Sonic the Hedgehog: Fallen from Grace.

Chapter 14.

Written by Chi-Cop1.

All the characters appearing in Sonic the Hedgehog video games, Sonic the Hedgehog television shows, and Sonic the Hedgehog comic books are copyright of SEGA, Sonic Team, Dic, and Archie Comics. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of Chi-Cop1.

Ace Combat references and names are property of NAMCO.

The song lyrics "Forever Can Be" belongs to ASHES DIVIDE.

Author's Comments:

I sincerely apologize to you all for the delay in getting this thing posted. Truth is, it's still not done. What I had planned for this chapter would have easily doubled to the word count. But with time dragging on and all the notes I've been getting wondering if this story would continue has made me reconsider my strategy and give you all a shortened chapter rather than wait longer. Thank you all for sticking with me. I'll try to have 15 posted soon.

-Noted on 7/15/2015 by Chi-Cop1.

-VV

"Forever Can be"

(Others to Tails theme)

It must've been very hard
To have lived and never learnt
To be content with who you are
We all want the same things don't we
To find the one who opens channels to our hearts
A path you never found upon your own.

Forever can be...
Something to believe in...
But this was one of those times

Forever can be...
Something to bleed for...
But this is one of those times

So you dug deep down inside yourself
You revealed an old man
So pained to be what makes you who you are
We all want you to see the you we see
The one that carries the worlds tragedies alone
The cross you choose to bear upon your own.

Forever can be...
Something to believe in...
Wish this was one of those times.

Forever can be...
Something to bleed for...
And this is one of those times, for those you left behind.

Save the world so you don't have to save yourself.
You save the world so you don't have to look at yourself.
And fill the void left inside your fragile hearts.
Those haunted images never left you alone...

Forever can be...
Something to believe in...
This was one of those times

Forever can be...
Something to believe for...
Now this is one of those times.

-VV

The Mystic Ruins.

Tails Workshop.

Year 3242, Day 12.

1616 hours.

Miles hit the button for his workshop's hanger door and slowly coasted his Type DX gear hoverboard out onto the runway. "Ok, all systems are fully functional, time to test this baby out. I just hope this new suit design will protect me like it should" he thought as he reviewed the systems status display projected on his integrated helmet faceshield. He slowly moved to the center of the runway and took a slightly angled stance on the board as he readied to fire up the new engines for the first time outside the wind tunnel.

"Okay…here …we…." Miles activated the main engines and the newly designed scramjets. "GO!" The yellow in color gear shot forward with incredible acceleration as Miles rocketed off the runway's edge at the cliff into the air. "Geez, that "G" pull is a bit too strong. Computer, begin test flight log." The heads up display activated on his faceshield's screen. "Log one: Adjust the duel scramjets to ease normal launch power curve. I nearly got thrown off the board. End log." Miles then began to increase in altitude as he put the Gear to test.

Miles started out by taking the gear through all the normal Gear maneuvers, making sure the new design didn't shortfall on the conventional front. As this occurred he kept taking logs on the Gear's abilities and whether mechanical adjustments would need to be made. As the flight continued, Miles kept pushing the gear harder and harder, trying to figure out what its limitations were. Once he was convinced that the board was able to respond as desired, he leveled the board at one thousand feet above the ground, disengaged the scramjets and slowed to fifty miles per hour.

"Computer, remind me, what was the top speed record for Extreme Gear?"

"Six hundred and forty seven miles per hour, set by Jet the Hawk on day 250 of the year 3239" the computer sounded off via his helmet earphones.

"Well, I'd say it's about damn time to put that record into 2nd place." Miles remembered when Jet set that record and the impact it had on Gear sports. It was 3238 when the first Extreme Gear Grand Prix championship was created by an Overlander entrepreneur from Westopolis. Sonic would take that first Championship. Then the next year the planners added some extra contests with medal awards to the overall competition. They were short competition matches like "Most agile Gear", which was determined by the maximum "G's" a rider could pull on his board on hairpin turn and other stuff like that.

Well as one could expect they also had Maximum speed contest. Well obviously anyone could just strap on enough jets or rockets and make themselves a Mach 2 missile, so they put a stipulation that the Gear could only have a total of 2 additional bolt-on external boosters and run only on the board's internal fuel for power. Clearly the previous year's victory Sonic attained through his skills combined with Miles Blue Star Gear design put Wave into overdrive to make improvements the Rogues Gear; and boy did she ever.

The Rouges ended up taking four of the six sub matches and Jet won the main championship that year. But what was most impressive was record set by Jet in the high speed match. He had just grazed under the speed of sound on his Type J and set what became and is still the all time recorded top speed for a Gear. No one, including his turbojet boosted Gear for Sonic came within a hundred miles an hour of that. Wave clearly set the bar, and everyone, including himself tried to match it. None succeeded though, and news of fatal crashes by those who attempted to do so caused engineers to wonder if a Gear could break the sound barrier safely with a rider still in control.

