'm sitting in the cauldron here. Nicole should be able to act in capacity for me, and send word when you're done. If somethings goes wrong…find somewhere you can hold, and wait. Tell me and then wait."

"And get surrounded?"

"Better than running." You could almost hear the shrug in his voice. "Even surrounded you can't be flanked. Running just exposes you. Trust me, hunker down if you end up in a bad situation and help will come. I promise you that, all of you." Fiona began to frame a confused answer as she remembered the others were there too. If they had been listening, they didn't show it.

"Good luck in there, Tails."

"You too, Fi." And he was gone. Fiona was with the others now. She looked towards them, milling around, checking gear, throwing remarks at each other. Would it be enough? They were sneaking through a forest full of hostiles, to hopefully cripple their artillery batteries, but they had no idea how they would do it or how many would come back. It was a gamble to pay off.

"Let's go, then." She told them, checking her own weapon in the process – she still used the Judgement and it's variants – before she led them off into the woods, the five outcasts.

Tails watched the battle play out from the highest tower he could find. It irked him that he couldn't be down there fighting alongside the others – blasted politics. He didn't trust anyone else with the job and besides, he, aside from Sally, was the only one really qualified for the task. He had no doubt a few well-place chaos spears, a chaos blast or two…they would end the conflict, but neither the destruction of the city or the igniting of the surrounding forest were particularly tantalising side-effects.

He would have to do something interesting before this was over, he decided. He couldn't go on like this. He'd get bored if he didn't do something.
He glanced at his HUD. Five o'clock, the withdraw was almost complete. All that would remain at the walls would be the skeleton crew, by now. It was time to enjoy the aplomb with which Antoine would no doubt reposition his remaining forces. Absent-mindedly he flicked out a ring and began tossing it, without watching the ring flashing against the sunlight that blasted the spot where he rested against the rail. He was gloveless again – he didn't feel the need to wear them anymore. As a kid he had been more conscious of them, but back then he had been worried about everything; living as a supposed 'freak' in Mobian youth had provided certain benefits. People had kept their distance, left him to his own thoughts. Only Sonic had really been ignorant enough to get in close.

"Hey, what you got there?" even at twelve, Sonic was practically a hero. Tails was in one of the foster homes, after his discovery alone in the northern forests.

"Just leave me alone." His reply had been somewhat miserable. He didn't like people getting that close to him then. Sonic just hadn't listened. That stubborn belief in his own rightness about almost anything.

"Hey, I'm just looking!" he scooped up the little device and begun turning it over and over in his gloved hands, peering into every part of it. "What's it do, anyway?"

"What do you care?" At eight, Tails had been very defensive about everything. It had taken some time for him to relax – eight more years, in fact.
"I'm just curious, little-" that had been the mistake.

"Don't call me little!" Tails had snapped angrily, but despite the piping child's voice, it had been surprisingly adult, cold, and Sonic's sardonic smile had flickered for a moment at the curt remark. He had given the little reassembled toy back, with remarkable speed, actually.

They had really hated each other back then, for about a year. He made frequent visits to that orphanage; his casual, if obnoxious and ridiculously blunt attitude had all but had the others fawning over him, but not Tails, and the blue hedgehog had seen it as a challenge. He had dogged his steps, trying to get in his way or drag him into the stuff he was doing with the others…Tails had fought through it all. He had proved to be stubborn, the only challenge Sonic had really ever found insurmountable.

Things had changed so much since then. Tails had grown up, Sonic had mellowed out a bit. A few heated discussions, one fairly brief but intense fight between the two had settled things in the four years after that, Sonic stopped trying to change Tails, Tails begun listening to others.

"Hey, Mr Nostalgic, wake up, you got a life to run, ya know." Nicole. She did have opportune moments to interrupt, it turned out.

"How did you know I was-"

"You have that look. Saw it through your display." A little 8-bit avatar of Nicole gave him a wave and smile from the corner of the green HUD. "Come on, you can't lounge up here all day sifting through all that junk in your head, you've-"

"I take it you didn't know that the queen is dead, then?" he replied in a detached tone, cutting across the preamble she was sure to deliver. "We're all a bit reclusive at the moment."

