Chapter 8
Reborn

Blitscreet lay in his bed, all alone in the house. It had been a week since the incident. Jolteia had left a note on his forehead when he woke up saying she had went to Tails house. Arius had decided she was going to spend the day with Amy and Rouge. Sonic had stopped by long enough to see how he was doing. Knuckles brought him a case of beer.

“Oh my god, I’m so bored.” He tried reaching for the phone to call Jolteia or Arius but she had placed in out of reach. “Not cool. What if G.U.N shows up?”

He lay back down and stared at the ceiling. He had tried to fall asleep again listening to the Heart monitor but it wasn’t working. Eventually he just gave up and actually tried to move the bed, unfortunately this raised his heart rate and he stopped before he even got anywhere. The phone began to ring and he barely managed to get it before the caller hung up.

“Hello?” He spoke hesitantly as he answered the phone.
“Hey Blitz, Dr. Quack should be on his way over, I told him the door was unlocked.” Jolteia spoke through the sound of grinding metal.
“Thanks. Hey can you come here.”
“I can’t I’m helping Tails with a project.”
“Seriously, I’m dying of boredom here.”
“Then go watch TV.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?” She asked cautiously knowing the answer.
“You know the answer to that one. You specifically told me in the note that you so graciously taped to my forehead that I wasn’t allowed to leave the bed. I have had to use the bathroom for half an hour.”
“Sorry but I have to go.” She hung up before he could answer.
“No, don’t leave me. Dammit.” He felt the urge to call Arius but he didn’t know her number, or if she even had a phone.

He lay on the bed staring at the phone for about another fifteen minutes until he heard someone come in. He listened carefully for other people as the person closed the door. Upon hearing only one person he felt satisfied to wait for confirmation it was Dr. Quack.

“You know you could call out asking who is there instead of pretending no one is home.” Dr. Quack said as he walked through Blitscreet’s door.
“Sorry but I’m more cautious than curious.”
“That tends to keep people healthier longer, anyways I need to clean the wound, I forgot to do that yesterday and it could become infected.”
“Ok shall I let you remove the bandage?”
“Yeah it would be easier for me to remove it.”

Dr. Quack gently removed the bandage before cleaning the exposed flesh and surrounding area.

“Ow that hurts still.” Blitscreet winced barely restraining himself from pulling away.
“At least your nerves haven’t died yet. Too bad you didn’t recover your arm.”
“It kinda got crushed by the door, I’m pretty sure it’s all pulp at the moment, seeing how the door splintered when it hit the wall. All I remember seeing was a bloody mess. On the wall and on the floor.”
“Well it seems it was a clean cut. Don’t know how when your jacket was perfectly fine.”
“Yeah, I’m going to have Tails have a look at that, he asked if he could and I can’t see why not.”
“Well, I’m done here.” He started packing everything up. “Well seeing as how you are able to keep yourself under control, I’m allowing you to leave your room, as long as you take your IV with you.”
“What about the Heart monitor?” Blitscreet questioned.
“You don’t need it as long as you remain calm.”
“Can I leave the house?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Fine, so I can do whatever I want as it doesn’t involve increasing my heart rate.”
“Yes.”
“Anything?”
“I don’t see where you’re going with this, but yes.”

Blitscreet didn’t answer but he only got up bringing the IV with him to the kitchen. Dr. Quack took this time to leave as Blitscreet was rummaging around the kitchen. Blitscreet found the frying pan and cooking oil before frowning when he looked in the freezer.

“Where is it? Where is it? I know she bought some.” 

He rummaged through the freezer until he came across a note.  ‘Check the fridge, I thawed it out for you.’ Thank you Jolteia he thought before opening the door. Staring him in the face when he opened it was a fresh pack of…

“Bacon!” He shouted with childish glee before snatching it out of the fridge.

It took him a minute before he managed to open the sealed pack with only one arm. He barely managed to get oil in the pan without spilling it.