Miles was positive it could be done, but refused to copy her work by using Scramjets. Wave was the first mechanic to publicly add Scramjet boosters to a Gear, and Jet set the record with them. Still, he kept trying to beat the record by using advanced turbojets, but was only able to achieve a best speed of 580 miles per hour. There was just no way to equal Wave's record setting design's performance with the restrictions put in by the Extreme Gear competition regulators. Scramjets were superior to turbojets for high speed performances. So finally he caved in and added to Scramjet boosters to the his experimental DX Gear. However, he also added another booster of a new kind never used in gear before.

Miles grinned to himself as his mind played images of Waves jaw dropping as he beat the record in his new Gear. Taking technical inspiration from a GUN secret spyplane prototype, he incorporated a small scale version of the experimental Pulse Detonation Wave Engine into the rear internals of his Gear. The engine design is unusual and terribly difficult to build on such a small scale to fit in a gear; which probably was why no one else in the Gear sports had attempted to utilize the engine concept. But he managed to successfully pull a sound design off, and now was about to see how big of a punch it could make. There were no rule restrictions about adding an extra internal engine yet, so combined with the two external Scramjets, the Gear should easily break Mach 1.

Once he finished rechecking everything with the Gear's systems, Miles activated the retractable handlebars near the front of the gear and laid his body flat on the board. He grabbed the handlebars and made adjustments to his position till he was comfortable. He looked back twice to ensure his feet and tails could not hang too far back and get burned off by the engines; then lowered his head down so his modified Helmet's steel chin ring was hooked into the slotted hook-mount near the nose of the gear. This feature was a necessity because turning one's head while hitting extreme supersonic wind resistance could be fatal, so to prevent his neck from being broken the helmet would stay in the same position; regardless of the manuvers. Once he was ready, he angled the board just slightly at an upward angle trajectory and then used his thumb control on the right handlebar to slowly engage the main engines to full throttle.

The Gear accelerated rapidly and with within 20 seconds he was edging past 500 miles per hour. Using the thumb control swicth on the left handlebar side, he acivated the two scramjets. With another wicked burst of "G", the Gear's acceleration curve inncreased once again until he past 630 miles per hour. Miles watched the clouds zip by in the same way he was used to seeing in his GF-18; only in this case, he was feeling much more intese force and noise. "Now I know what Sonic experiences at this speed." He grinned to himself as the Visor HUD showed his speed about to hit 650. He put his index fingers on the dual trigger switches on each handle. Both had to be hit at the same time to activate the PDW engine, and just as he was about to break the sound barrier..."SO LONG, WAVE" shouted as he hit the engine.

With an frightening roar, the Pulse Detonation engine fired, violently throwing the Gear forward. Miles had just barley made out the diffuse when a loud crack was heard, signaling his smashing through the sound barrier. "WOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!" Miles was jubilant to say the least as he rocketed past 700 Miles per hour. He just made Extreme Gear history. As he continued on, he noticed the peak of Mout Xavier was rapidly closing in. "Huh, that shoudn't be. The the engine burst must have thrown my trajectory downward some." Miles happily settled with a new 773 Miles per hour record recorded on his display as he activated the Gear's air brakes and fired the turbofan maneuvering thrusters to correct the board trajectory back to a upward angle. Immediatly he noticed he wasn't getting any response from the turbofan eingine. "What the fuck?! COME ON, RESPOND!"

The mountain was closing fast. In a panic, Miles hit the emergency all-engine cutoff and went max air brake. The airspeed quickly went back to subsonic, but he was only seconds from impacting the mountainside. He hit the starter for the main turbofans, and it finally responded normally. He fired all thrusters forwad to try to pull up, but it was too late. "Ahhhhhh...NO!" He hit the emergeny buttons on both handles and they and the connection to his helmet broke free, allowing him to be thrown off the board by the wind force. He tumbled through the air, and tried to get his tails spinning, but hit an high pinetree branch which spiked him into a roll as he crashed into more baches before kissing the rocky ground with a thud. A second later, a boom was heard as the Gear smashed into the mountainside and exploded.

"Uuuuuugggghh!" Miles was afraid to move. With the spill he just had, horrible thoughts of being paralylized from the neck down and being eaten alive by lower level wild animals filled his mind as he stared up at the blue sky. Soon, he could feel pain coming from his left thigh. "Well that's a good sign." Slowly he moved one part of his body at a time, till finally he sat up. He could see sticks inpaled in his suit, but the kevlar did it's job and nothing penetrated to his skin. Although he was bruised and very sore, he was able to get to his feet and see that he had somehow managed not to break any bones. "Whew" he said aloud, knowing how lucky he was. His gear on the other hand was not so lucky.

"Son...of...a...bitch!" he said aloud to himself as he stumbled up to the smokey remains of his Gear higher up on the mountainside. There was not much to salvage, the gear had impacted the rocks at high speed like a rocket. After furiously cursing aloud for what seemed like several minutes, he plopped down on his rear next to the wreakage and tried to figure out in his head what went wrong. Finally it occured to him, as he tore his helmet off and grabbed at his ears with both hands in frustration. "The God-forsaken air intakes!"

