Last time that I'll do this for this story, especially since this'll be a relatively short chapter as it's an epilogue. So... well, I can only hope that you've all enjoyed the actual story. This is the obvious sequel hook chapter, if the previous few weren't enough to go by. With that in mind, I don't have a whole hell of a lot to say. I'll see you at the bottom.

Avery was stood at a podium in the main conference room of the Green Hill Police Department, wearing a fancier version of his usually fancy uniform. Attached to his podium was a wide array of microphones, and sat in front of him were all of those under his command as well as several reporters with passes, applauding not just the commander or his closest advisers on his right, but also the four gentlemen sat on seats at his left.

Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, and Shadow all waved at the crowd, also wearing fancy uniforms, but with a different spin since they were still freelance. Sonic himself was smiling the widest. A couple of weeks ago, he and his friends started out as Green Hill cops. In that time, they'd lost their jobs, became free agents, and more importantly, they'd found and locked up Nack just a few days ago.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Avery said, the cameras on him broadcasting to the world, "welcome to Green Hill Police Department! I'm glad to have you all here, as today is a proud day indeed." He gestured to his left. "A few days ago, these four brave men risked it all to stop Nack the weasel. And, if I may, I'd like to invite their leader, Sonic, who selflessly went into Westopolis itself to save his friends."

The crowd applauded, as did those watching at home, which included the likes of Amy Rose, Rouge the bat, Sally Acorn, and many others. Sonic waved as he took centre stage, looking over everyone and shaking off what little nervousness was still in him.

"I... I don't know what to say," Sonic said. "So, I guess I'll start at the start." The crowd laughed, and he smiled at their reaction before continuing. "Well, you all know the main story already. Me and my friends were fresh graduates just out of Green Hill Police Academy, and we couldn't wait to start our first day on the job. On that same day, on patrol, we stopped a drug deal at a local garage. We followed those who got away, and we wound up at Star Light, and for anyone with a basic knowledge of jurisdiction, then you'd know that cops can't just hop from city to city."

A reporter raised her hand, and Sonic gestured at them. The reporter stood up. "Did the others follow you to Star Light of their own accord?"

"Yes, we did," Knuckles said, standing up. "Sonic gave us every out that he could think of, and we still went."

"So, you'd all risk your jobs if it meant helping your friend?" the reporter asked.

"We'd risk our jobs if it meant helping anyone," Tails said, joining the others. "The fact that Sonic is our friend and our leader is another factor, yes. But there's more to it."

Shadow stood and went to join the others as well. "He's right. On that night, those drug dealers had taken over a very nice restaurant and kidnapped some poor girls," Shadow said. "Suffice to say, we had our work cut out for us."

A male reporter stood up next. "So, you busted a drug deal, saved a restaurant, and rescued a bunch of girls all in the same night?"

"In the same hour and a half, if you want to get technical," Sonic joked. "But yes, we did that. And... and then..." He hesitated, his hands shaking. He felt some reassuring pats from the others, and nodded. "On our way back, we got in an accident. A bad one. We... we almost didn't make it."

"But thanks to the fine doctors of Green Hill," Tails interjected, "we weren't just repaired, but we were rebuilt too."

"Are you talking about the advancements in cybernetics?" asked another male reporter.

"You got it," Tails said.

"Could you... show us?" the reporter asked.

The crowd cheered at the suggestion, and Sonic turned to Avery, who shrugged and gave a thumbs up. Sonic grinned, turning to Shadow and whispering into his ear. Shadow grinned, looking past those sat on the right side and teleporting right behind them. The entire crowd spun their head from one side, cheering as Shadow teleported back on stage.

Sonic calmed the crowd down a bit before pointing to another reporter with her hand up, and she stood. "So... you were let go after the Star Light incident, yes?"

"That's true," Knuckles said. "But... look where we are as freelance agents. For the last couple of weeks, we've been backup for cops wherever they need us, and that backup usually results in us doing most of the work," he smirked.

The crowd laughed, the reporter included, before speaking again. "So, Sonic's plan on getting to Westopolis was risky. Did he give you guys an out then too?"

"Well, he didn't give us an out so much as he busted us out of Westopolis," Tails chuckled. "But, yeah. Every time that we do something major, he always asks if we're with him." Tails turned to face Sonic. "And the answer? Yes. Always."

Sonic smiled at his friend before turning back to the crowd. "Any further questions?"

When no reporters spoke up, Avery raised his hand. "I have one."

"Go ahead."

"Can I have my podium back now?" Avery asked. "You're kinda stealing my thunder here." The crowd laughed, as did Sonic and the others, waving a goodbye to everyone as they took their seats. Avery then took a breath, turning his head to the left and speaking up again. "Actually, I do have one more question for your four. Could you come up here, please?"