"Oh, shit. I- when?" It affected Nicole too, then.

"Midday today. Sally seems to be hanging onto her mind by a thread, and Sonic's trying to keep her from breaking up. We need her now, more than ever, and I would take it as a personal favour if you didn't interfere. Fiona took the other four out of the city to see what she can do about the enemy artillery, so that leaves me, Ant and Bunnie as the only leader capacities. We're a little hard-pressed. How are things at your end?"

"Not bad now." Nicole replied, recovering from her blunder and eager to shift the topic onto something a little less delicate, "They sent bees at us, so whoever it is has contacts in one of the hives. I don't think any they sent at us are actually still living. Rotor and I were pretty efficient." She omitted the part about the quarrelling. "Just doing clean-up at the moment."

"In that case, see if you can get messages onto phones and billboards in Mobotropolis, make 'em look official, make sure the civilians know this place is about to become a live-fire zone."

"You backing up then?"

"It's called a tactical withdrawal, Nicole. If you're going to criticise my methods, at least have the courtesy to sound like it. Anyway, yes. We can't realistically hold the walls this way, so we're moving back to the main gate. I just came up to get a breather but keep track of what's going on. Ant knows how to handle his forces, better than I do, I admit."

"So the mighty Tails is fallible, then? Is there any point in me trying to get help out to you?"

"Honestly at this point, I wouldn't bother. The last dregs of our forces are pulling back as we speak, and the separatists are going to be following hot on their heels. They're not going to give you a chance to deploy any effective countermeasures. Even if you could, I'd rather you didn't." his tone shifted to a heavier, weary voice, "I've done fuck-all fighting so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing the look on Geoff's face before I tear his face off."

"Geoffrey? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. He did have that power complex. Well, anyway, if I can't offer any help, I'll keep back here and just stay on comm. Good luck out there, Tails."

He smiled, in spite of the grim situation. "Don't think I'll need it, but thanks anyway. Ah- I almost forgot, we need to have a long talk when I get back. There are a couple of issues I'd like to get cleared, but now isn't really the time."

"By your leave."

It didn't feel right to reply. He had seen the messages Rotor had sent him – angry ones, mostly, at the programming Tails had changed, edited, made Nicole so dangerous and uncompromising. The reports were troubling. Not really because of what it spoke of Nicole doing, but because it wasn't him. He hadn't touched Nicole's data servers, but clearly Rotor thought he had. There was something going on behind his back, someone was messing around behind his back…but Rotor was the only other person Nicole would let near her systems – anyone else, bang, dead.

Fuck. That would be a problem.

He chose not to reply, and stalked back from the tower rail and back inside, down the spiralling stairwell and back into the castle proper. Almost immediately as he set foot into the corridors there were half a dozen ministerial aids clamouring around him, shouting ever louder in an attempt to get their problem heard over the others.

He clapped his hands together, bright green sparks fountaining from them. "Silence!" he demanded in a commanding voice, and the infernal chattering died down. "I don't have time for your bloody ideals at the minute, talk to me when hell freezes over, or I start giving a shit, whatever comes latest. I'm going to finish this war so if you want to live get out of my way and let me get on with my work." The last piece of advice was greeted with a set of blank stares. He couldn't be bothered with being any more courteous. He grabbed the nearest two with gloveless hands and pushed them aside roughly, marching through the gap it created and leaving the hum of chaos energy in the air as he rounded a corner.

He didn't need them to fuck around with him – he had his own issues.

"You can't push it all away…it's still a world out there. People start giving me hard times…I run. S'all there is to it."

He pushed the memory away – Sonic again. He had been eleven at the time, still his isolated self, and Sonic had once again tried to drag him out of it. Five years later, Fiona was trying the same thing, albeit through a different route. Maybe it wouldn't kill him to listen for once.

He started, looking up from the floor as his concentration waned, and surprised to see he had emerged from the castle onto the adjoining wall, where soldiers trooped along it hefting stationary weapons and crates of ammunition with them, orders shouted to and fro from officers in addition to the washing conversations chattering through the comm, and Tails began to pace down the lines, waves from soldiers keeping him grounded in reality but nonetheless introspective as he searched for Antoine.