Miles new it was a basic mistake he overlooked, which made it all the more humiliating. At supersonic, the air travels around the gear diferently than subsonic. So the main tubofan engine, which powers the manuvering thrusters and is fed air from the intakes desigined around subsonic airflow, could not get enough air to allow the engine to function. Miles could hear Wave's mocking cackling laugh in his ears as he clenched his fist and punched a nearby pine tree trunk. Here he had just set a new world record, and couldn't tell anyone because he could not prove it with the Gear being no more. No one would believe his video and telemetry recording as authentic without the goods. "Raaagh! I can't believe this! I took me years to perfect that design!" he yelled to himself.

A little while after the wreakage cooled down, Miles grabbed up what few pieces remained of his Gear and slowly flew via his tails back to the workshop. Channeling the frustration of this loss into motivation, his mind raced with ideas for a totally new Exteme gear design that would incorperate the new engines and blow anything that had come before out of the water at all levels. "This isn't over, Wave. It's takes more that a little ol' crash to keep me out of a race" he thought; continuing his self-motivation to give him the energy to take his mind off his aching body.

As this happened, another idea came to mind. Not only could this new gear design obiterate the competition at the Grand Prix, but it could also be used as a weapon system platform. One that could enable him physically match and in-turn safely take down a certain roboticized friend of his. "Dammit! Why didn't I think of this before?" He fought through the pain and increased speed. He needed to get back and put this idea down on paper while it was still fresh in his head.

-VV

New Mobotropolis

Year 3244 Day 172

0525 hours.

Sonic sat on his living room couch in the dark staring out the front window where the blinds were turned open so he could see outside. He and Bunnie went straight to bed right after they came home from the hospital, and she passed out quickly while he remained awake. Finally after an hour of futile efforts to fall asleep, he quietly made his way out to the living room where he was at now. The only light in the room was his glowing blue lava lamp on one of his dining room tables; a humorous birthday gift he got from Rotor a couple years back. As he sat there in the dim blue light, his mind raced with serious thoughts. He kept trying to imagine what happened to Tails and Sally in those last moments on the Death Egg.

"If only I had been there with him."

He wasn't though. Instead he was on the opposite of the Deat Egg fighting Eggman for what turned out to be the very last time. He recalled in the last few seconds after he'd won to once again spare the madman's life. A decision that nearly cost him his own had Silver not been there. He hated to admit it, but he owed the white hedgehog time traveler for the save. But one thing about that incident that sill bothered Sonic was that it showed how the white Hedgehog had no second thoughts about killing another person. This in-turn made him fear for Tails, should Silver suspect him as his so-called traitor. After all, why else would Harvey send him of all people after Tails? After what happened out in the Mystic Ruins earlier, Tails father obviously has the same fears he does. Amadeus's story about the Great War assassinations carried out by Harvey Who really disturbed him. He never pictured the kind demeanor'd yet mysterious old Owl as the killing type.

Sonic kept looking out the window, the sky was still dark and it'd be at least another hour before sunrise. He rubbed his eyes in frustration. There were way too many questions and not enough answers. If only he could get the information he needed to fill the gaps.

Just then a gentle feminine hand began to caress the back of his quills. It felt good and he lowered his head forward so that she could caress him further down.

"Still can't sleep, Sugh?"

Sonic shook his head. "I keep thinking about that last battle, what could I have done differently? I'm also thinking about the Dowundra folks. I just hope they're hanging tough out….. wherever the Legion took them."

She continued massaging his quills, "The Air Force and GUN are running aerial searches for them. Don't worry, we'll fahnd them soon enough and go to the rescah as usual" she said with confidence.

Sonic nodded, and continued to enjoy the quill massage.

"So tell meh, Sugar Hog; what happened out there? What did ya find out that's eat'n yah?"

Sonic spoke softly. "We learned that Tails lied about what happened on the Death Egg. Now King Elias wants him found to get to the truth…..and Silver, of all people, is the one they sent after him."

Bunnie stopped her caressing, "How do theh know that he lied?"

"They somehow uncovered a picture taken during the battle. In it, Sally was litterally right by him." He paused for a few seconds. "He was there with her, Bunnie, and he didn't tell me….or anyone about it; nor did he mention what really happened. For...whatever the reason, he covered it up."

She didn't say anything, but resumed her massaging.

"She is dead, Bunnie. It's only explanation that the Prower's and I can come up with to explain his behavior. Something had to go horribly wrong up there, and he must have saw her die or something. Nothing else but that can explain any of this."

Bunnie came up from behind the couch, leaned forward and while being mindful of his quills gently hugged her arms around his neck and leaned her head into his.

"I not going to lie to you, I was really hoping that they'd stumble on her undamaged Mecha body in the wreakage. Then Tails could de-roboticize her, and she'd be here with us again. She would be...(Sigh) be with me again." Sonic shook his head and glanced at her. "I'm sorry." Then turned back to the window. "Anyway, I know Tails too well. If there was even a slim chance she was alive, he'd be out there digging through that crash site himself right now."

