Chapter 4: Who Knows?

"Who are we going to see?" Chris said as the five were walking through the jungle on the Floating Island.

Knuckles replied, "Julie-Su."

"Knux girlfriend," Sonic added.

"Hey, did I EVER say that?"  Knuckles said with an agitated look on his face.

"Well, it's kind of obvious..."

"Just drop it, ok?"

"You boys should really play nice together," said a voice from the left.  A figure stepped out, revealing a pink echidna with a black vest and teal shorts, and several of her spines covered in mechanical parts.

"Sonic, Tails, you know Julie-Su.  Julie-Su, these two overlanders are Chris and Justin."  She gave them a suspicious look.

"Yeah, I know, no one on this planet is very fond of overlanders, but we can trust them."

"Well, ok, if you say so." She eyed Justin's holster with a .45 Colt automatic.  "Hey, kind of obsolete weaponry, don't you think?"

"Well, in our world, we haven't reached the technological level to manufacture lasers." Justin replied.

Knuckles didn't hesitate to ask, "Julie-Su, we need to know what info you have on any ancient artifacts.  Namely a 'staff of power' with a shield that can counter the staffs effects.  After all, you used to be in the Dark Legion, and they had a lot of knowledge on echidna artifacts and legends."

"If I can ask, what's the 'Dark Legion'?" questioned Chris

Knuckles answered, "It's a large group of echidnas that doesn't want to abandon technology, so they formed an army of technology-based troops and weapons, trying to conquer the world on several occasions."

"So the real question here is, 'can we trust you.'" Justin said sarcastically as he looked at Julie-Su.

Knuckles let out a small laugh, which was rare, "Oh, com'on!  Julie-Su defected from the Legion a long time ago.  How long ago was it, a year?"

"Two years," she corrected.

"Ah, at any rate, do you have any info on these artifacts?" Knuckles asked.

"I'd have to check," Julie-Su said as she pulled out a small computer, "Computer, scan for any information on 'staff of power' or a shield that can counter it's affects."

"Scanning... Approximate time... three hours, forty-eight minutes."

"Great, just great," Justin said.  He also muttered, "Screwy machine," under his breath.

"So, in the mean time, what should we-" Chris was cut short by seeing Sonic and Tails fall to the ground, limp, with darts in the back of their necks.  Next to go down was Julie-Su, then Justin fell after a struggle with falling under the influence of a dart.  Knuckles also was hit with one, but he seemed to fight it off.  Then Chris felt a sharp pain in his neck, but before he could succumb to the darkness of unconsciousness, he resisted, using his psychic powers, then he pulled the dart from his neck, flinching.  Just then, several figures in black robes ran out into the clearing, guns held in a 'surrender-or-die' position.  It took at least two dozen of these black-robed people to bring down Knuckles.  Several seconds later, three more darts were shot into Chris's neck.  Not able to resist the black abyss, he fell onto the ground, unconscious.

* * * * *

Justin awoke in a cage-like confinement.  He groggily sat up and looked around.  Next to him were three more cages, with Sonic, Julie-Su, and Tails, all unconscious.  He looked up to the room he was in seeing Chris on the other side in another cage, but with bands around his wrists, still under.  Then Justin spotted Knuckles, about five yards away from Chris's cage, shackles on his feet, hands, and neck.  He was awake, and snarling at a cyborg echidna, with several black robed figures standing around the room, using consoles, computers, or guarding the cyborg.

"Uh oh," he thought, "We've been captured by the Dark Legion!"  Justin suspected that the cyborg was Dimitri, but on closer inspection, it revealed that the cyborg still had some flesh parts.  "That can't be Dimitri then."  Sonic could overhear Knuckles and the mechanical echidna.

"So, still won't give in will you?"

"What do you want from us besides the location of Haven, which I have to remind you, I am NOT going to tell?"

"Isn't it obvious?  You and your friends must not be allowed to find a way to counter the Staff's effects.  Now, tell me where I can find Haven!!"

Knuckles just spat at Xenin's feet

"It seems that you must be persuaded.  Very well then," Xenin snapped his fingers, and a guard came to his side.

"Guard, go see to it that the other prisoners are brought here, and make it snappy!"  The guard complied, went over to a wall-intercom, and mumbled a few words into it.  A few minutes later, several more cages were rolled in, each containing another prisoner.