“Man I hope Tails works fast with that arm. I wonder when he will start working on it.” But I really want to know what Tails and Jolteia are working on now.

After Blitscreet had cooked the whole pack he put it all on the plate before sitting down on the couch turning on the TV. I probably look like a complete fatass sitting here with a whole plate full of bacon, he thought while eating a piece of bacon and flipping through channels. He finally decided on watching the military reports laughing at how G.U.N described these criminals.

“Oh look me.” He turned up the volume.
“Blitscreet Voltix, is the most dangerous of all these criminals, he will not hesitate to inflict harm upon all those who get in his way. G.U.N is offering a massive reward for anyone with information. And by massive we mean you can retire, and never have to worry about any financial problems ever again.”
“Whoa, sounds nice but what is the catch.” He never took his eyes away from the flashing number on the bottom of the screen.
“Anyone who calls with false information will be charged with interfering with a military investigation and aiding a criminal.”
“There it is. Now all we need is someone who is brave enough to screw with G.U.N”

He waited a good half an hour while they displayed profiles on other criminals who had escaped. Eventually he ran out of bacon. He was cleaning up when he heard a knock at the door. 

“Ok now that’s weird. Arius said she wasn’t going to be back until around eight, and Jolteia said she wasn’t going to back until around midnight.” He looked through the eyehole seeing someone he didn’t expect. “What the hell do you want?”
“I was looking for your sister.” Shadow snapped at him.
“She isn’t here, and just to let you know I don’t have the emeralds, so I see no reason for you to be here.”
“Fine, and G.U.N was at the C.D.A’s club. This means they were being grilled because of you.”
“Fuck, you know sometimes it’s like you enjoy bringing people bad news.”
“Hey I bring news, I don’t care if it’s good or bad.”
“So is the C.D.A alright?”
“Yeah they are fine. Their place got kind of trashed afterwards due to G.U.N rushing around bagging everything as evidence. They couldn’t take them in since they don’t specifically remember seeing who you were with, all they do remember was what you ordered.”
“Crap.”
“What, how could that possibly lead you them to you.?” He said sarcastically.
“I remember seeing one of the drink menus as I was on the floor. The drink I ordered was pretty pricy, and since I don’t have any money, who do you think paid for it?”
“Damn.”
“If it took me that long to figure it out, how long do you think it took them to figure it out. Plus along with all the DNA evidence we left behind, more than likely they will figure out exactly who I was with.”
“If I didn’t know better Eggman planned this.”
“No, Eggman couldn’t have done this on purpose, unless he was working with G.U.N.”
“Now that’s something I know isn’t true.” Shadow defied.
“Hey G.U.N wouldn’t hesitate to do that if it meant to catch me. I insulted Braxtonn by escaping that prison, and the fact he has a vendetta out for me and my sister too especially since he knows she is hiding me.” He said. “And he knows that everyone else has been hiding me too.”
“How long do you think we have?”
“When did they finish at the C.D.A’s club?”
“A couple of days ago.”
“We have at least a few hours then. They have to process everything first, and they will have to organize enough people to take me down as well as Sonic, and the others for helping me.”
“That is going to be a fair sized army.” Shadow said to himself.
“Shadow I know what happened on Space Colony ARK.” Blitscreet said calming down.
“What does that have to do with what we have now.”
“Everything.” He said sharply. “Fifty years ago they came for you showing no mercy to anyone.”
“They came to stop the Professor’s experiments, not me.” Shadow said reluctantly thinking back to that night.
“You were one of Professor Gerald’s experiments. I studied my history Shadow. When I was little, I was obsessed with the ARK, I did everything I could to get my hands on historical information about it.” He explained. “In fact I knew who you were when I got a good enough description.”
“So you think you know all about me.” He snapped at Blitscreet. “You know nothing.”
“I know you loved Maria.” He said calmly.
“Don’t you dare talk about her like she is an object for your point.”
“I’m not, even though I only had information and text books, I have a good feeling what kind of person Maria was.”
“Can we drop the subject.” Shadow was clearly bothered greatly by the constant mention of Maria.
“When you learn that just because the person you once knew is gone doesn’t mean you can keep all of you emotions bottled up.”
“You don’t know what it is like to lose someone.” Shadow roared at Blitscreet.
“That’s because I do everything I can to prevent it.” Blitscreet yelled back.

