26A/N: Ne ne ne, gomen nasai for the long wait. The villains I made up here; I seem to be quite fond of them heh. Especially Arnav the spider, I love him sooo much despite coming up with him in ten seconds while typing up the previous chapter heh. Ya know, I got the idea of Maya's golden eyes from Petra's death in Shingeki No Kyojin. I realised how beautiful Petra's eyes were so I added this factor on Maya.
Disclaimer: Zonic and co belongs to the Archie comics. Sonic and co belongs to SEGA. I own my badass villains Kaito and Arnav and the now deceased Maya Rith assassin mwahahahha.
Ages: (The Zonecops are three years older than the Prime Mobians- just to make it more badass xp)
Zonic: 18 years - Sonic: 15 years
Zhadow: looks 18 years but is ageless - Shadow: looks 15 but is ageless and older than 50 O_O
Zilver: 17 years - Silver: 14 years
Zamy: 15 years - Amy: 12 years
Zlaze: 17 years - Blaze: 14 years
Zaria: 15 years - Maria: 12 years (deceased)
Znuckles: 19 years - Knuckles: 16 years
Zouge: 21 years - Rouge: 18 years
Zails: 11 years - Tails: 8 years
Zream: 9 years - Cream: 6 years
Zector: 23 years - Vector: 20 years
Zespio: 19 years - Espio: 16 years
Zharmy: 9 years - Charmy: 6 years
~x~
Finally, after what felt like forever, Zamy has reached the headquarters and lucky for her, Zilver and Zlaze were already there at the entrance waiting for her arrival. The sakura teen landed by the albino hedgehog and carefully laid the body bag on the floor with a sorrowful expression. Zlaze took a step forward and gulped.
"Zilver...you do the honors." The feline pushed him forward and took a step back. Zilver grumbled and zipped the bag down only for his breath to get hitched in his throat.
"What the hell!?" He yelled and squinted his eyes at the corpse "Is th-that Maya Rith? The owl that attacked us yesterday?" His golden eyes were coated with shock and with a hint of nauseousness.
"Unfortunately...that's her." Zamy concluded as Zilver clutched his stomach and turned away.
"I wonder who would gauge her eyes out. How is that even beneficial to them?" Zlaze bent down on one knee and inspected the corpse a little closer. "That's a shame. Her eyes were really pretty."
"I know," Zamy then looked behind herself and sighed "I hope Zails is fine out there." Within a second after she said that sentence, Znuckles came storming out of the building and towards Zamy.
"Zamy! Where has Zonic gone to?" His fingers gripped her shoulders but after glancing at the dead body, he let out a little yelp and shook his head.
"He's with Zhadow and they're both tracking down to see where Zails has disappeared. How did Zonic escape your sights?" She crossed her arms. Zilver and Zlaze took the body inside for a thorough inspection leaving Zamy with Znuckles. Znuckles gritted his teeth and took a step back.
"He said something about Zouge and me and the next thing I know, he ran away with that Godforsaken speed of his. I should've not let my guard down." He growled. Zamy swallowed her giggles and cleared her throat.
"Actually, I'm glad you did so cos Zonic kind of saved me- again. We know that there are more people involved with Maya Rith." She started to walk inside the building followed by her red companion. "I ended up stumbling across the body and while I was shocked, Zonic came out of nowhere and knocked all of those brutes out of the tree. Only one remained on their feet. It was Mobian like us and judging by it's height and shape, I think it was a Spider breed."
"Spider breed? Whoa, they're really rare! Not as rare as me but rare nonetheless." Znuckles violet eyes glimmered in wonder.
"Yes and since it was so small, I think it was around twelve and definitely a boy."
"What makes ya think it's a boy?" They both have now entered the building and headed towards the main research room.
"Well, the kid was really thin and was as straight as a ruler plus, it's abdomen and chest was quite broad so-" Znuckles cut her off with a snort "What's so funny?"
"You're really thin, you have no curves, you're as straight as a ruler and though you have a small chest, does that instantly make you a boy?" He was replied with a hammer pointed against his face dangerously close. "Never mind."
They both soon arrived to the research room and was instantly greeted by Zaria.
"Just in time you guys. Zonic and Zhadow has already filled us in on what happened so far after you left and took the body with you." Her voice was sweet but had a touch of maturity to it. "They haven't found any leads to Zails yet but they confirmed that they might be close to something."