"Yes," Sonic said, standing with the others and joining Avery. "Was that the question?"

"No," Avery chuckled, reaching into his pocket. "My question is: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow..." He pulled out four G.H.P.D. badges, making the crowd gasp before he continued. "Will you rejoin Green Hill Police Department? Not just as cops, but as equals with everyone else on the force."

The four took their badges, looking over them and smiling before looking at each other. "Give us a second..." Knuckles said. Avery nodded, and the four got into a huddle, whispering back and forth inaudibly. After a few moments, they all nodded back to Avery.

"Well, it's quite the offer," Sonic said, handing his badge back. "But... we'll pass."

"Pass?" Avery asked. "You want to be freelancers forever?"

"To be blunt... yeah," Sonic said. "We loved being cops for as long as it lasted. But we know that we're better as freelance agents."

"Well... if you insist," Avery smiled. "I... I thought that I'd be angry at this, but I can't be. If you're still helping people, then do it."

"That's what we plan on," Sonic said. "Oh, and we do have one request."

"What is it?"

The blue hedgehog smiled. "Freedom to run our own operations anywhere that we want. If we catch wind of anything, we get to hunt it down. We'll still be backup when needed, but we get to do our own thing too."

Avery nodded. "I have no issue with that," he grinned. "I'm pretty sure that Ryker will be okay with it as well."

"Let's hope so."

Avery took a few further questions before the conference ended, and everyone was let back out, with the reporters leaving the premises and the cops going back to work. Among that glut of people were the four main heroes, who stopped by the reception desk so that Tails and Cosmo could share a heartwarming moment and another kiss. The two broke from it and blushed before waving goodbye, Tails joining the others as they headed to Knuckles' car.

"You know, guys," Knuckles started, "freelancers is a good name, but... we need an update."

"Hmm..." Shadow thought. "Freedom Fighters?"

"Not bad," Sonic said. "Short, simple, fits with the freedom thing, rolls off of the tongue well... I like it."

"I was thinking Dude-Itude," Knuckles added, "but that's more of a band name than anything."

"Huh," Tails said. "I liked that."

"Eh, we'll workshop it," Sonic smiled. He then pulled up his phone, showing the image from the docks mission. "We have a lot of questions to ask Nack, but this might be one of the more important ones."

Shadow nodded, looking at the picture. "Military hardware. Whoever had that knew where to take it so that they wouldn't get caught."

"Maybe Nack has more connections than we thought?" Tails suggested. "Not just in Westopolis. He did hop from place to place, after all."

"Yeah, but who?" Sonic asked. "We asked who we managed to find in Green Hill, and they only know about the deals in Green Hill."

"So, we've got no clue where to start in other places?" Knuckles sighed. "Great."

"We'll get there," Sonic assured. "We just need to squeeze whatever we can out of that weasel, even if it means a drop of blood or two."

"You know, for a nice guy, you're a pretty good bad cop," Tails chuckled.

"What can I say? I learned it at the academy," Sonic joked. He then got a call from Amy, answering it. "Hello?"

"Hey," Amy said. "You... you looked really good today."

"Thank you," Sonic smiled.

"So... you're going to remain a freelance agent?" Amy asked.

"Yeah," Sonic said. "Being a cop is good, but we can help more people as free agents."

Amy giggled. "Well, mister free agent... I have a surprise for you. Rosy's working overtime today..."

Sonic grinned widely. "I'll be right over. I'll see you later."

"Later, sexy," Amy said, hanging up.

Sonic did the same before he turned to Knuckles. "So... can I get a quick detour to Amy's place?"

"You've got it, boss," Knuckles said drily.

"And don't you forget it," Sonic joked.

"Would you like some music as well?" Knuckles asked.

"Eh, why not," Sonic shrugged. "Hit me with some Andrew W.K."

"All hail the Party God!" Knuckles said, playing the artist's music.

They all smiled as they enjoyed their music, continuing their drive to the pink hedgehog's place. They had a lot to smile about: They were all still alive, they had caught one of Mobius' most dangerous criminals, and they had new jobs. But, more importantly, they knew that things were far from over. And with them being able to run their own missions now, who knew what trouble they were going to get in to?

And there you have it! The final final chapter of Cyber Riders! I know that it was a bit short, but at least it didn't take me as long to finish it, and... you know what? No. No. It took me way too damn long to finish the story. I can't just leave you on a cliffhanger as paltry as this one. So, I'll leave you on this cliffhanger instead. Enjoy.