They stared at each other until Blitscreet could feel hi heart beating and he calmed down before he started bleeding again. He walked back inside grabbing his trench coat. He looked at the IV which had run out while they were conversing. He pulled it out before pulling on his coat and doing it up so it would stay on.

“Come on.” He said locking the house and turning off all the lights.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Shadow asked still angry.
“To Tails house.”
“Why?”
“Because that is where Jolteia is, and you owe her an apology.” Blitscreet said before turning around. “Are you going to warp us there or are we going to walk.”
“Who said anything about apologizing.” Shadow spoke defiantly.
“Unless you want my sister to just magically forgive you for taking the emeralds, you’re sorely mistaken.”
“What makes you think I want to apologise?”
“Because you really don’t want to be on her bad side. So can we leave before G.U.N shows up?”
“Fine. Chaos Control.” They warped off

Jolteia and Tails were making the final modifications to Blitscreet’s new arm.

“That went faster than I thought it would.” Jolteia spoke wiping some sweat from her brow.
“As I told Blitscreet, it’s not hard to build an arm.” Tails said placing it on the counter. “Too bad he has to wait until his arm heals fully to use it.”
“Then we better lock it up. He isn’t one for waiting.” Jolteia lifted it. “Surprisingly light.”
“I chose the same metal as I use for my planes. Its light weight, plus when we were moulding it I used one of the emeralds to direct some chaos energy into the metal before it hardened. G.U.N tries to infuse the metal with chaos energy after it hardens. The chaos energy doesn’t bond with the metal then.”
“So why did you infuse Blitscreet’s arm with chaos energy?” Jolteia was clearly puzzled.
“Chaos energy is indestructible, so now the arm is indestructible.”
“That is probably a good idea. What about my addition?”
“It’s infused as well, it is harder than it looks to make one of those, have to get everything just right.”

They admired their work before they seen a flash outside. Going to investigate, the seen Blitscreet and Shadow bickering.

“Ok, Blitz what the hell are you doing here?” Jolteia asked him with a slight hint of anger. “And the same goes for you  Shadow.”
“There is a good chance that G.U.N knows you were hiding me as well as the fact everyone else was too.” Blitscreet answered.
“And I’m here to apologise for taking the emeralds.” Shadow said reluctantly.
“Well I forgive you seeing as I cannot think of any ulterior motive for this, besides to take back the emeralds, but we both know what happened last time.” She smirked before turning to Blitscreet. “How long do we have before they show up?”
“We should have at least a couple of hours, at the least.”
“How do you know they are going to come for you?”
“I will show you. Hey Tails where is your remote?”
“I don’t have the slightest clue, haven’t seen it in a long time.” Tails called out from the shop. “Check either by the TV or in the couch. It may be under it too.”

Blitscreet checked the couch before finding it on the table next to it. He flicked on the military channel.

“What may I ask is this?” Shadow scoffed.
“It’s the channel that G.U.N uses for displaying all the criminals that had escaped, wait till you hear what they have for me.”
“They actually have you on there.” Shadow laughed. “I thought this was for criminals.”
“Oh trust me, compared to the rest of the bounties for information on the others, I even top Eggman, on their list.”
“Ok, now that is hard to believe.” Tails walked in just in time to see Eggman’s bounty. “Okay that’s pretty big for Eggman. How much money does G.U.N have?”
“So, over three million for Eggman. Let’s see you so called superior bounty.” Shadow laughed until Blitscreet’s bounty showed up on screen. “They are offering over five hundred million dollars for just information. How did you exactly piss Braxtonn off?”
“I know this is awesome.” Blitscreet laughed falling off the couch. “Oh crap I’m bleeding again.”