Five minutes of fruitless searching as can be expected, yielded no sign of the veteran general, and he was verging on repeating his journey and re-entering the castle in search of the general someplace else when he was hailed by someone a little further on. He straightened his stance and picked up pace a little, marching swiftly to the source of the voice.

A reptilian…salamander. The greenish scales, extended face and speech extension he had heard when he had shouted his name.

"Am I to take it you ssseek the general?" the man asked, his tone demanding but respectful – he knew his place, good. That would make things a little easier.

"Yes, I take it you know where I can find him?"

"He goesss to the council…to inform them of thisss predicament." The salamander's tongue flicked idly. "If it'sss any help, I am acting in his ssstead until he returnsss."

"Your name?"

"Hartley, sssir."

"What are you doing with the defences?"

"I'm trying to ssspread us evenly, to ensssure that there are no cracksss in the defence."

"Then you must never have been in a siege before, or the suppression of a city. I was younger then, but I saw Robotnik when he took Old Mobotropolis and made it into Robotropolis. He made a statement, marched his forces up to the palace gates and cracked them open with his latest super weapon. They're going to do the same here, but this time with my technology, which is just as good. I want the best anti-armour soldiers you can get watching the gate for when shit hits the fan. Make sure whatever they bring to bear on us goes up in a cloud of metal and petrol, while I break up this little rebellion of theirs."

"What exactly did you have in mind?" Hartley's eyes narrowed as he begun to get what Tails was going on about.

"I intend to show them exactly what happens when they get on my bad side." He flexed his claws, watching Hartley with a blank expression, "A rebellion tends to dissipate quickly if the leader becomes a cloud of ash. Oh, and a word to the wise: Don't get in my way. I know who I'm hitting, chaos powers don't give a shit." Once again, he gave no time for a reply, spinning on his heel and stalking off further down the line towards the gate itself. He didn't pause again in his walk, he insulated himself from the questions or calls from the soldiers.

When he reached where he best judged was the centre of the massive gate, he paused and leant against the edge, content to wait.

"Tails hun, that you?" the voice made him look round, and he managed a thin smile for Bunnie as she rested next to him, robotic limbs making sharp thuds on the concrete. "Ain't see you all day, hun, you ain't hidin' from us, are ya?"

"No…just…I've got some shit I have to work out." He didn't sound convincing.

"Is it anythin' do to with Alicia?"

"No…well, yes…but…" he felt his resistance crack slightly.

"This ain't you, hun. You're always right awn it, you're the one makin' the choices. What's wrong? Ah won't say a thing to none o' the others."

"Your concern is touching, but it's something I have to work out for myself."

"Ya sure?" Bunnie pressed.

"Yes, I'm sure. Maybe once I get things sorted in my own head I can talk about it. Things are changing a little too rapidly more my tastes, so I want to lay them out and go through it one by one. Try as I might, I can't do everything." He shrugged unconsciously. "I'm putting this rebellion down tonight, as the first thing on that list. You're welcome to watch."

"Ya got somethin' in mind?" She replied with a sly grin.

"You could say that." He looked out over the city lit up by the afternoon sun. "It's pretty blunt, but should work. All it really requires is that their general is near the front of his force when he shows up."

Bunnie shuffled around slightly, rearranging herself into a more comfortable position. "Ya sound like Sonic there, hun, just a lil' more technical."

"Ugh…listen, I just want to have a few minutes to myself here, alright? I'm not exactly relishing what I'm about to do, though I will put on a bit of a show, and I really need to think."

"Sure, hun. Come find me if ya need to talk." She whispered, then he heard her metal feet clanking loudly as she moved away, down past him and away along the wall.

Fuck.

Fiona shouldered aside another low branch with a rough tug and low curse as it flapped back in her face. She pushed it aside again, taking a little more care to break it out of the way with unfortunately quite an audible crack. "Fuck." She mumbled, waiting in silence for any sign of approach. When none came, she peered back behind to the other four. "You're seeing this?" a series of nods were there reply.

