Author's Note: This took a little longer than planned (distractions, heh), but here it is, and thank you for your patience. There's a lot more action in this chapter, so brace yourselves and enjoy!

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Chapter 3

Big extinguished his cigar in an ashtray on a large, circular table in the middle of a dark and disheveled room, and briefly glanced at the large-caliber pistol that lay in front of him. Encircling the table were various members of Big’s faction, Ferox Mandatum, and each wore an insidious grin. It was a business meeting of sorts; the faction was there to discuss their main plan.

“According to our sources, the plan is going extremely well. All of the people and objects are in place,” said one of the senior members, a large grizzly bear by the name of Ambrose.

Big clasped his hands on the table and said with a subtle smile, “Good. It appears as though we can move forward with our agenda, then. However, there is one thing I would like to take care of before proceeding. It has come to my attention that information was leaked about our meeting.” Big’s men nervously glanced at one another, and their leader continued, “One of my sentries found a spy in a tree a few hundred yards away, and it was quickly disposed of. There is no way it or anybody else could have known, so we have a leak.”

A few of the officers chuckled at Big’s reference of the spy as an ‘it’, but their amusement was brief. Big looked over at one of the officers, a cacomistle by the name of Erik, and queried, “Erik, what was the purpose of you leaking information?”

Erik stolidly looked at his boss and replied, “Why are you accusing me? I didn’t leak information.”

Big grabbed his gun and fired a shot past Erik’s ear, causing everyone in the room to flinch. Big exclaimed, “Do you think I’m (expletive) STUPID? Do you? I have informants everywhere and you know it! You have a lot of nerve to lie to my face like that.”

Shivering, Erik responded after a gulp, “Oh-oh-okay, I told a friend because he said he needed to know where to donate some weapons. I trusted him, and I did it for the good of the group! I know how much you enjoy getting more weapons.”

“You did it...for the good of the group?” asked Big, still obviously upset. When Erik replied with a “yes”, Big looked at him, smiled, and shot him in the neck. Erik tumbled backwards from the force of the bullet, which had been shot from an exceptionally large pistol, landed on the floor, and bled to death in a matter of seconds. As the remaining officers squirmed uneasily in their chairs, Big set the smoking gun back down on the table and said, “Let that be a reminder to all of you. Never, and I mean NEVER, tell anyone and anyone at all about our meetings. Ever.” The group uttered a collective “Yes sir”, and Big continued, “Since that is now taken care of, we can get back to the matter at hand. Since everything is ready, it is time to initiate the preliminary stages.”

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Back at the blast site, the group continued to stand idly and speculate, and anxiety was running high. The only lead they had was DNA, but that didn’t seem to say anything besides Big having had a hand, or foot in this case, in the theft of the nukes. Amy was searching for more clues with Sally and NICOLE, and a conversation was struck.

“I’m really worried about this ordeal, Sally. What if they do nuke a major city?” nervously asked Amy as she peered behind a rock.

Sally sighed apprehensively and answered, “Well, depending on if they used the highest setting, millions would die instantly. The diameter of the blast would be about fifty miles, and an area one-hundred-fourty miles wide would be scorched by the resulting heat wave.” The explanation only added to Amy's trepidation.

NICOLE’s lights suddenly started flickering, and she said, “Sally, I have detected a disruption in the local TV feeds. It is affecting all of them, and the transmission satellites overhead as well. It appears as though someone is hacking in.”

“NICOLE, show me one of the channels on your screen. I want to see what’s going on,” requested Sally. NICOLE displayed a random television channel, and what started as flickering static rapidly transformed into Big’s shrouded face. One of the workers at the blast site was watching TV on his break, and he alerted everyone around him of the developing situation.

“Greetings, people of Station Square,” proclaimed the large cat with dark enthusiasm in his voice, “I have hijacked your television channels in order to bring you disquieting news. Your city will be leveled by a nuclear device in twenty minutes, courtesy of myself. Consider this restitution for all of the 'business deals' that have been ruined due to the investigative force present in Station Square.”

Silence prevailed briefly throughout the city, followed by confusion and speculation, then resulting in panic. For a while, everyone at the silo blast site was speechless, but the silence was broken by Mighty, "That's all the proof we need." The armadillo radioed his men to gather their gear and prepare to search for the nuclear device before it was too late. He knew, however, that it was probably futile. Station Square was huge, and it would take a lot longer than twenty minutes to find the bomb without more leads.

"How deed zey plant it so fast?!" exclaimed Antoine, fur raised slightly from alarm.

Mighty replied, "This attack must have been planned a good while ago, meaning a drop point for the nuke had already been determined."

"What will we do?" asked Amy shortly after she and Sally returned. NICOLE was still silently analyzing the situation.

"I have ordered my men to begin a search in the city, although I am doubtful it will get us anywhere," said Mighty as he looked into the distance. It was a very palliative and picturesque view from the silo site, and he took in the scenery with particular attention, as he knew that it may be his last day on Mobius. With similar feelings, Antoine and Bunny tenderly held hands, as did Tails and Kaolin, Knuckles and Julie-Su, and Sonic and Sally.

"Wait a minute," added NICOLE, "I saw something in the background, through a window in the room Big was broadcasting from. My database contains a layout of the city, and shows that Big was in a certain building within a neighborhood in the southeast corner of the city."

The gang thanked NICOLE for her helpfulness, and as Mighty began walking to his ship, he continued, "Excellent, we just might have a chance now. Let's get on it!"

The two groups hurriedly boarded their transports, and made their way to the target building. Thoughts raced though each of their heads, but more so in Kaolin's. Her tormented past was still amplifying the mental distraught associated with such situations, though less than it used to, and fear was taking a foothold within her psyche. She noticed this, and tried to subdue her fear as best she could. Even if they were to die that day, they'd end up in a better place, and that provided her with some solace.

They rapidly arrived at the building NICOLE had led them to, and scrambled to each of the two entrances; the Freedom Fighters at one, and Mighty's unit at the other. NICOLE scanned the structure for lifeforms and robots, and though she detected no danger in that regard, she discovered what they had come for.

"NICOLE, what do you detect in the building?" asked Sally.

The supercomputer replied, "I have detected no organic or cybernetic agents, but there is a highly radioactive object in the center of the uppermost floor. The radiation is contained mainly within the object, but we must proceed with utmost caution. Mighty's team already has what they need for safety, so they should proceed first."

Mighty's men, who had donned protective gear on the way, plowed-open the door and raced upstairs, Freedom Fighters in tow. They reached the top floor of the three-story building, and slowly approached the room that the nuke was supposedly in. Double-checking for booby traps, they entered the room and saw what they had both feared and hoped was there - a large nuclear warhead, complete with a digital timer. Two of the nuclear technicians, a husky and a skink, approached the ticking device with the necessary equipment. It took around fifteen seconds for them to discover something else surprising - the device was nothing more than an empty warhead shell.

"It's...empty?" inquired Sonic with a tone of relief in his voice. The Freedom Fighters looked at each other with delighted smiles, but Mighty's team knew what it meant. It was a decoy.

A blinding flash penetrated the windows shortly thereafter. Two-hundred-fifty miles away, to the northeast, a city of over three-million beings was reduced to a glowing crater. As soon as enough of the light subsided, a colossal mushroom cloud could be seen rising in the distance. They would feel the groundquake minutes later. Nobody could bring themselves to speak at the moment, and they ran up to the roof to get a better glimpse of what had occurred.

"I should have guessed. One of Big's faction's most hated rivals had a very strong presence in the city that I believe just got wiped off the map," said Mighty as a tear ran down his face.

A saddened Bunny commented in her characteristic Southern accent, "Ah can't...Ah can't believe it...so many folks killed s'fast," and drew closer to her husband, Antoine. They continued to watch the rising toroidal vortex, still quite luminous from the titanic amount of energy released from such a massive explosion, but as they mourned the millions lost, another imminent danger presented itself. A 'ZIK' sound was heard, and one of Mighty's men fell to the floor with a small hole in his chest. More members of the unit fell as more sniper rounds were fired, and the remaining people scrambled for cover. A bullet ricocheted off of one of Bunny's metallic legs, sending it in a direction that caused it to graze Rotor's wrist, and another penetrated one of Knuckles' dreadlocks. A bullet passed through Kaolin's left ear as she shouted for Tails to get behind a large air conditioning unit. She ignored the pain, took cover, drew her pistol, and returned fire to where the sniper rounds were originating. The attack stopped briefly enough to allow the remainder of Mighty's group to race downstairs and toward the sniper's building, and Kaolin took that chance to look around and see if her teammates were okay. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw Tails on the floor, bleeding.

"TAILS!" screamed Kaolin as she sped blindly out into the open to grab her orange boyfriend and drag him to safety. The sniper was too busy hiding from offensive fire from Mighty's group in the alley to notice her activities. She dragged Tails behind the large machine and held him in her arms. There were two large bullet wounds, entrance and exit, in his right shoulder, and he was bleeding considerably, losing more coherence as the seconds passed. "Tails, hang in there! It's just a shoulder shot!" In fact, the bullet had grazed an artery and severed a major nerve, and the vulpine hero was suffering more so from severe shock than blood loss. She rapidly grabbed her medical kit and applied small surgical towels and gauze to stop the bleeding. The gray fox continued to try and keep the shivering Tails awake, saying, "Don't give up on me! It isn't a life-threatening wound! Stay strong! Don't quit!"

He looked into her eyes, weakly, and said, "I...love you...Kaolin." Tears streamed down her muzzle as she fervently attempted to keep him alive, and she kissed him just as he did four years prior, but it was too late.

Tails died in her arms.

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Much more to come in chapter four!

Sonic characters and places are copyright of Sonic Team/Sega

Kaolin, other original characters and ideas, and the story itself are copyright of myself, NuclearCookout