"Who are those fellas?" Justin quietly said to himself.  None were unconscious, and all had a look of anger and hatred on their faces.  One of the Chaotix, Espio, was taken out and ordered to stand against the wall.

"Now Knuckles," Xenin started, "you will be given a choice.  I will count to twenty.  At every five second interval, my guard here, Boris, will shoot your friend here in the leg, then the other leg, and the arms.  I assure you, Boris cannot miss.  Attention Boris!" The guard raised his weapon, "One..... two..... three..... four..... fi-" A loud shot rang out.  Boris clutched his chest and dropped to the floor.

"Wha...?  Get the med team in here!" A group of figures in white robes pulled out a stretcher and transported the injured echidna into a door with a red cross on it.  A few seconds later, a guard came up to Xenin and handed him an incredibly small handgun, only about 2 inches long.

"The weapon-toting overlander had this on him.  He hid it in his shoe."

"What?!?  You fools!  I gave strict orders to search anyone for weapons!!  Now I suppose your going to tell me that other overlander still has is wrist blades, hmm?!?"

"N-no sir!  He d-doesn't have them o-on him."

"Good then!  You are dismissed."  He turned to Knuckles, "You were lucky, THIS time guardian," then he turned and strode away.

* * * * *

Hours had passed since the incident, but Justin was shivering from time to time.  Who would be next?  What would be next?  The others had awoke, but fell asleep again as soon as they assumed it was night.  Knuckles had been drugged, and he was knocked out again.  Chris's cage had been moved nearer to his, but no one dared talk.

"Justin!" Chris said suddenly.  "Are you awake?"

"Still awake," he replied.

"I have a plan."

"What is it?"

"Ok, do you still have that other .20 handgun and silencer in your left shoe?"

"Oh, yeah!  I forgot about that one!" he pulled out another small handgun and a two inch black tube.  He screwed the tube onto the small firearm, and pulled back the hammer.

"Ok, see that guard?"

"Uh huh."

"Shoot him."  A few seconds later, a faint thwip sound was heard, and the lone guard fell, a small, neat hole in his head.  Next, Justin shot the lock on his cage, got out, shot the lock on Chris's cage and the wrist bands that kept him from using his powers.

"Damn!"

"What is it?"

"Nothing, my gun could only hold five rounds.  We can't shoot the other guy's locks."  They also tried the guard's laser.  That didn't seem to affect the locks.

"Well, the laser won't work either," said Chris.

"The only way we are gonna free the others is to either find a key or get my ammunition."

"Looks that way."  They left their confinement area, and walked cautiously down a hall.  A shadow moved along an adjoining passage.  The two ducked into a door way and waited until the guard passed before continuing. 

After what seemed like hours, they found the room holding Justin's firearms and Chris's blades.  After discussing a plan, they quietly snuck up to the room which was housing two guards.  Justin jumped in the room and blasted one with a laser shot, while Chris KO'd another with a psychic-powered punch.

"Wew!  Step one went smooth-lay!"

"Don't party just yet," Justin's voice sounded urgent, "The guard I killed hit a silent alarm!"

"Damn!"

They tried to go back the way they came, but now a metal door had come down and was blocking their way.

"Just how are we supposed to get by that?" Chris asked.

"I knew this would come in handy."  Chris turned to see Justin pull a huge gun from the black package.  It looked like it held a thousand weapons in one package

"My God!!  What is that thing?!?"

"This," Justin said, "is an Eradicator-99 rifle, equipped a heavy assault machine gun, a double-barreled shotgun, and a fragmentation missile launcher."

"Well, use the launcher boy!"

"Exactly!"  Justin heaved the massive metallic object onto his shoulder, took aim, and fired a streaming orange and yellow bolt down the hall where it came in contact with the obstructing object and blew it into a million pieces.

"Let's follow the yellow brick road," said Chris.

* * * * *

Chris and Justin had reached the room again, and they were trying to wake everyone who hadn‘t been awaken by the explosion.  Everyone was up, grumbling and irritated by the Legion, but glad to see that help had arrived.  Knuckles, however, was still unconscious.

"Ok, here's the game plan," Justin said, "Julie-Su will tap into that console over there, while the rest of us watch for any guards.  After we find the rest of the Chaotix, we set a bomb in the generator room and blow these suckers to kingdom-come as we make our getaway."