Whenever Zonic or Zhadow had a hunch or feeling that there's something or there's something wrong, you'd be a fool not to believe them because not only are they right, they have a keen sense of instincts and the duo seems to know what's in each others mind. It's like only they can read each other like a book despite their differences. You could say they're close but show it in their own ways- like brothers.
"We see." Znuckles nodded and began to skim read through some of the reports "So has there been anymore brutal killings lately?"
"No sir, not since we've been attacked by Maya." Zaria tucked in one of her golden quills.
"BEEP BEEP! INCOMING VIDEO CALL!" The mother computer alerted the Zonecops in the room. A hologram spew out of the screen revealing Zhadow and Zonic with a hover bike parked behind them.
"Can you all hear me loud and clear?" The ebony hedgehog's voice boomed across the room.
"Yes sir! Everyone in the room chorused.
"We've found Zails' watch and we're on our way back to the HQ. There's a video that's been recorded and a failed SOS message too. It can only be unlocked if it's connected to one of his tablets." Zonic nodded and then added:
"If you see anyone with a white mask similar to Maya's, arrest them immediately, Zonic and Zhadow out!" The hologram then collapsed and zoomed back into the computer. The room was filled with murmurs of the Zonecops and a few of them clutched their guns in anger and adrenaline rush.
"Pipe down everyone." A voice of a higher authority silenced everyone in the room both humans and mobians. They all turned their heads to see Warden Zobotnik and a few of his close cops walk inside with a frown plastered on their faces. "Has the video call ended already?" Everyone nodded in reply. "Are they on their way back?"
"Yes Warden Sir!" Znuckles saluted. Warden sighed in relief but then composed himself back to his cold yet old state again. He nodded before walking out of the room.
"So, the guy does care about Zonic after all." Znuckles murmured to Zamy.
"Just cos they don't see eye to eye doesn't mean they hate each other or anything like that. Warden is our boss after all." Zamy jabbed his side with her elbow.
"Okay sheesh, no need to be violent. It's funny how in the prime world, his counterpart is an idiotic douche trying to take over the world and failing each time." Zamy cracked a smirk at his words. He did have a point but this is the No Zone, not the anti world so things will be very unexpected here.
~x~
"Zhadow, can't this thing go any faster?" Zonic grunted as his team mate ran besides him. Zhadow glanced at him but due to his mask, you couldn't see what expression he was giving however, Zonic knew that the hedgehog was glaring at him.
"We've made it anyway so quite your complaining and return to your normal asshole self." Zhadow yelled at him. It was ironic really, calling others an asshole when he was know different at times. Zonic rolled his eyes at him as he landed the hover bike within the HQ's area. He spotted Zilver speaking to one of the human Zonecops and darted towards him.
"Zilver, has Zamy made it here?" His demeanor instantly changed from whiny to professional and serious.
"Yes sir. She's inside the HQ if you want to see her." Zonic nodded and glanced at Zhadow. A silent message was shared between the two without fail.
"Come, we've to see the video on that watch." Zhadow tread towards the HQ and entered with Zonic and Zilver following behind.
Within seconds, they've reached Zails' laboratory and Zhadow didn't waste any time in plugging in the watch to the computer. An video was played on screen but everything seemed to be sideways since Zails was wearing the watch. It seemed like he was on his hover bike and everything seemed normal. Suddenly, you could see a tall figure jump out of nowhere in front of Zails causing the kitsune to halt immediately and fall off of his bike. The figure was definitely Mobian judging by its height and shape. A snake to be more exact with a white mask that has a red slash against one of the eyes.
Instinctively, Zails got his gun out to shoot but then a dark shadow is seen looming over his figure. Zails reached for his watch as he noticed the shadow but all that was seen was the screen panning upwards showing the two snakes staring at the floor indicating Zails is down. The duo picked up Zails and the taller one flunked the kitsune over his shoulder and they ran off. That was the end of the video. Zonic, Zilver and Zhadow all boiled with anger but expressed it in different ways. The cyan teen clenched his fists, the older hedgehog gritted his teeth and the youngest hedgehog gave a slight growl.
Zails has been kidnapped by the people who worked along with Maya Rith.
"Dammit...why now out of all times? Why HIM?" Zonic shouted in frustration and held his head with his hands. He knew something like this was going to happen to him one day. His most feared nightmare has now turned reality. "I should've not listened to you guys and stayed...I should've came!" Zonic slammed his fist on the table "What the hell are we suppose to do now? Huh?"
"Keep your shit together! We're gonna get him back." Zhadow yelled back with a snarl.
"Don't fucking tell me what to do! You've seen what that Maya chic did to those people out there- those assassins could be as bad as her or worse! Zails is gonna get hurt an-"
BANG! A red mark was visible on Zonic's cheek turning into a bruise. Zhadow cracked his knuckles and then grabbed Zonic by the shoulders sending daggers of anger.
"First, don't you dare speak to me like that and second, panicking like this will only dig a deeper hole that Zails has fallen in. This is exactly what those assassins want by taking away someone who's dear to you. Have faith in your friend; he's dangerously smart and most likely to outwit those bastard. Understand!?" Zhadow let go of his team mate and unplugged the watch from the computer.
"Fine. What are you doing?" Zonic crossed his arms and leaned against the wall with a deep frown. Zhadow ignored him and passed the watch to Zilver.
"Give this to Zaria so she can check if there's any evidence left on it physically. You never know, we might fight some scales of a snake." Zilver nodded and using his telekinetic abilities, flew off towards the area Zaria is. Zhadow looked as Zonic with his eye lids lowered. "You should keep trust in your comrades. You keep on underestimating us and we're getting fed up of it." Zonic sucked in his teeth and closed his eyes.
"Zamy and Zails would've been dead long time ago if I've ever listened to any of you's." The words poured out of his mouth with every ounce of bitterness.
"Doesn't mean you shouldn't rely on us at all. You would've been dead a long time ago if it weren't for us!" Zhadow stormed out of the lab in fury. If you were to see his eyes right now, you'd see a slither of emotion in them. Zonic held his hand out like he wanted to call Zhadow back but withdrew it with a sigh.
"It's not that Zhadow...I just want everyone to be safe..." Zonic clenched a hand towards his chest. 'It's like whoever is in charge of these assassins really want to push my buttons...' Zonic's eyes blinked open in realisation. "They are pushing my buttons!" Zonic stood up straight and dashed out of the room.
"Zhadow! Zhadow!" Zonic yelled the hallway only to bump into the hedgehog he was looking for. He was met with a scowl. "Do you know where are the files to our past major cases?"
"No, but Zamy has the key. Why?"
"I have a feeling that whatever these assassins are doing are...personal to me. I know it sounds stupid but-"
"Shut up and go get the key. I had that hunch too." Zhadow murmured the last bit. "I'm going to Zaria's lab and see if she's found some info yet." Zhadow tapped the tip of his shoes on floor and then hovered slash skated towards the lab at Zonic's speed.
"Now, gotta see Zamy." Zonic turned around only to be face to face with the pink one. No words were exchanged as he grabbed her arm and ran them both to her room.
The bed was still quite messy and the room was unkempt. Very un-Zamy like Zonic noticed. He decided to get straight to the point first though.
"Zamy,"
"You need the key right?" She interrupted him and he replied with a nod. "I erm...need to look for it." Zonic's mouth tightened and subconsciously looked around the room to notice how big it was and how much furniture and gadgets were around. It could take hours, even a day to scurry through each object thoroughly for the tiny key which is actually a chip.
"How small is the chip?" His voice was a few octaves higher than usual due to the lumps in his throat. Zamy rolled her eyes at his impatience and his jumping-to-conclusions thing.
"It's in a big box. Don't worry." Zamy began to scavenge through under her bed. "So, I bet you think that the assassins or maybe the leader of them are doing all of these crimes just to get to you, right?" Her voice was slightly muffled as her form disappeared from Zonic's sight. Zonic's fingers danced on a touch screen keyboard which enabled Zamy's bed to hover up and reveal the rose again. She blinked a couple of times and then began to look through her stuff with more ease.
"You know me too well Zamy," Zonic's hands lingered on a photo frame that consisted Zamy, him, Zails and Znuckles when they were younger than ten. "And we all know that this is know coincidence. But, I wonder, you would kill Maya in such a brutal way?" He put the frame down and focused in looking through the draws.
"It definitely can't be revenge from those people she killed cause they're just simpletons and minor criminals."
"Wait, none of those people she killed were...innocent?" Zonic halted in his search to see Zamy with a huge box in her hand.
"Didn't you receive the reports? Zespio was suppose to give them to you."
"He did but I didn't read them yet, I guess I forgot all about them."
"The funny thing with Maya is that she targeted rapists and criminals that were under our radar and hasn't been caught or discovered by us Zonecops yet. It's beneficial in one way but there was no need for her to kill them all in such a gory fashion. I think we should've beaten those rapists up instead." Zamy started to rant.
"Getting a little off topic here." Zonic took the box from her and started to walk out of the room so Zamy could keep up with him.
"Oh, my bad. But the point is, who's side is she on? She killed the criminals, she attacked us and now she's dead."
They reached Zails' lab and both took a seat on a chair by the sheer white table.
"Is that it? Isn't there more in the reports?" Zonic questioned as both their fingers typed onto the blue glowing keyboard. Only Zails, the mastermind is able to do everything independently. Everyone else has some help with the technology.
"You'll see when we go to study the body. Right now, after we see through these past reports, you have to rest for at least a few hours before we search for Zails."
"Glad to know you guys aren't gonna force me to stay behind."
"Actually, that was Zhadow's original plan but Warden said that there was no point cos you would escape one way or another. I was meant to be your watcher as well."
Zonic slipped in the chip on the side of the table and a bar with a percentage came up indicating the files are uploading at super speed. Alas, thousands and thousands of reports came up.
"Bingo." A smirk appeared on Zonic's muzzle and he immediately began to skim through half of the files. Zamy skimmed through the other half and both were looking for something suspicious and recent.
"Lets filter these files shall we. It will take weeks for just the two of us to go through them." Zonic nodded and filtered them to human cases. "Wait...why human?" Zamy cocked her head whilst less than a dozen of cases came up as holograms.
"Lets just hope that my random finger generator chose the right word." Zonic replied.
"That just sounded wrong you know." Zamy's face held a disgusted expression making Zonic stiffen in his seat. He gave her a quick glare before going back to reading. "Plus, that night when I told you that I thought the person behind this whole fiasco could be human, you just denied it completely."
"Don't dwell in the past and keep looking. The sooner we do this, the sooner I will 'rest' and the sooner we can get Zails back. Who knows what the hell those bastards are doing to him right now."
Zamy nodded and began to read through a current file.
"Probably blackmailing him into building some kind of weapon that could kill the whole planet-" She stopped mid sentence as she squinted at the current report she was reading. "...Rize? Len Rize? He has a very peculiar report." This caught Zonic's attention making him rush by Zamy's side in an instant only to gawk at the report. "You know him?"
"He was a psychopath...Warden ordered me to shoot him fatally..."
"This seems like it was a few years ago. Zonic! You were just thirteen when you shot him!" Zamy gasped "How could Warden order you to shoot someone at that young age? You were barely a teen and-"
"Zamy, that doesn't matter! But what does matter is Len's workers. Look at the photos." Zonic pointed at a group of Mobians with a black mask that has a red slash against one of the eye holes. "See how similar the masks are compared to the assassin group Maya was part of? Not only that, judging by their body shape, most of Len's group were snakes. Just like the ones that kidnapped Zails."
Zamy's mouth opened and closed in awe as she carried on reading the report. Len Rize and his workers has killed thousands of innocent people and Mobians in many possible ways. From a simple bullet to the head to skinning the victims alive or chopping the body parts to bits. According to these reports, he was mentally unstable and it was passable in his genes. Just like HIV/AIDS but Zails has found a cure to that long time ago.
"He wanted to fuse Mobian body limbs with humans!?" Zamy's muzzle paled in horror. "What could he possibly gain from this?" Zonic rubbed his eyes and faced Zamy "Why didn't you tell me any of this before?"
"Zamy, you were barely ten years old. Also, like I said, he was a psychopath and was quite into experimenting such disgusting things. Why do such people exist?"
"Zonic, who's that child in the photo?" Her slender fingers gestured towards the red headed child with grey eyes cowering in a corner. Zonic looked up and then down again and shook his head.
"We don't know. We never saw him again. We thought he might be Len's son but there isn't any evidence to show that our theory is true plus the kid looks nothing like his father. Len had black hair and dark brown eyes."
"The child might look like his motherbut if he is Len's son and the unstable mentality was unstable then..." Zamy gulped.
"-oh no...it all makes sense...that child saw me shoot his dad and if the kid's still alive then..." Everything clicked together now. The missing pieces to the puzzle was solved. A light bulb was switched on in their minds.