Blitscreet calmed down before hearing a crash in the shop.

“You okay Tails?” He called out going to investigate.
“Yeah I’m fine, ow.” Another crash was heard.

Blitscreet entered the shop seeing a pile of metal on top of Tails Pulling him out he caught the glint of something recently polished.

“What’s this.” He began to pull it out of the pile.
“That’s nothing you don’t need to see it.” Tails tried to get in the way but fell again.

When he pulled it out he almost fell before catching his balance. He held the arm in his hand not looking away. It was nearly a minute before he was able to speak again.

“You…you already built it.” He stuttered.
“Surprise.” Jolteia said helping Tails up.
“You will have to wait until you’re fully healed to put it on.” Tails said taking the arm.
“Why, wait.” Blitscreet took the arm back before ripping his bandages clean off.
“No Blitscreet, don’t” Tails said before Blitscreet placed the shoulder plate on his open wound.
“AAAAHHH!” Blitscreet cried out the instant the metal connected with the open flesh. The nerves, still flowing with electricity activated the arm.

Metal bands shot out from the shoulder plate wrapping them around Blitscreet securing the arm in place. The under plating on the shoulder heated up fusing itself to Blitscreet’s still open wound. Sensors on the underside connected with the nerves attaching them with small wires before sealing the flesh around. Flesh fused with the metal, permanently securing itself to his shoulder.

“Fuck that hurt.” Blitscreet said wiping the tears from his face.
“I tried to warn you.” Tails said offering his hand.
“No I’m good.” He waved his right arm.
“Blitscreet…” Jolteia motioned towards the arm.

Blitscreet looked at the arm he was waving. “Well Tails, I think that the pain was worth it.”

He stood up waving the arm around experimentally. He pulled the arm through the sleeve of his jacket allowing his coat to rest on the new arm.

“I can’t even feel the weight of it pulling on me.” He swung the arm in circles.
“That’s because it’s made of the lightest material I could find, as well as infused with chaos energy.”
“That’s why I can feel everything, even my coats fabric.”
“You can feel?” Jolteia spoke surprised.
“Guess connecting with live nerves, fooled his brain into believing the metal is his skin.” Tails shrugged.
“Something isn’t right.” Blitscreet looked at his new arm.
“There are a few modifications I added to Tail’s original design.”
“Such as?”
“Here I will show you.” Jolteia pressed on each side of Blitscreet’s wrist and a slot for a chaos emerald opened up.
“Why, do I need a place to store a chaos emerald in my arm? Can’t I just keep it in my pocket?”
“No here, I will show you what it’s for.” Before he could object, she took the blue emerald out of her pocket and stuck it in his arm, then closed the slot.

When the slot closed, Blitscreet’s hand glowed like the emerald before he nearly fell to the ground.

“Holy crap.” He said catching himself. “I never felt so alive, be right back”

He walked outside before sparking and running off, they then watched him run back and forth in front of the door to the shop until Shadow felt it would be funny to trip him. He watched him flip head over heels until he hit a tree stopping before speaking.

“What is his problem.” Shadow pointed with his thumb as he walked back inside.
“Think of when you turn into Super Shadow, that rush of energy.” Tails explained. “Only Blitscreet has one portion of that power.
“So pretty much he is six emeralds short of becoming Super Blitscreet.” Shadow laughed.
“No, he can’t go super, he can only increase his powers, strength, speed, and recover much faster.”
“You know if I didn’t know better I would think you are out to make sure he kicks my ass.”
“HOLY CRAP, I DIDN’T FEEL A THING!!!” Blitscreet yelled before running back.
“Blitscreet, calm down.” Jolteia tried to grab Blitscreet but he was too fast.
“It’s like I’ve had a hundred cups of coffee.”
“Blitscreet, close the connection with the emerald, its energy is a part of you, and too much of its energy is not good for you.” Shadow spoke.

Blitscreet calmed down before feeling the chaos energy and reducing its flow into his body. It wasn’t long before he had completely regained control.

“So are there any more things you have tucked away in this arm?” He asked looking at Tails and Jolteia.
“Just one more thing.” Jolteia said.
“So what is it, and how do I get it then?” He said squeezing his arm in random places.
“Not like that. You need to use your powers.” Jolteia replied.

Blitscreet allowed the arm to spark and waited for something to happen but nothing did.

“Yeah is there something I’m supposed to be doing?” He said swinging his arm before clenching it into a fist. “Wait, I felt something.”

He made a fist again and sparks erupted from it before the top of his wrist opened up.

“So what now?” He said.
“Make it come out.” Tails replied.
“How?”
“The arm is a part of you, you should be able to make it come out just by control alone.

Blitscreet tried again. This time he felt the object slide forward, when it had been fully extended he stared at it in awe.

“You forged a sword, and put it in my wrist!” Blitscreet said shocked. “How is that even possible?”

The blade itself was as long as Blitscreet’s arm. It was as wide as his fist but narrowed at the top. Along the side of the sword was lightning bolt, as well as streaks of metallic blue.

“Getting those streaks in was the hard part.” Tails said. “I tried just painting them on but when I simulated your powers using high electrical currents it crumbled and peeled off almost instantly. I had to find a metal that was naturally blue, lightweight, and highly resistant to damage.”
“And what metal would that be?” Blitscreet asked running his hand along the blade.

Tail went over to the pile of scraps and pulled out the remnants of Metal Sonic. “Eggman should really clean up after himself. Jolteia had someone forge it to exact specifications, I went through a lot of metal before Jolteia said she knew someone who could do it right.”

“It’s amazing, but how does it all fit into my arm?” Blitscreet swung his arm again feeling the blades weight.
“Do you really want us to go into detail on that one?” Jolteia asked stepping back.
“Good point. So what are we going to do about the G.U.N crisis?” Blitscreet said retracting the blade.
“What about G.U.N?” Sonic had appeared at the entrance. “And nice arm by the way.”
“They know I was at the Chaotix’s club last night, and they know who I was with.” Blitscreet said in a more serious tone. “And thanks.”
“I don’t see what the big deal is, it’s not like G.U.N will come after you knowing we have your back.” Sonic said before sitting down and cleaning his ear.
“For once the blue hedgehog makes a valid point.” Shadow remarked.

Blitscreet walked back into Tails living room as the rest of them followed.

“If anything Commander Braxtonn is going to find me what he does after that I don’t know.” Blitscreet said looking out the window.
“How do you know he is going to find you?” Tails asked.
“I can see him walking towards your house.” He pointed out the window. 

Sure enough there he was casually walking up to Tails house alone. He stopped once briefly to take a quick look around before continuing to the door.

“I think I will head out the back door.” Blitscreet ducked out back avoiding being seen from the window.

After a few minutes of waiting Braxtonn finally knocked on the door. Sonic decided to answer it, well Jolteia was going to answer it but Sonic got there first.

“Hi Commander, what brings you here?” Sonic said nonchalantly.
“You know exactly why Sonic. Where is the fugitive Blitscreet Voltix?” He demanded.
“And what makes you think he is here?” Shadow brought up sitting down sitting in a chair.
“Because this is the only place he could be that we haven’t checked.”
“So you sure you have checked everywhere else.” Sonic said smugly.
“I would cut the lip hedgehog, if you continue to pester me further I will arrest you for harassing an officer, aiding and assisting a fugitive, and interfering with an ongoing investigation.”
“Please, you can’t arrest me, and you know it.” Sonic retorted in a more serious tone.
“And why is that?”
“Because if you arrest me, the people will become enraged and ask why G.U.N has arrested the planets saviour. As well as if I am aiding a so-called fugitive, people will begin to think differently of him than the lies you have been spreading. Either way you lose Braxtonn. You arrest me the people start a riot, you arrest my friend, I speak out and people start a riot. I know for a fact you do not want the fall of the mighty Guardian Unit of Nations on your head.” Sonic was standing up and had a not so friendly look on his face.