Manuel sighed as he drove up to the abandoned prison that Nack used to run, his eyebrows raised as he saw two other vehicles, both of which he recognised. He pulled up to park in front of the prison, killing the engine of his car and getting out to walk inside the building. As soon as he stepped in, he noticed two things: The first was that the room smelled of death and copper, and the second was the profiles of Lara and Beau, also looking over the violence.

"What the hell happened here?" Manuel asked as he walked forwards.

"It was those pricks who infiltrated our bases, no doubt," said Beau. "And here I was hoping that Nack's trap would work."

"That is why we were told to let them go and not chase them," Lara added. "Still... Nack should have brought more soldiers."

"Well, he can't do it now, because he's been caught," said Manuel. He went to one of the dead bodies, picking up the gun that they'd used and checking the magazine, seeing it empty. "Well, at least they got some good use out of these weapons. I'm just glad to see that they didn't go to waste."

"That's nice and all," Beau interjected, "but do you guys have any clue why we're here?"

"Nack said to meet after it was over, but to give it a few days, to be on the safe side," Manuel answered. "Those four only came to get him. So, us not chasing them worked in our favour."

"Maybe so," Lara said. "But Nack still got caught, and a lot of men are still dead."

"Men?" Manuel said. "These were just grunts who know how to shoot a gun. I'm not sad that they're dead. I'm just glad that my guns got used."

"Where'd Nack tell us to go when we got here again?" asked Beau.

"His office," Lara said. "You guys remember where it is, right?"

"Lead the way," Manuel said.

"So, that's a no," the tigress joked. "Follow me."

The other two nodded as the tigress led them upstairs, soon reaching the floor where Nack's main office was. They saw a few more dead bodies there, ignoring them as they went to Nack's office proper, thankful that it had been left open, not to mention untouched by the Westopolis police force.

They entered inside, and Lara sighed as she looked around. "The mess that men make..."

"Not as bad as it could have been," Manuel said. "There could be a dead body in here."

"And exactly which part of that sentence was meant to make me feel better?" Lara giggled.

Beau smirked a bit before heading to the actual office, peering behind the desk. He took the seat there, spinning around in it playfully before stopping again at the desk as the other two walked in, starting their own search around the office.

"This is where he said it'd be," Lara said.

Beau checked in the desk drawers for it, but couldn't find it. "Nothing here."

Manuel went to the bedroom, looking around Nack's bed. He lifted the mattress and, lodged between the mattress and one of the steel rungs that held the bed together, found what they were looking for. He picked it up and walked back to the others.

"Here it is," Manuel said, presenting a CD in a small plastic bag.

The bag had a note saying to play it on one side, and a note on the other for Nack's password. Beau put the disk into the computer, having turned it on earlier, and typed in the password to access it. He checked over the files and found the disk, clicking on it with the mouse. A video file opened up, and Beau clicked the "play" option.

Nack's face appeared on the screen, and he spoke as gunfire sounded outside. "Lara, Beau, and Manuel, if you are watching this, then it means that I'm either dead or have been captured. I knew that this was going to happen. It turns out that you can only last so long against such persistent people." He chuckled. "But this isn't the time for making light of things. There has been more money sent to your accounts as I'm speaking, along with free passes to get you into any city. Martin worked very hard on getting those authenticated, so make sure that you thank him. As for the safety of you three... well, I won't say anything about you. At all. But I can't promise that you won't get found out. For that reason, any deals that you make, even in Westopolis... be careful. You're not exactly living in the world's best example of trust and understanding. And most importantly, whatever you do, do not, I repeat, DO NOT try to save me. I'll be fine as I am." He paused as more gunfire sounded off outside. "Shit... I only have so much time. Take care of yourselves, and follow what I just said. Every last word." He pulled out a gun. "I've... I have to go. Thank you all. I'll see you when I see you."

The video then ended, and Beau ejected the disk, putting it back into its bag. "We need to keep this safe."

"Check how much money we have," said Manuel.

Beau nodded, looking up the account of Nack, seeing the money being sent out and whistling. "Phew... that is a lot of money indeed."

"It's more than enough," Lara said. "We have to do Nack right."

"We will," Manuel said. "For now, let's go home. We've got a lot of work to do."

The others nodded, and Beau turned the computer off, making sure to take the disk with him. As the three headed back to their own bases, they all wondered what was going to happen next. Not just for Westopolis, and not just for themselves, but for Nack as well.

There we go! That's a much better cliffhanger, don't you think? I agree! Anyway, the story is now officially over. And I mentioned a sequel last time, right? Well, now I'd like to announce the title! I don't exactly know when, but Cyber Riders: The Black Market will be here at some point in the near future. I'll see you in my next piece of work. Take care, and stay tuned for the next one.