Bunnie hugged him tighter. "You're nah alone...I miss Antoine, and I miss her too, Sonic. (Deep breath) I really miss them all a lot."

There was a quiet pause for several minues before Sonic turned his head and kissed her on the lips. "Thank you for being here with me."

Bunnie smiled and kissed him again. "So what about the Babylon Rouges, anythang new about them?"

Sonic nodded, rubbing at his head with annoyance. "Teh! Not much though. We found them up north. But other than learning from Jet that Wave left them for Tails….I guess. Nothing really helpful from them at all. Totally useless birdbrains as usual. (Sigh) So now, we're back to square one. Tails could be anywhere, more than likely with Fiona, and possibly Wave too."

Bunnie raised an eyebrow, "Huh, Tails spending his days and nights with Fiona and Wave? That's an interahsting mix."

(Chuckle) Yeah…I know right?" Sonic thought about it for a second, then turned to her with a "realization" look in his features. "You don't think he and them two are...you know?"

Bunnie grinned brightly, "He he he! Naw, Tails is way too much of ah conservative getleman for thah….so I hope anyway" she said with a sudden bit of uncertainty.

Sonic laughed a little too, then went straight serious again as he rubbed Bunnie's hands with his. "I just…..I just want to talk to him one more time. Just convince him to tell me what happened and why he left. After that, he can go and disappear; live wherever and however he wants. I don't care anymore, if only I can just have one more talk with him. If he's guilty about Sally's death, then I just want him to know that I don't blame him. I forgive him for everything, I'll hug him, cry with him, and tell that I'm sorry that all this stupid….hell….that happened to him was my fault, not his."

"Sonic….."

Sonic took a deep breath, then looked out the window again. "I also want to tell him that wherever he goes, whatever he does, that I still love him and that he's always welcome back here. And I don't give a shit what Sally's brother or that worthless fatass Pig on the council says! I don't care what he did wrong on some fucking report! If he wants to come back home, then my doors will always be open to him, no exceptions."

Bunnie unwrapped herself from his neck and walked around and kneeled down in front of him. She looked up into his eyes.

Sonic looked back at her, seeing her eyes glistening in the dim light, and sighed. "I'm doing it again, aren't I?"

"Ya are, but I really do understand your frustration, Sugh." She took his hands into hers. "You can always bear yourself to me. Good or bad, I'll always be here to listen."

Sonic let a small smile form on his lips as he squeezed her hands with his. "(Sigh) Bunnie I…..I mean…..you know I let the cat out of the bag about my feelings towards you earlier, right?"

Bunnie nodded with a smile.

"Well I want to tell you that I really mean what I said at the Hospital earlier. I just hope I'm not scaring you away by moving too fast?"

"Who's to say that I didn't already love ya, Sonic? So why would admitting that yah returning the favor scare me" she asked with a loving expression in her features.

"Well I'm the one who first said that we should take it slow and stuff."

"And I'm the one who insisted on taking yah to my….well yah bed….and actually showing you how I feel aboucha." she said with a seductive grin.

Sonic closed his eyes, "But Bunnie…(Sigh)…I'm always putting myself in danger, and I don't want you getting hurt and being alone again if something were to happen to me."

She stood up and leaned forward, cupping his cheeks with her hands, "Don't worry about things like that. You and Antoine do what men like you do…and I love you both for it."

Sonic looked down and closed his eyes. "But I'm inferior compared to him. You sure you want a fast fool like me as your lover?"

"Hey" she snapped.

Sonic opened his eyes to look at her.

"I don't fall in love with fools. Never have. And my late husband admired you greatly, Sonic. Yah inspired him, which made him a better man, just like yah inspired all of us back in the day. Don't downplay who you are and what yah've done for this whole world. Everyone owes you their lives for stopping the Xorda Quantum Dial, and that's just one of hundreds of times you've been the hero for others." She pressed her face against his and kissed him hard, then gently wiped away the two tears that fell from his eyes. "Sonic, you've never been a fool; stop being so hard on yahself and know that I know yah a great man, and I want no one but yah in my life now." She leaned closer and kissed him again, this time passionately on the lips.

Once she let off the kiss, Sonic couldn't help but let another pair of tears fall from his eyes as he looked into hers.

Bunnie put her hands on his shoulders, "Miles will come back to us. May not be tomorrah, may not even be next year, but he'll come back."

Sonic pulled her into a hug. "I really hope so." Sonic held onto her tightly for a few minutes before he left his arms fall to the couch.

Bunnie smiled at him, "So, on a light note,,,,,,yah don't mind if I call you my boyfriend now to others?"

"Anymore than me telling Amy that you're my girlfriend the other day?"

She grinned brightly then kissed passionately him once more.

After the kiss, Sonic pulled her close, forcing her to straddle him. He looked at her saying, "Bunnie, did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?"

She feigned a thinking expression, "Umm….nah so directly…I don't think?"