Braxtonn knew he was beat, he knew he couldn’t do a thing to Blitscreet. It’s as if he planned it all out form the very beginning, he thought.

“I’m still giving him three hours to turn himself in.” Braxtonn spoke regaining his composure.
“Why wait?” Blitscreet was standing in the doorway. “Here I am.”
“Decided to come willingly then.”
“No, I was going to until I heard what Sonic said. I was running from you because I was scared. Scared for what you might do to Jolteia, scared to what might happen to Arius, and scared for what might happen if someone didn’t oppose you.” Blitscreet replied. “I’m done hiding, people are getting hurt because of it, and I can’t have that on my conscience anymore. You can’t touch me Braxtonn, I don’t care what you say. I will admit what my father did wasn’t right, if that was what he did, but taking out a vendetta on the rest of his family, my family, that is beyond childish.”

Braxtonn placed his hand on his holster unbuttoning the clasp.

“Oh, so you plan on shooting me, in front of everyone here.” Blitscreet said getting angry. “There is something you should know before you try.”
“Try, ha, your nothing but a cocky little prick. What could you possibly do that could even scare me, I seen the blood at the club downtown. Our forensics teams found enough pulverised bits of bones to determine that your one arm short.”

That was when Blitscreet drew his hands out of his pockets revealing his new arm. Braxtonn hesitated before slowly drawing out his gun. Blitscreet continued by extended the blade in his arm causing the Commander to hesitate further.

“I have new one, and it’s much better than the one I lost.” He said. “You seem afraid, I take it the old scar on your face is acting up.”
“You think I’m afraid on some punk who doesn’t even know how to wield a blade let alone how he plans to hit me with it before I shoot him.” He had his gun raised to Blitscreet’s head.
“You don’t know much about me do you?” Blitscreet laughed. “Unlike my father in not just going to let you shoot me, I have reason to live. Besides I picked up a few tricks while you had me in lock up.”
“Like what, I highly doubt you managed to escape beside out of pure dumb luck and the idiocy of the staff and security.”

Blitscreet smiled retracting the blade before letting a few sparks off. Braxtonn noticed these but thought nothing off it. Blitscreet relaxed before fully sparking up. He extended the blade and sliced it into three pieces. The Commander fell backwards before Blitscreet grabbed him by the jacket and threw him outside. He caught him just as he landed before slamming him into the ground. Sonic, Jolteia, Tails, and Shadow had followed him outside to watch.

“You call that dumb luck!” He yelled into the Commander face. “For seven months I was holed up in that building, even though the food was exquisite, it was seven months of my life wasted away, when I could have been with Arius. I will admit the one good thing that came out of this was reuniting with Jolteia. Now leave me and my friends, and my family alone! You already killed my father!”

The Commander looked away trembling at the last sentence. Blitscreet could fell his pulse increase with that last one.

“He…he isn’t dead…” Blitz stood up backing away before falling to the ground in tears.

The Commander said nothing standing up before walking away. Fuck, out of all my military training in dealing with hostile individuals, why, why did I have to slip up when he said that, he thought bitterly.

Blitscreet was on the ground when Jolteia walked over before she knelt down with him.

“He is alive, that bastard lied.” Blitscreet said slamming the ground with his fist.
“Who is alive Blitz?” Jolteia asked.
“Our father…” It was all he could say.
“What, but why, why would Braxtonn lie about something like that.” Jolteia was in tears as well now.
“To manipulate me, he used it to force my attack on him seven months ago, he didn’t want any chance of me turning out like him so he thought to imprison me, and thank god he didn’t find you.”
“To think our one chance at a normal life taken away immediately after we were born, taken away from us by that selfish bastard.” She cried.

