HIRED GUNS
Writer: Ken Penders
Penciler: Steven Butler
Inker: Pam Eklund
Colorist: Frank Gagliardo
Letterer: Vickie Williams
Editor: Justin Freddy Gabrie

Nack the Weasel is in a bar exchanging flirts with a woman when suddenly a knife is thrown which takes his hat off. Nack is upset and plans on gutting the guy when he's told "wrong gender" and turns to see his sister, Nic. The girl Nack was with thinks that Nic is Nack's wife and smacks him before storming off. Nic tells him to forget about the girl because they've been hired for a job. Nack says he works solo to which Nic said she does as well, but there's no way she could do this one alone. Nack wants to know who the "catch" is and Nic shows him a picture of Knuckles. Nack says that something is up because the echidnas don't involve "outsiders" with their affairs. Nic says that all jobs come with a risk, and Nack agrees to take it. Nack is surprised to see Nic's air cruiser, which she says she's had for "months." As their ride begins, Nic informs Nack that they aren't going to the Floating Island as these echidnas that hired them don't live there.

Elsewhere, near some shoreline, Knuckles is back to being red but has a green aura around him now. Suddenly, he got a bad feeling but shrugs it off as no big deal since that's nothing new to him. He questions Locke's plan "way back when" since it's caused him "to become like Dimitri" and hates "to think what dad's other options were" as he hopes to find answers on the Floating Island.

Back to the sibling weasels, as they get to the area where the coordinates led them, they don't see anything when suddenly the air craft controls are taken over. They pass through a portal unknowingly and see an island beneath them. Albion Flight Control tells that they've taken over the air craft and are bringing them in. They are taken to the High Council and Gala-Na begins to explain the situation. She shows them a clip of Knuckles creating a portal (Knuckles #15) on his own. That was the first time he had accessed his powers to their knowledge and then his powers were awakened when his was "subjected to some unusual tests" (Knuckles #24) even though Knuckles didn't know it. She says that Knuckles left them "under circumstances which hastened further muatation" which makes him dangerous. Nic asks if they want them to "take him out" and Gala-Na says "only as a last resort" and that they will "double the bonus" if the siblings bring Knuckles back alive. As the two weasels leave, Mykol (one of the council members) asks Gala-Na if she thinks they can do it. She responds that they're "just the smokescreen" and that once they are led to Knuckles "only then will we dirty our hands."

To Be Continued in SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #93