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Chapter Five

Kaolin and the two teams quickly arrived at the phone booth, and NICOLE scanned it and the surrounding area for threats. None were found, and Kaolin insisted on being the one to discover the evidence, not only because she felt that it had become more of her responsibility, but if there was a booby trap that NICOLE couldn't detect, she didn't want more of her friends to die. She circumspectly entered the booth, searched it, and found a small hologram projector underneath the phone unit. Seconds after she had grasped it, it activated and displayed Big's face.

The recording said, "If you are observing this, then you survived my assassin, Snively. Good for you. Unfortunately, it was all for naught, as the likelihood of you dying in the next nuclear blast is quite high. However, since I am not entirely merciless, I’ll go ahead and tell you where to visit. There is a building just north of the tallest skyscraper downtown, and in front of the entrance to the basement parking area is a clichéd nondescript white van. I'll let you figure it out from there. Don't worry about snipers or booby traps, because I've done away with that for now."

Everyone stood in confusion. Why would Big want to give them a chance to ruin his plans unless it was another ambush? As the two groups spoke amongst themselves, Mighty declared, "Let us proceed."

Astonished, Sally exclaimed, "What?! Are you seriously considering going through with this? It's obvious that it's another trap!"

"We can't ignore the chance of it being legitimate," said the armadillo, "We need to make sure."

NICOLE added, "I will be scanning heavily, so if there are any threats, I will let you all know."

"My men will be on high guard as well. I know this seems illogical, but it has to be done," concluded Mighty.

Sally and other members who were either against or ambivalent on the subject broke through their discordance and proceeded. Kaolin knew the risks just as well as anyone, but she went along with it regardless. It was a necessity in her mind. She had to help stop that purple maniac. The groups entered their corresponding ships, and took off for the heart of Station Square. As she sat in her seat, Kaolin noticed a considerable amount of pain was returning to the wound in her leg. She figured that all of the movement was irritating it, and hoped that it wouldn't get infected. Perhaps worse than the wound itself was that it reminded her of Snively, and how Snively stole the life of her best friend. A lump began to form in her throat, and she struggled to restrain the incipient tears.

When the two transports came within range, NICOLE scanned the immediate area and the outlying areas. When nothing came up, she scanned the building in question and found, in the basement, five large lifeforms and another radioactive object. She then deep-scanned the radioactive object, unlike before, and found that it was indeed the nuke they were after. The teams set their ships down one block south and cautiously approached the tower, some with guns drawn, others with fists, speed, and agility ready, and a few with both at their disposal.

"Careful, two of them are mobilizing. The subjects are each armed with an extremely high-caliber projectile weapon and heading out the back of the building toward the south," warned NICOLE with a tone of urgency. As Mighty's men nervously and attentively held their guns to their shoulders, a flash emanated from an alley, a very loud shot was heard, and a blast followed. One of Mighty's ship's engines suddenly combusted after being hit with an explosive fourty-millimeter tungsten slug, and remainder of the ship was engulfed in roaring flames. A moment before the second shot was fired, NICOLE activated the automated pilot in the Freedom Fighters' ship which guided it high above the clouds to safety, and the projectile instead entered the first floor of an adjacent building and blew out the windows. While Mighty's unit, four operatives in total, prepared to neutralize the threat, he shouted for the Freedom Fighters to continue. They approached the white van...and were confronted by the grizzly bear, Ambrose, and his associate, a muscular binturong by the name of Uri.

As he grinned, Ambrose asked, "Going somewhere?" while holding a large crowbar and tapping it menacingly on his hand. Uri was holding a large wrench and grinning slightly less than his comrade, though his confidence had an equal amount of resolve.

"Y'all best be gettin' outta tha way iffin' ya plan ta make it out without a bunch'a bruises," threatened Bunny as she readied her cybernetic left arm.

With a malevolent glimmer in his eye, Ambrose boldly took a step forward and continued, "Heh, I doubt you'll be able to do much, missy."

"Ah'm fixin' t-..."

Before Bunny could finish, Julie-Su exclaimed, "We don't have time for this," and shot at both of the thugs with her proton blaster. However, the discharges disintegrated against their personal energy shields, leaving nothing more than glowing ripples over the surfaces.

"Did you feel something, Uri?"

"Nope, aside from a sudden pulse of stupidity originating from these clowns."

"I'd say it's time to make these clowns frown."

Ambrose and Uri subsequently attacked the heroes, both with relentless and brutal intent. The howling bear charged like a freight train at Bunny and swung the heavy crowbar with enough force to shatter some of the concrete from a pillar after she ducked. Antoine ran to aid his wife, sword glistening in the fulgent sunlight, but nearly had the wind knocked out of him when Uri's wrench collided with his abdomen. As Uri prepared to shatter his skull, Sonic rushed over and kicked Uri in the face, sending him reeling back a bit and bloodying his nose. Rotor took that chance to tackle Uri to the ground, but the enraged binturong flipped him onto Knuckles and Amy as they tried to assist their embattled friends. Ambrose then set his sights on Sally and Julie-Su, grunted, and lumbered toward them while swinging his crowbar like a nunchaku. Kaolin went over to stop him, but he quickly swatted her out of the way with one of his huge paws, and she hit the ground hard enough to throw her equilibrium for a loop. As she struggled to get to her feet, she noticed that she had been thrown very close to the basement parking entrance. When she saw that the others were handling Ambrose and Uri more effectively, she ran inside. Part of her desired to stay and help, but she knew that the nuke, which likely had a running timer, was a higher priority, and that's what drove her to go in alone.

None of the lights were on, so it was rather dark, and there were dozens of hovercars that had been abandoned during the evacuation, each sitting on their extended landing skids in tranquility. The ashen fox drew her gun and cautiously, but quickly, moved between the vehicles in the direction of the ramp leading down to the level below. Her pace suddenly slowed as the already irritating pain in her leg began to increase sharply, and she adjusted the bandages in the hopes of dulling it. The wound was bleeding again, though less than before, and she couldn't wait for the ordeal to be over so she could give it time to heal. She continued to the ramp and attentively descended into the lower parking level. Similar to the previous room, there were no lights, save for a single fluorescent bulb in the center of the large room. Below the bulb was the second nuclear warhead, surrounded by wires, tables, and a few computers. In a corner, she saw a very large shadow with two protrusions resembling cat ears, and she shouted, "I see you, Big! Give up befo-..." Her threat was silenced by a massive fist which collided with her shoulder, tearing some of the cartilage. The vulpine sailed through the air and slammed into a parked vehicle, and the terrorist revealed himself in greater detail.

"Pathetic, stupid little fox, you guys fell right into my trap," said the huge purple cat in a booming voice, "I knew you would because of the way Mighty thinks. I've known him far too long. I'm guessing you want to stop this nuke, huh? Heh. You'll need to get through me first, tiny thing, and it won't be easy for you."

Her head was throbbing, her ears were ringing, her shoulder felt like it was on fire, and her leg wound was practically screaming. Her trusty gun had escaped her grasp and slid dozens of feet under a different vehicle, and due to its dark color, was almost invisible amongst the tenebrous shadows. When she replayed Tails' encouraging words through her mind, she got back up, dusted herself off, wiped the blood off her face, and looked at Big with a subtle smile. "I'm not through yet, Big. Also, I have a question for you. Why didn't you take the third warhead, and...WHY all of this? WHY did so many people need to die?"

While he kept his eyes on his prey, Big moved closer to the light and responded, "As Mighty may have already stated, one of our main rivals was in that city. I'm not going to answer why I didn't take the third warhead until you prove you can survive me in combat."

Without giving it a second thought, Kaolin took to the air and attacked the massive feline. Even though he was very large, he still retained a formidable amount of reflexes, and Kaolin could barely get a hit in without being blocked or swatted. When she finally managed to get in an exceptionally good facial kick after a terse amount of battling, he grabbed her foot and punched the wound on her upper leg, causing her to shout in pain. The blow, which was directed downward, launched her to the floor, and she nearly lost consciousness when she collided with the cold pavement. The bandages on her leg were soaked with blood, and much of her fur was disheveled from the fight.

Big circled her with a conceited smirk, "So easy. So very easy; disappointing, actually. I might as well tell you my primary intentions in this whole scheme of things. I left the last warhead because, not only did we simply not need a third nuke, I like to leave people guessing, and I'm choosing to reduce Station Square to a smoking hole because, well, you already saw the television feed back there, so there's no need to repeat that." Kaolin quickly tried to crawl under one of the parked vehicles, but Big stomped on her left ankle, breaking it. The resulting scream could be heard outside, but the Freedom Fighters could do nothing due to Ambrose and Uri preventing them from entering the parking area. Tears streamed down Kaolin's muzzle as she groaned from the ardent pain, and she could feel the mounting pressure from the swelling injury. Amused by her anguish, Big continued, "Useless speck of commoner trash. That's all you are - a failure. There is no escape for pieces of nothing like you. You are going to die here along with many of others today. Well, it's doubtful that millions will die, due to the evacuation, but I just want this accursed city gone, even if nobody dies. The only deaths I truly desire see are the deaths of you and your (expletive) friends...but especially you. This is partially out of vengeance, for you see, back during the explosion at Mercia, Snively wasn't the only one affected by the blast. My brother was there, and he wasn't as lucky as Snively. My brother was (expletive) obliterated in that blast, and all because of you and Tails. Of course, Tails is no longer a problem for me, so that just leaves you and the others.”

Back outside, the Freedom Fighters were struggling to subdue their attackers. Julie-Su was chucked across the street, and as Knuckles prepared to grab a chunk of concrete to use as a blunt object, a small cloaked attack ship surreptitiously flew from the top of a nearby building. After pulling around to the rear of the building, the ship extended its small landing skids, landed, and the pilot hopped out and sprinted inside.

Big knelt next to Kaolin after pacing around her for a while. "That's right, I know all about Tails' death. Snively allowed me to place a camera in his eye so I could see everything as it happened. I simply had to know if he carried out his job." He grinned, let out a brief chuckle, and continued with a certain poignance, "Indeed, I smiled when his death was practically confirmed. My brother's death has been partially avenged now. The criminal world, and perhaps the world itself, is much better without your orange beau. My only regret is that I didn't get to pull the trigger myself." An unparalleled rage ignited within Kaolin's psyche, but she knew she wouldn't be able to do much. Even if she managed to distract him and take to the air, she didn't have enough energy to maintain an attack. She knew that she was probably going to die by Big's hands that day. Big stared into her blue, tear-filled eyes, pinched the bleeding wound on her left ear, and added, "Just to make absolutely certain you won't escape, I'm gonna break the rest of your limbs before heading out."

Shortly after he said that, he saw part of a shadow flit across the wall of the ramp, and almost inaudible footsteps. He stood up, and that's when a flurry of fists pummeled his chest and face. He rapidly punched his attacker across the room, and the assailant stabilized quickly and stood in place, battle ready. Kaolin immediately recognized the black-latex-clad individual as Fiona Fox.

"That was good Big, but not good enough. I'm here to end this once and for all," proclaimed the agile vixen, tail twitching from the élan of combat.

Irritated, but confident, Big said aloud, "Keep prancing around in that fantasy land of yours, Fiona, and I'll beat you so hard that you'll be stuck there for the rest of your life. You'll even get a free respirator to go along with the experience," and then thought to himself, "She's supposed to be dead...and...I'm really starting to hate foxes. Too many (expletive) foxes around here."

Fiona didn't answer, and instead looked down at the suffering Kaolin, then back at Big. During that brief moment of distraction, Big whipped out a large pistol and began firing at Fiona, who barely managed to jump out of the path of the bullets. In an instant, she drew her own pistol and returned fire. Both opponents were continuously on the move, and close calls were common during the firefight. When they finally ran out of ammunition, they grabbed the nearest blunt object they could find, and went at each other full-force. Both parties sustained injuries, and Big toppled over onto a vehicle and crushed it partially, scattering various automotive parts across the floor. However, the purple feline got the upper hand and badly injured Fiona by plowing his fist into her abdomen and sending her careening into a concrete pillar. She lay at the base of the pillar, bleeding and unconscious, but that wasn't enough for Big. He approached Fiona, lifted her by her shirt, and gave her a final punch in the face before tossing her back to the floor, just to make sure she was out for the count.

Glad the annoying delay in his plans had been taken care of, Big wiped the blood from his mouth and turned his attention back to his original prey with a sadistic glimmer in his eye. Kaolin was still trying to gather more of her energy, and tried desperately to spin her tails fast enough to attain flight when she noticed that Big had won his battle. He popped his knuckles menacingly and appoached her, preparing to maim her before activating the bomb's permanent timer. He knew that if he didn't act soon, Ambrose and Uri might end up losing their fight, and he would have the Freedom Fighters on his back. That's something he simply did not want to deal with. Such a situation could easily be avoided by him simply activating the bomb with a mere press of a button on his belt before finishing Kaolin, but his ego wouldn't have it. The timer had to start ticking after he had thoroughly defeated her.

Kaolin began whimpering as Big got closer and closer; each footstep sent chills up her spine, and she began having transient flashbacks of how Robotnik approached her prison cell when she was next on his list of experimentation subjects all those years ago. As she was about to scream for mercy, a brief whirring was heard, and Big crashed into another parked vehicle and rolled onto the floor, dazed. Kaolin couldn't believe her eyes when she saw who had done it.

"T-...Tails?!"

The orange fox had shot in and kicked Big in the face with all his might, resulting in one of the huge cat's teeth being jettisoned. He stood in place, attempting to catch his breath, and his furious expression turned to joy when he saw that his beloved Kaolin was still alive. "I'm here now, Kaolin. Sorry for the delay." She was overjoyed to see that he had not only survived and returned just in time, but still had room for humor as well. She noticed that his right arm was being held in a sling behind his back, and Tails said, after looking back at Big, "This arm no longer functions, so I'll have to do this with it tied behind my back." He gazed at Kaolin again, noticed her battered state, clenched his fist, and set his sights on Big. Before the brute had a chance to ready himself, Tails went on the attack. He planted a foot on Big's face once again, and flew out of the path of Big's clawed paw as it went for his leg. Furious well beyond his typical threshold, Big grabbed a bumper that had broken off of the vehicle he had landed on, and swung wildly at the airborne fox. Tails dodged the swings with ease and scored numerous hits over the duration of the battle, but sustained a few injuries as well. After a while, Big managed to smack Tails in the back, and the hero fell to the floor. Not taking any chances, Big lumbered to his opponent and lifted him up by the neck, squeezing tightly.

"It ends for you, twin-tailed freak."

That was all the motivation Kaolin needed. In a burst of energy, she grabbed a loose exhaust pipe, flew toward Big as fast as physically possible for her at the moment, and clubbed Big over the skull with all her might. The trenchant jolt caused him to bellow, drop Tails, and fall to his knees. Free from restraint, Tails grabbed a tire iron and whacked Big over the head, and a small amount of blood spattered across the floor. The ogre was out cold.

Exhausted, Kaolin landed on her functional foot, careful to keep the pressure off the other, and Tails' tire iron landed on the floor with a 'clang' as he lowered his guard. After catching their breaths, Tails and Kaolin embraced. The pain from the intense bruising was muted by the mutual feeling of each other's beating hearts, and they both shed tears of joy. As Tails ran his hand over Kaolin's head when he pulled back to gaze at her smiling face, he noticed the hole in her ear, and realized just how blessed she was to have made it through the sniper ordeal. Before he could express his concern, she placed a warm kiss on his lips.

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Author's note: The action isn't over yet. Final chapter six coming soon! Thank you for reading!

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