The sat there until Blitscreet had calmed himself down long enough to stand up. He picked Jolteia up and they walked back over to Tails house.

“We’re going home now Tails, I need some rest, and it seems all the hard work Jolteia did today caught up with her.” He said holing Jolteia who had fallen asleep in his arms.  “I need some time to think as well.”
“Sure, I don’t think G.U.N will want anything else to do with you anymore though.”
“No, but I have a problem with them now, and this is one that I plan on solving.”
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
“That I can’t guarantee.” Blitscreet shut the door carefully holding Jolteia.

Blitscreet walked through town, getting looks from people. Most of them were looks of fear and panic. People went to their phones to call G.U.N. Eventually one person got brave enough to actually stand in his way.

“I would like it if you let the young lady go, I don’t care who you think you are but I can’t allow a beautiful girl to come to any harm at the hands of a criminal.” Said a trembling black feline.
“I will give you two reasons why I’m not letting her go. “Blitscreet said angrily. “For one, you couldn’t make me if you tried. And two, this is my fucking sister and if you think that if you even succeeded in taking her from me do you honestly think you will have even the most remote chance of getting into her pants. I know that’s what you planned on doing so don’t even deny it.”

The feline backed away and Blitscreet noticed the crowd drawing around him.

“Don’t believe everything you see on the TV. Get to know people before you start believing what you hear. I am a nice guy, and if you don’t believe me ask Sonic the Hedgehog.” Blitscreet said pushing his way through the crowd. “I’m not a liar either, about ninety percent of what G.U.N says about me isn’t true. Yeah I destroyed that building, but you wouldn’t believe me if I told you what they did to me in there.”

He left the crowd behind and headed towards Jolteia’s house. Upon passing Arius’ house he noticed the lights were on. I’ll drop Jolteia off and leave a note then head back he thought before seeing Arius’ silhouette in the window and broke into a brisk walk. After changing Jolteia out of her oil covered clothes he placed her in her underwear in her bed then taped a note to her forehead.

“I’m probably going to regret that when she wakes up.” He said closing her bedroom door softly.

He rushed back to Arius’ house and almost knocked on the door before deciding on surprising her. Arius heard a thump and hesitantly looked out to see someone on her balcony.

“Who’s there?” She hesitantly stepped out from the bathroom.

The person didn’t say anything only looked back. She cautiously walked over to the curtains and pulled the curtains. The person was gone when she pulled them open, but before she closed them she seen a shadow from behind her and turned to see him standing there with a look of admiration on his face.

“Blitscreet you jerk, you nearly gave me a heart attack.” She fumed at him. “What are you doing here, shouldn’t you be resting.”
“Don’t need to.” He took off his trench coat letting her get a better view of his new arm.

Before she could say anything he took her and laid her on the bed and kissing her passionately. She reached over and turned off her lamp.

Tails was cleaning up the mess he and Jolteia had created while rummaging throughout his workshop. Sonic and Shadow couldn’t resist another race. Cleaning through the mess he came across the emerald he gave Jolteia. Better go give it back to her, he thought. After putting the emerald away he finished cleaning up, before being interrupted.

“Hey Tail’s, you seen Sonic anywhere?” Knuckles was at the entrance to the shop.
“He is busy racing Shadow at the moment.”
“Ok.” Knuckles took a look at the mess. “You have another one of your spur of the moment inventions?”
“Sort of, Jolteia helped me build Blitscreet a new arm.” Tails dumped the remaining portion of Metal Sonic into his melting furnace.
“Cool, so where is it?” Knuckles started helping Tails.
“Blitscreet has it, he seen it and being much like you in listening he refused to wait until he was healed to put it on.”
“So then I’m going to have to wait until I see him next to get a good look at your new tech.” Knuckles threw the rest of the scrap metal into the furnace before closing the door.
“I thought you didn’t like my tech.”
“I never said that, I just said I preferred to do things myself.”
“So what did you need to talk to Sonic about?” Tails said looking at the now scrap free shop.
“Actually I was looking for Amy, but considering wherever Sonic is she is close behind I would find her.”
“So then why did you need Amy?”
“Tikal asked me to find Amy, something about a surprise.”
“She didn’t mention anything about what the surprise was then did she?” Tails asked curiously.
“Nope just said she had a surprise waiting for her.”
“Ok, anyways I have to go return this emerald to Jolteia, she left it here.”
“Ok, see you around.” Knuckles waved walking back over towards the mystic ruins.