'This' was in fact the edges of an old village, and her HUD was picking up more targets than she wanted to count. Rows of bright blue barrels jutted at an angle from the middle of the village, and after a few seconds of waiting a thunderous chorus of blasts rang through the forests, the artillery position disgorging another salvo of shells into the sky, as they ignited and begun their massively-lengthened arc towards the city. From what she could see, they were carting shells from a small compound of renovated barns to the guns themselves – this was the only position, so it was logical they simple kept all their shells there. Setting them off…

"They're keeping them in the hangers, if I'm right." She mumbled back to the others.

"So, what? We blow it up and get out?" Retis shrugged nonchalantly.

"We're trying to be stealthy here, jackass." Lupin growled, punching him in the shoulder.

"Yea, so? Couple of them judgement rounds through the side, cook off the entire lot, no sweat from us."

"Ah yes, 'cause we all want a fucking army trying to bite our hinds off when we get away." Fiona lavishly coating the statement with sarcasm. "Come on, you're more patient than this."

"Maybe I don't care for this sneaking about crap, alright?" he huffed. "I'm a fighter, I run in fists punching – I don't sneak around the side-lines, in case you hadn't noticed. I'm not exactly cut for this."

"Yea, and we don't want to see you get killed doing something needlessly heroic. Tails said so."

"So what the hell am I here for them?" he threw his arms up in exasperation.

"In case this whole thing does go up in smoke, then you get to break skulls for us." Lupin joked at his colleague. "If you're really pissed about not doing anything, we can go maul some trees after we get back."

"If you wanna make this a one on one, just say so." Retis shook one fist in a mocking warning. "Anyone have an idea how we're going to do this then? I'm not waiting for them to rust into decommission, if that's what you're all hoping."

"We need to find quick, quiet ways of dispatching the guards. The Judgement could kill them, but gives us away as well." Fiona explained to no one in particular.

"I've got the range and speed to kill them silently, but it's still too slow. I wouldn't be able to kill them all before one was discovered."

"Wait, how many could you kill, if one of us could get through?" Retis asked, an idea forming in his head. Telera held up three fingers silently. "Then that decides it. You punch a hole, I'll follow it through."

"What are you on about?" Lupin growled. "That's suicidal, you idiot."

"So? I can punch through walls that thin, get to the ammunition, and once I'm there, I'm otherwise safe. They won't shoot me for fear of causing the detonation themselves, so they have to get me up close. I'll just keep hammering at the shells and anyone who comes near until they go off."

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"No, but it's not as if we have a great deal of choice. Either we sit here and let Mobotropolis get pounded further by artillery waiting until we come up with a suitably fool proof plan, or I do this, and you guys get away. I kick the bucket, but I prefer it this way. The needs of the many precede that of the few."

"You're going to need someone to-" Lupin began. Retis cut him off halfway.

"You are not staying. I'm not getting both of us killed for this. You're a hunter, Lupin, you know when to give up, all that shit. With me, it's honour, geddit? I'm not going to fuckin' let you get yourself killed on top of this, so I'm doing what I need to, to make sure people survive. Take it and fucking run. Don't try and talk me out of this, any of you. We did this because we want people to come out of this alive, and I intend to make sure they do. Telera, you take the shots and run, I'm not letting you get caught in the crossfire."

"You're set on this?" she asked, fingers flicking. He nodded confirmation. "Then if we're going to do this, we're doing it right."

"Get started, the rest of you." Retis shooed them away.

"We're not-"

"Go." It was said with such a finality, such grave sincerity and pain that Fiona couldn't find it in herself to disagree. Instead she stumbled forward and embraced him, tear forming as it finally sunk in that he wasn't coming back. "Now get out of here, fox, there's someone waiting for you back home and he wants to make sure you come back. Get out of here, all of you. They're going to see the cremation from back at the city, so don't kill yourself over missing it." he slapped her on the arm and pushed her away, spinning dramatically back to the spot at the edge of the forest. A brief pat on Telera's shoulder signalled her to begin, and he glanced back to watch the others disappear. "Take the shots, and go, got it?" he murmured in the tigress' ear. She nodded again.