"What about sexy?"

Playing along, she replied "Nnnnnope, don't recall that either."

Sonic raised an eyebrow, "Well, in that case I'll spill it to you now. (Changed voice tone to seductive) Bunnie, you are so incredibly beautiful, and soooo…damn sexy."

Bunnie briefly let her eyes go wide then snickered hugging him close. Then she whispered in his right ear, "Really, then show meh how sexy ya think I am" then she pecked his cheek with kisses.

Sonic's breathing became deeper as he buried his face in her rather impressive cleavage, nuzzling and kissing them.

Bunnie leaned back and lowered herself down onto his lap. She made eye contact with him as she said. "Oooh, feels like someone is happy to see meh."

Sonic didn't waste time reaching down and pulled her nightgown up and over her head, letting it fall to the ground. Then he started massaging her breasts in his hands, feeling every bit of their texture before he started licking his tongue over her nipples.

This act caused her to moan, and after a few more seconds she shoved him back to the couch and lowered herself off him, only to return low and pulling at his boxers.

Sonic lifted himself a bit so she could remove his undergarment, then watched in stunned arousal as Bunnie took his hard member into her mouth. It was the first time for him to have this kind of foreplay, so he tried to stay calm as the sensation of her tongue's pleasure job caused his body to tighten all over. "Oh…my….uuuuuuhhhhh" he mumbled out loud.

After a few minutes, Bunnie could taste his pre-ejaculate, which mean he was near climax. So she stopped and then stood up, turned around and then slowly slid her panties down in front of him. While bent over, she looked back at him and saw his yearning look as he gawked at her rear. She lifted herself a bit and backed into him, and lowered herself onto his member, moaning a bit as his gerth penetrated her clit.

Sonic could feel her wetness as he entered her, and tried hard to slow down and ease his need to cum right then and there. But she wouldn't make it easy as she began aggressively bucking herself on him, making erotic moaning sounds that encouraged him to let loose with all he had.

"Sonic, (breath) give it to me" she squealed out in a low voice

Sonic instinctively matched her rhythm, exhaling hard with each thrust. Then Bunnie started taking him in and out faster which finally put him over the edge. He grabbed her sides from behind and hugged her too him as he tightened up and let out a strained orgasmic yell as he ejaculated into her.

Bunnie gritted her teeth as he came and continued to rock herself on him as his member surged his seed into her. The orgasm was so intense that she lost feeling in her feet as she panted to catch her breath. She eventually stopped and leaned back onto his chest as he stayed in her for a few minutes. Moments later he started kissing the side of her face between breaths. "Oooooooo…sugah Hog…mmmmmmm..that was….incredible" she said with a low voice.

Sonic brought his right hand up and stroked back her long ears as his left gently massaged both her breasts. Then he whispered into her ear. "I love you."

Feeling totally content, she leaned back onto him fully, taking his hands into hers and holding them tightly. They stayed that way for some time, until Sonic broke the moment.

"Oh crap, I just realized the blinds are still open."

Bunnie laughed as she stood up slowly allowing his member's smooth exit. She then felt some of his cum drip out of her clit and down her legs some as she went to the window and quickly closed the blinds. She hurried back to him and guided the content Hedgehog to a laying position on his back, then climbed on top of him, resting her head on his upper chest. She felt that his cum was still dripping out a little "Mmmm, umm...yah might have to clean your couch up after this one, Sugah Hog" she said with a silly grin.

Sonic shrugged with a goofy expression then grabbed the blanket draped on the back of the couch and opened it wide so to cover them both up with it as she slightly shifted into a comfortable position laying on top of him. He hugged her tightly and leaned forward to kiss her head; then began stroking his right hand through her long hair. Within minutes, she was sound asleep. He could still see her happy and content look despite the darkness, suddenly feeling happier than he had in a long time. "I really am so lucky to have you in my life" he whispered quietly. Then he laid his head back and slowly fell asleep himself.

-VV

The Northern Frontier

16,000 feet Above Ground Level.

Year 3244 Day 173

0145 hours.

"Jet?" Amy Rose ran to the Hawk and rolled him over. His upper jaw area looked swollen much worse than before and dark blood was trickling from his wired up beaked mouth. She tried to shake him to bring him to, but he was unresponsive.

"STORM?! I NEED YOUR HELP HERE" she yelled out as loud as she could.

There was no response at all.

Amy put her hand on Jet's forehead to see if she could see if he was running a fever. As she did so she felt a peculiar lump on the left side of his head. "Huh….. he must have hit his head hard to cause….." Just then she felt someone behind her and a foreboding feeling put her on alert. Instinctively she dove forward into a roll.

"Hhhrrrrraaargh" came the sound of a male that had just tried swinging a wooden club at the pink Hedgehog's head.

Amy rolled to her knees facing back in the direction of the attacker an saw a grey feathered pigeon male dressed in a motorcycle style mostly black and orange multicolored suit standing over Jet.

After the missed attack, the Pigeon pulled out a small walkie-talkie radio and said, "Hey, there's some bimbo down here with the Hawk. I'm taking her down now."