"What about Knuckles?" Julie-Su asked.

"What about Knuckles?" said a voice from behind.

"Knux!  Ok, good thing you're awake." Sonic said cheerfully

"Yeah, yeah.  Can someone get me out of these shackles?"

Justin responded by pulling out a Deucheste automatic with silencer and fired one shot at each of Knuckles restrains.

After Knuckles was free, Julie-Su tapped into the building's construction plans, and made a startling discovery.

"Uh, guys?"

"What is it?" Knuckles questioned.

"I don't think this is a building."

"Whaddya mean?"

"If I'm not mistaken, I think that were on an airship!"

"Great, just great.  We've been taken prisoner, this thing's covered in guards with lasers, and now we know it's an airship!  This is gonna have to be one doozy of an escape," Sonic complained.

"Well, lets make the best of it.  We're going to have to plant Justin's bomb in the engine room and get out in an escape pod." Chris said

"I think I've located where the Chaotix is," Julie-Su said, "here's the engine room, and these look like pods."

"See?  Everything has worked out good so far!" Tails said

"I think the 'so far' has run out!" Sonic pointed to one door to the confinement area.  Black robes started pouring into the room.  Justin crouched, rolled, and fired a clip at the mob from his Deucheste automatic.  While Julie-Su pulled out her handgun laser and popped off a few shots.  Everyone else took cover behind he nearest box, crate, or console.  But the battle took a turn for the worse as hundreds of laser bolts flew into the room, destroying consoles, crates, shattering glass, everything breakable.

"I feel sorry for those guys," Justin said.

"Who, our group?" asked Chris.

"No, them!"  Justin pulled out his Eradicator and mowed down at least a dozen of the black echidnas before returning for cover. 

"But even with your rifle, there's to many of them to win this.  I suggest that a tactical retreat is in order."  Chris yelled over the gun fire to everyone on his side to run through the door behind them at the first sign of a cease fire.  The cease fire came five seconds later.

Running through the hall, the six allies were going in the presumed direction of the Chaotix.  Behind them, at least twenty guards were chasing them.  Every so often, Justin would turn and toss a grenade, slowing down their assassins.

"You sure it's this way?" asked Chris.

"Positive!  Now let me think!" Julie-Su shot back.

"We've been at this for half an hour already!"

"Here we are!" She said as she opened a door holding the Chaotix and several guards.  The guards were brought down after Justin came with his Deucheste.  Chris cut the locks with his blades and the Chaotix was free.

"I think now would be the time for you to say, 'I told you so',"

"Later.  Right now, we need to plant the bomb and get of this hunk of metal before it goes BOOM."  Julie-Su also found her computer in the room.

After some brief explanations, the group of nine was again running through the hallways of the massive ship before they came to a fork.

"That way leads to the engine room," she pointed left, "and there is the escape pods."

"Justin and I will plant the bomb while you make a getaway in a pod.  We'll climb into another one as soon as we get back." Chris suggested

"Ok then, see you two later," said Sonic.

The ever-changing-number-of-people group was now climbing into an escape pod and taking off."

"Y'know I feel bad about leaving those two behind," said Tails.

Knuckles replied, "Don't sweat it Tails, they're going to get in another pod after they set the bomb."

* * * * *

Chris and Justin had their own problems.  Trapped in the engine room with at least thirty guards, the bomb set with no way to deactivate it, they were in a dilemma.

"Looks like it's curtains for us," Chris said

"No kidding!  I don't see a way to get out of here," replied Justin, "but at least we'll take along these black-robed idiots."

Chris looked at the bomb.  Thirty seconds left.  Twenty five.  Twenty.  Too fast.  Time was going by too fast.  The end coming to fast.  He braced himself for the last fifteen seconds.  Then he got an idea.  Chris put his hand on Justin's shoulder, and concentrated.  Hard.  When the time was at six seconds, they disappeared in a dot of light.

* * * * *

As soon as the pod with the Chaotix and the rest landed, the airship exploded in a ball of fire, but no other pod had been launched.

"Oh no..."

"Justin and Chris must have run into a phalanx of guards, and couldn't make it out."  Knuckles suggested.  The group sat in silence for the longest of times.