-Crack, thup-

He hadn't expected to live forever.

-Crack, thup-

To die for those you loved, for those you wanted to save…there was no better way.

Crack, thup-

Goin' out with a fuckin' bang.

As the sound of the last shot faded, he gave one last shrug of indifference, and exploded from the treeline, scimitars sliding from sheathes in a last charge. He was going to fucking die, but he was going to make sure he would never be forgotten.

Ten minutes.

Ten minutes until she heard, no, felt it, the explosion as it rippled, pulsed through the forests causing the trees to shake and lean as a bright cloud mushroomed into the sky. The shockwave itself threw the surviving party members to the ground – Telera included, having caught up in the interim – and for a moment, they didn't want to move. He had been dead the moment he made the decision, but now…now it was real, now there was no going back, no last words, he was gone. It was over, or it felt like it.

Fiona's comm beeped, waking her from the sadness. "Hey? What the hell happened?"

"T-Tails?" she managed to splutter in reply after a few moments.

"Yea. Fuck…I saw the explosion, what did you do?"

"We didn't…Retis…fucking arse…"

"What? What did he do?"" He snapped.

"Fucking…killed himself…wouldn't let us tell him no…"

"What? Is everyone else alright?"

"Yea…fucking hell…he wouldn't…" her words dissolved into sobs and swears.

"Damn…get the others back, things are about to play out here. Antoine finished regrouping, and the enemy force is marching through the city. I'm finishing this now."

The walls were silent – completely. Everything was ready, no-one had anything left to say. Whatever was happening, would play out today, as the sun crested the horizon, illuminating the scene with a warming glow. The sun, the only thing that seemed out of touch with what was going on.
Soldiers waited in anticipation, some with hands on weapons or even on triggers, eyes scanning the city for the first signs of approach. It was a pointless gesture; Tails had spoken with Antoine, things had been decided – no-one would fire a shot, not until they were told, at least. No first-contact, no sneak attacks, nothing of the sort. They knew he had something planned, and you didn't gainsay Tails, not if you wanted to keep your life.
Tails was probably the quietest – if that was possible – of them all. His mood and thoughts were grim, both on what he had been swilling around in his head, and the news…one of them would have died eventually. It was the reality of war, but still, it hit hard. Alicia and Retis in the same day…they were going to pay for this.

He began to see the vanguard, little bits of life flickering through the building landscape in his mind's eye, chaos sense watching the normal move around, checking for traps. He had to admire their planning, if only for a moment. They hadn't encountered any hostiles yet, but they checked anyway…probably to avoid another incident, like at the gates. Then they appeared.

They came from several avenues at once actually – you couldn't approach the palace directly as a security measure – and assembled in organised lines in the wide lane leading up to it, the tanks bringing up the rear. Where was it…he waited, watched for signs.

There.

It was what he'd been afraid of…he had an entire arsenal, they would choose the biggest fuck off weapon they could. They had stolen an Arachnid plasma platform. Heavily armed and armoured, it was one of the best he made – it would crack the gates in one shot, but it couldn't fire while moving…they would wait until everyone was steady before firing. He raised one hand, open, and watched the scene unfold before him.
Ranks, squads, platoons, played to the tune of someone…Tails' eyes narrowed, scouring the crowd…there, the eyes, the stance, the badges…fuckin' general was boy-scout…he was making a statement.

Tails moved inward for a moment, his mind going through channels, directing chaos energy to his voice, and then he spoke. "Don't keep me waiting! I haven't got all day!" his voice came out as a roar that echoed through the square, and soldiers down below glanced his way, before more bellowed commands, distant and from their general, reached them and they went back to the task of trying to look suitably cool. Despite the warning, it took another ten minutes for the warriors to assemble, the general and his retinue at the front, the Arachnid splayed out on a raised platform at the back of the army. Tails took a moment to glance to either side as the final details down below completed.