Amy glared at the remark as she spawned her piko hammer into her right hand and said, "Who the hell are you?"

"My name is…none of your business, tramp! Now be a nice girl and put the silly hammer down before you force me to hurt you."

Amy grinned evilly and gestured for him to come get her with her left hand. The pigeon hopped over Jet as he ran at her. She easily evaded him and swung her hammer, smashing it into his buttocks, sending him flying face first into the glass window on the back wall of the room. Amy attacked again and connected with her hammer to his head, knocking the bird hard to the floor unconscious.

Seconds later another Pigeon male with a green feathered head rounded the corner and entered the room. He looked at Amy, "The hell?! Alright, put that hammer down hedge-chick, before I clobber you!"

Amy grinned again, and feigned putting the hammer down, only to fling it backhandedly at the bird with amazing speed, connecting him hard in the beak before he could react. She ran forward and finished him off with a flying sidekick to his gut, sending him into the hallway with a bang against the opposite metal wall.

Amy picked up and held the hammer defensively as she checked the hallway corridor to see if anyone else was coming. After a few seconds of nothing, she returned to Jet, and slung his arm over her shoulders to get him to his feet. As she did so, he started groaning a bit. "Jet, wake up already, I'm here to help you." With his mostly dead weight on her, she could only slowly make her way down the corridor toward the rear deck.

"Jet, I'm going to leave you here while I search for Storm" she said, easing him to a seated position next to the rear deck doorway and her Gear. She zipped her coat back up and readied her hammer. The moment she turned she was stunned to see a female avian standing right behind her.

"Surprise! Hu-ha" the Grackle said as she shot forward and hit Amy in the neck with an air-syringe gun.

Amy quickly retaliated by swinging her hammer, only to loose all feeling in half her body before she completed the swing, which the bird was able to dodge. Amy then collapsed to the floor unconscious.

The grey feathered female smiled as she pulled out her walkie-talkie and radioed, "Situation is under control, boss. But you might want to come down here and see who our surprise guest is."

-VV

The United Federation

City of Station Square.

Gold Coast Hotel

Year 3244 Day 173

0250 hours

Miles slowly lowered her to the ground and gently rubbed the side of her face, "Sally, can you hear me? Wake up!"

The beautiful squirrel princess's eyes slowly opened and she looked around a bit confused. Then she looked up and saw what was to her an older form of a face she new all too well. "T..Tails?"

Miles smiled brightly at her, "Hey?"

She smiled a little back at him, "Hey to you" she said with a low groggy voice.

Miles pulled her into a hug as the Death Egg surroundings began to rumble around them, the results of the virus he uploaded just moments earlier. He new time was running short, but couldn't help savoring this awesome moment. "You're going to be okay, Sally. I just saved you, and now I'm bringing you back home."

-VV

Miles shot up from the couch and looked around the living room a bit before reality hit him. It was just another dream about what happened on the Death Egg, and as always, it left him feeling the horrible pain and guilt all over again. He hugged his knees to his chest and cried quietly to himself for a few minutes before slowly regaining his composure. He then looked around the dark room and saw the glowing digital clock on the wall. It was 5 minutes to 3. "Ugh, time to get going." He had fallen asleep in his Jeans and T-shirt, which now felt grimy from sleeping in them. He headed for the bedroom.

Quietly he opened the door and could see Wave's outline under the bed's blanket via the outside ambient light coming in from the window. Her calm breathing indicating that she was still asleep, he carefully made his way into the bathroom and shut the door. After relieving himself, mouthwashing, and washing his hands, he went back out into bedroom and to the walk-in closet. He shut the door, turned the light on, got changed into new clothing and dug out the equipment he needed.

A couple minutes passed before, "BREEP, BREEP, BREEP."

Wave groaned and quickly slapped the snooze button on the alarm clock before rolling back into her sleep position.

Moments later Miles came walking out of the closet dressed in a black battle dress uniform. He held a set of clothing on two hangers for her in his left hand. He stopped and looked at her, shaking his head, "Wave, get up! We got to move out soon."

Wave groaned loudly before rolling up to a sitting position on the left edge of the bed. She watched Miles lay some black clothing on the bed before leaving to the living room, not once looking at her. "Hey, what's the clothing about?"

"Get dressed in it. We need to be dark in attire to minimize our chances of being spotted, plus it'll be cold up there in the mountains, and your normal gear riding attire is….(clears throat) hardly cold weather appropriate."

Wave rolled her eyes as she stood up and stretched. She grabbed the clothing and saw that it was a black long sleeve sweater, a black fleece winter hat, and thick cotton sweatpants. From their size, they more than likely his clothes. "Oh whatever, Shorty." She headed to the bathroom to do her business, then took off her night clothes and got dressed for the trip.

Once done, Wave made her way out into the living room and saw Tails eating cereal at the table. There was another bowl in front of the seat next to him. She walked over and sat down in that chair, "Gee, thanks Shorty. I made you an awesome skillet, and you repay me with a bowl of cold cereal."

Miles swallowed his bite, "No time for anything else, unless you want to wait another 24 hours for a shot at Babylon Garden."

Wave couldn't argue that, so she quickly ate the cereal. As she did so, she saw him looking at her, but once his eyes met hers, he shot his look back to his food. She smiled to herself, "I see you looking, shyboy."

When he was done eating, Miles grabbed a backpack off the living room recliner and slung it on his back. Then he hooked up his 10mm semi-automatic handgun and holster on the right side of his pants belt.

Wave finished eating and secured her own smaller single strap pack out of her duffle bag, then retrieved her shoes and put them on.

Miles did the same with his black combat boots then stepped out onto the patio balcony, gently setting his extreme gear down then stepping on it. He put on his integrated goggles and did a quick functions check of the gear and the goggles information display.

Wave stepped out onto the patio, the warm humid night air hitting her immediately. She could see that Miles appeared to be staring into space; noting the goggles she went close to him and tried to see if there was a light source visible on them.

"What" Miles asked her.

"Are those friggen Integrated Goggles?!"

"Yep."

"Hmmmph" was all she said in reply setting her Gear down and mounting it. "Ok, you're leading this I guess."

Miles nodded, "Just follow my every move." With that, a high pitched whine came from his gear as it lifted into the air. Then he slowly took off to the east.

Wave paid close attention to the Gear as it lifted past her, noting the rather large dual trapezoidal air intake ports, but was unable to make out much more due to its dark color and the low ambient light of the city's mostly artificial night sky. She hopped over the balcony railing with her gear and took off after the Fox.

-VV

Babylon Garden crash site

29 Miles outside of New Mobotropolis city limits.

0412 hours.

Miles slowed to a stop and went prone on his Gear to look over the edge of a snow covered mountain cliff that had a vantage on the Babylon Garden wreckage area.

Wave mimic'd his actions and came up to his left. "Could you go any slower that last half mile, Shorty? It's only like ten degrees up here, great coasting weather" she said sarcastically with a little bit of a shiver in her voice.

"Shhh! Can't risk giving away a strong heat signature for Nicole's infrared scanners to register. Now shift change should be within the next few minutes. Once we see the jeeps move to the west, we'll move in. Ok?"

Wave nodded as she pulled out a set of binoculars from her pack and looked down at the site. She glanced at Tails and could see he was following the movements of the jeeps. "You got to be kidding me; you have magnification in those goggles too?!"

"Only times 4, but yes. Ooook, they're they go, get ready to move."

A few moments later, Miles the silently zipped forward over the edge and traveled down the snowy slope down toward Babylon Garden with Wave following. They slipped into the inside of the structure through a breach in the eastern wall and came to a stop.

Miles hopped up and ran up to a control panel he had installed on the wall years earlier. He punched his code in and turned to Wave. "I put the security system I installed here into test mode. The guards are in shift change briefing right now, so between the two, we have about thirteen minutes to get what we need and get out of here. Leave your gear here next to mine and follow me." He activated a bright LED flashlight on his goggles and started down the dark corridor to the left.

Wave was hesitant to leave her Gear here, but figured the Fox knew what he was doing. She set her Gear next to his and took off after him. As they continued down the hall, she saw artifacts and ancient Babylonian writings along the walls and on the floor. "Shorty, there's so much still lying around in here. Did you guys go through any of it yet?"

"Some of it. We're getting there. A while back, I used to join up with an Overlander archeological research team that came up here during the summer months to examine and catalog as much as possible. There's still a lot to cover, and I haven't followed up with them for over two years now." He came up to a squared doorway of some kind on the wall with another one of his control panels fixed on it. "I stumbled on this entryway two years ago. Once I figured out how to open the door I found the map room you saw my notes on." He punched the key on the panel, and suddenly the door lifted open vertically.

Wave pulled out a flashlight from her backpack and eagerly stepped into the musty aired room. One glance around the room with the light showed no signs of what she had hoped to find. She was expecting to find ancient carved maps, old papers, and even some kind of computer display panel. She never knew what to expect when it came to her people's ancestors. They were all over the place with being both primitive and advanced in nature with what they left behind. The circular shaped room's walls, floor and ceiling were made of what looked like some kind of a smooth and polished black stone. Her light reflected off it like a mirror. There was nothing attached or carved anywhere. The only thing that stood out was a spherical globe sculpture in the center of the room that sat about four feet high. It appeared to be made of the same material as the walls. She sighed loudly, "Well, it looks like that archeological team cleaned out your map room, Shorty" she said disappointedly as she turned to him.

Miles stood at the doorway looking at her blankly for a second before he shook his head and walked to the sculpture in the center of the room. He put his right hand on the sphere and within two seconds, it flashed brightly and suddenly the whole room turned into a one big display screen with ancient Babylonian text scrolling along the walls.

Just then the door shut and then suddenly the room turned into a multi-colored 360 map display. Wave looked around in awe. It reminded her of the stellar-cartography hologram room she once saw in a science fiction movie. Only in this case, she recognized the image being portrayed was an inverted globe view of the planet Mobius.