"He's the leader of the assassins!" Zonic and Zamy chorused together. They both jumped out of their seats with cold sweat running down their heads. Zails was in deeper trouble than they realised. He could be going through torturous times or even worse. If Len was malevolent and merciless then his son could be the same, if not worse!
"We need to tell Warden and Zhadow, NOW!" Zonic grabbed Zamy and sprinted out of the room with his incredible speed not allowing Zamy's feet to touch the floor. 'Zails...please try and stay alive...I will get you no matter what!' A sole tear pricked on Zonic's eye and shimmered.
~x~
DOORS OPENING WELCOME MR RIZE
"Who...who are you?" Zails spoke but his voice was hoarse due to being parched for a long time. Zails rubbed the back of his head to feel a huge bump behind it. 'I'm surprised I haven't received a concussion from that bump.' He mused to himself before regaining his attention back at the person.
"Welcome Zails Prower," The person flipped his red fringe to the side and his grey eyes glistened with blood lust. "Welcome to my wonderful place," He spread his arms out and gestured to the room they were both in. The room was a spine chilling white colour both the floors and ceilings like they were spray painted with static electricity. Every furniture, every tech, every gadget was coated in the same shade of white. The only colours were the red glowing artificial energy floating in between the walls as patterns engraved into wood. The Zonecops colour scheme were mainly black and neon blue while the place Zails was kidnapped in were mainly white and blood red. Typical polar opposites.
"I am-" The human's eyes flashed red for a second "-Rize, Kaito Rize. You should be honored to be in my presence young fox boy." He licked his teeth like a predator pursueing his prey.
"Honored? To hell with being honored in your presence!" Zails sneered making Kaito cock an eyebrow. "Your stupid phonies kidnapped me and judging by the masks they were wearing, you must be the leader of this organisation." Young Rize grinned like a drunk Cheshire cat and put one hand on his hip.
Zails reached for his gun only to notice that his belt, his uniform and all his other equipment were stripped away. His eyes widened as so did Kaito's smile.
"You talk a lot little one." Kaito advanced towards Zails causing the fox to raise his fists in warning and take a battle stance. Zails may be just a child but he possesses great strength both physically and mentally. "Your voice box would be very good use...oh so good!" Zails narrowed his eyes both in confusion and in slight fear.
"What the..." Zails pupils dilated when a dastardly shadow covered the the top half of Kaito's face giving him the maniacal look. The man slipped on surgery gloves and advanced closer and closer. What the psychopath didn't know was that Zails has been in worse situation and is craftily planning in his mind. He kept on a fake act of fear and once his back touched the wall, Kaito lunged forward with a syringe in his hand.
'Just as I planned,' Zails smirked and jumped up just in time before landing behind Kaito and swung his leg to deliver a kick behind the human's head.
'He's cunning, well challenge accepted!' Kaito twirled and grabbed the Zails' leg however he dropped the syringe in process making it smash against the hard floor. The oozing magenta liquid bubbled and fizzed before dissolving the ground below it leaving a crater and then evaporated into vapour.
"Dury acid..." Zails used his tails to whip against Kaito's face so he loses his grips on his leg. Zails landed a few feet away as Kaito staggered back a few steps. "...nine times more powerful than the hydrochloric acid..." Zails' teeth flashed.
"You don't say," Kaito mimicked Zails' expression "You're smart..." A shadow loomed over Zails' body and the kitsune stiffened "...but not observant enough..."
A kick was delivered behind Zails' back causing him to crash onto the floor and then was punched multiple times as he got up. Zails was pinned against the ground and as soon as he was able to see clearly, he was met face to face with a spider with icy blue eyes.
"Meet Arnav, my most loyal company and skilled assassin." Kaito stood above them. Arnav bent one of his wrist and strands of thin but super sticky web shot of a visible slit trapping Zails' arms too the floor. Arnav got up and shot some web on Zails' legs too. Now he was completely immobilised to the ground.
To be continued...
A/N:Such a short chapter...I'm so ashamed of myself ;w; I have my exams to revise for and I'm still recovering from a recent concussion (trust me, they're very bad) So goodnight and don't expect another chapter too soon unless I'm feeling very nice. Plus...Ramadan izzzz coming...I will be fasting during schooooool nyaaaaaaaaaa