"The Arachnid, that's the target." He explained to the pair of soldiers either side of them, and they passed it down the line to weapon crews. They didn't reply to his word, just waited.

"We are doing this-" the voice, powerful enough, came from a megaphone down below, and Tails spoke right through it.

"You're in charge?" he shouted, voice amplified by chaos energy, "Good, I don't want to repeat this. You have fucking pissed me off. That was a very, very big mistake. All your men, all of you, I'm giving you this chance to stand down. Discard this one chance, and you will not leave this square alive." Silence from below.

He closed his hand.

Twelve rockets slashed silently from launchers, followed moments later by a handful of plasma blasts, streaking over the heads of the soldiers below. The Arachnid, their biggest ploy, exploded as the heaviest weapons they could find came to bear on the armoured gun, and the shockwave from the destruction of the massive construct flattened the back ranks and caused those further forward to stumble on their feet.

"Still feel so sure?" he bellowed, "You killed the queen and you killed my teammate, so well done, you all-but signed your own death wish. Before you ask, no, it's not why I brought all these soldiers up here. They're insurance." he lowered his hand, placing both on the parapet. "You're going to die and I'm not going to know your name, but Geoffrey…" his eyes wandered to the skunk next to the general, "You made your mistake, and there isn't going to be a trial. The king is a stickler for that tradition, maybe he would do it. You'd be found guilty anyway, but I can't be bothered with it. You die here today, and you will regret what you have done."

The time for words was over. He pushed off, over the parapet and dropped like a stone towards the ground, chaos energy flaring and rippling across his arms and through his gloveless hands. The fall lasted a few seconds, and he struck the ground like a thunderbolt.

Tails landed on one knee, his fist striking the ground and directing his energy and anger downwards into the ground. The ground cracked and ruptured on impact, groaning in protest as the sound bounced and rebounded through the ears of the soldiers, as weapons went to hands and magazines clicked home. It was the first clue that something wasn't ordinary – a fall like that didn't do that sort of damage, and Tails rose, smoking but unharmed, to face the small army. His hands snapped open again, chaos spears crackling alight, Tails taking his steps out of the crater, slow, unhurried, towards the general. The falcon, to his credit, held his ground, and the pistol he held barked and bucked, then man emptying the clip into Tails, watching in silent dismay as each shot disintegrated against the ring-shield Tails had erected, but not stated. The fox stopped, ten paces from Turk, and closed his hands sadly, the chaos spears dimming and sinking back into the ether.

"You made the mistake…don't worry, some of your men might live if they put their guns down, but you won't. You and Geoff and all your little cohorts won't be going anywhere." He left it at than, and watched them for a couple of seconds more with a stare that crumbled Geoffrey's bones. Then he moved.

That's all the skunk could see, that Tails moved – it happened so fast, too fast for him to even try to see – he passed through Turk, there was a swiping motion and Tails solidified again on the other side and Turk stumbled and fell, blood pouring from an open wound in his throat. He saw the lifeless man crumple onto the pavement, before a hand clamped around his throat and lifted him from the ground. This was it. He hadn't thought it would come so fast, but…

Tails struck him cleanly across the face with a closed fist. "You're not going to hell, Geoff, there isn't going to be anything left of you." He drew back his hand again and opened it, and in that moment the skunk stared into oblivion. Tails hadn't bothered with a chaos attack, or a ring attack, Geoffrey stared into a pulsing miasma of energy, some mash-up combination of raw chaos and ring energy, just power.

Of course, he only had a moment to see it, a moment before Tails clamped his hand over Geoff's face and released the pent up power into the man, and watched him come apart like smoke in his hands, and as the source of the problem faded into smoke, he looked at the army – the front ranks anyway, with a questioning expression that said, it's your choice, make it now.

He watched, and lowered his hands, flicking on the comm with a tired expression. "You saw it happen, Ant, get down and do what you want. I'm done here."

A/N: This marks the end of the first Arc of Violet Era. The second arc will be posted as a second story, primarily because if I were to string the entire Violet Era series together it would be far too long to contain in one story. There are a total of ten arcs that will be written, and each will be a separate story but will also be able to follow on from the previous one.