"I haven't been able to figure out how to activate more functions on this thing. Every time I start it up, it displays this map of our planet. I can moved it around like this," he moved his palms around on the sphere and the map rotated in the same direction as his hand movements. "but not much more. There's some kind of hexagonal shaped port on the side of this thing, but I haven't figured out its purpose yet."

Wave turned to him in surprise, "I would figured that you and your nation's scientist would have this room torn inside out by now, reverse engineering every piece you could find?"

Miles suddenly went somber looking. "Well….I found it just before…..the war with Eggman hit its peak. And uh…yeah, I guess I just didn't really care about it anymore."

Wave kneeled down, un-slung her backpack and started digging through it as she spoke. "Well what about the research teams, you're telling me they didn't dig deeper into this find?"

Miles nervously scratched the back of his head, "Oh they would have…..but I didn't tell them about it. Only I have been in this room, and only I know the code to get inside here once I sealed the door. Staked my claim, you could say."

Wave stopped and gave him a curious look.

Miles shrugged, "I wanted to figure out how it worked first before I told anybody." He quickly snapped back and gestured for her to come and look at the control sphere. "Anyway, we got about eight minutes, so do what you want to do quickly and let's get out of here."

Wave nodded as she pulled out a small cloth bag that made a noise like stones making contact with each other as she brought it over to the sphere. She inspected it and shined her flashlight into the hexagonal hole. "Well I'll be dammed."

Miles watched as she opened the cloth bag and pulled out four stone-like rods that were in the same hexagonal shape and size as he hole. "Hmm, she must have found those things at another ancient ruins site somewhere…..or stole them from someone anyway" he thought to himself.

Wave then inserted one of the rods into the hole in the sphere. Nothing happened. She then reversed it, and got the same. She pulled it out and then tried another one. Suddenly room flashed and what appeared to be a menu screen of some kind came up on one side of the room directly in front of where Wave was facing. She grinned with joy as she made a gesture with her hands and read the ancient language of her ancestors.

Miles watched silently as Wave seemed to already have some idea about how to work the sphere display and began doing what looked like a menu search on the alien computer. He hadn't taken the time to try to learn the ancient Babylonians language, so he could only guess what she was doing as she seemed to get more giddy by the moment. He reached up and lowered the goggles onto his eyes and saw the time on his display. "Shit! Wave, we got to get moving in like two minutes."

Wave seemed oblivious as she continued to read the information on the screen, looking for what she had hoped to find. A few more waves of the hand over the sphere brought up more information options, and she finally found what she needed. "Yes, there you are!" She selected the item and then a holographic keyboard display of some kind appeared just above the sphere. She pressed her finger onto it, and although there was nothing solid, it still registered the key punch. "Awesome, it like a more advanced version of a laser projector keyboard." She found the letter format they had was awkward compared to their modern day keyboards, but none the less, she typed away.

Miles started getting anxious. Time was running out fast. "Wave, seriously, we got…"

"I HEARD you, Shorty! Just give me a minute!"

Miles rolled his eyes.

A few more words and then an input button, and suddenly the room filled with the map display again. This time there were five points highlighted on three different continents. Wave then quickly pulled out her portable computer pad from her pocket and made took visual log of the information displayed, and typed in the Babylonian coordinates listed on the display.

Miles had enough, "Ok, times up! Let's go, NOW!" he shouted as he stepped out of the room.

Wave finished her notes then quickly pulled the stone rod out of the sphere, which caused the display to shut off and the door to open. Then she hurriedly snatched up her backpack and hustled out of the room.

Miles quickly closed the door and activated the lock on his keypad. Then he bolted down the hall with Wave in tow. Once at their Gear, they quickly zipped out of the Babylon Garden structure to the outside.

The moment Wave exited to the cold air outside, she heard what sounded an electrical system activating behind her. "Was that your alarm system kicking on?"

"Yeah" Miles said with aggravation as he carefully edged to the crash site perimeter and looked around for the security patrol units.

"Then we just made it, so were good, right?"

"Just about" he said with annoyance, seeing that the coast was clear. "Ok, follow me." He zipped forward on his gear up the same slope they had come down on. Once they made it to the edge overlooking the site, Miles turned and saw that the Security patrols had just returned form the shift change handover. "Whew, that was too close." He turned to Wave who had her face buried in her computer pad. "Ok then, let's get back to the hotel." Then he zoomed forward. After about a hundred feet, he slowed to see if she was following. She was not. "Hey, are you coming or what?"

Wave looked up from her pad and gave him a victorious smile. "I'm coming. Just wanted to see if one of our next stops to explore was near to our route back."

Miles raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me, since when did…?"

Wave flew up next to him and cut him off, "Come on, Slowpoke. Let's get back so we can get prepared for our next hunt." Then she rocketed off toward Station Square.

Miles blinked his eyes twice, then shook his head as he followed after her.

To be continued….

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