Tails casually strolled through town before coming to a crowd that surrounded some TV’s in the window of a shop. He flew up to get a better look.

“Blitscreet Voltix was seen earlier this evening, carrying an unconscious female. When confronted to release her, Blitscreet claimed that it was his sister he was carrying and that the accusations that were made by G.U.N are false with the exception of his involvement in the destruction of G.U.N’s base outside of the city. This person also claims he personally knows Sonic the Hedgehog. Whether or not that this is true has yet to be confirmed. When asked about Blitscreet Voltix G.U.N Commander Marcus Braxtonn stated that they no longer had any interest in the fugitive and that the bounty they had placed was an extreme exaggeration made by a now unemployed soldier.” The reporter said.

“He is no longer of our concern, nor any threat to the immediate public. The person in question was falsely arrested due to false evidence and although he did destroy the prison it was scheduled for demolition anyways. No one was injured, and all escaped criminals have been rounded up and are being taken to G.U.N headquarters. We are now focusing our efforts in stopping Dr. Ivo Robotnik, aka Dr. Eggman.” Braxtonn stated in his interview. “No further questions.”

“Well that was interesting.” Tails spoke to himself before continuing on to Jolteia’s.

He was passing Arius’ house as he heard her scream. He was about to rush in when he heard another scream, only this one sounded more pleasurable.

“Aaaahhh, aaahhh.” Arius’ moans were audible from the street below.
“Ok, guess Blitscreet decided to pop in on Arius before she fell asleep.” Tails laughed to himself.

Tails made it to Jolteia’s house without further interruption. Along the way he couldn’t get the thought of Blitscreet and Arius out of his mind. Better be quick with Jolteia, need to get my mind off of that he thought speeding up. When he reached Jolteia’s house the light was on in her bedroom and her cursing was audible.

“Dammit Blitz, not funny.” She swore. “Did you have to use masking tape, was that really necessary?”
“Guess now isn’t really the best time.” Tails said to himself before starting to walk away.
“Oh hey Tails.” Jolteia called out.
“Hi, just came to bring back your emerald, you forgot it at my house.”
“Ok, be right down.”

Tails waited patiently for a few minutes before Jolteia came out the door, fully dressed.

“I would have been still asleep but Blitscreet decided to be an ass and tape a note to my forehead.”
“So that’s what that was about.” Tails said giving her the emerald.
“Yeah I accidentally pulled it off in my sleep and it hurt.” She said rubbing her head.
“Yeah well at least Blitscreet isn’t wanted by G.U.N anymore.”
“Guess he had Braxtonn convinced that messing with him wasn’t the best thing for his health.”
“Yeah that and he walked straight through the middle of town carrying you while you were asleep.” Tails spoke as they started making their way back into town. “It was on the news that some guy tried to make him put you down. Of course it didn’t work.”
“Yeah but now I think Blitscreet thinks he is invincible now. I think we should have just stuck with your basic design.”
“To late now, your decision to make the arm a permanent part of him kinda ruined that.”
“Yeah, I wonder what he is doing now.”
“Oh you will find out soon enough.” Tails laughed.
“What is that supposed to mean.”
“Just wait till we pass Arius’ house.”
“Wait what does…Ohh.”
“Yeah, let’s just say that everyone that passes them is gonna hear it.” Tails said before seeing a small crowd. “Too late.”

A small group of guys had crowded around in front of the house, some of them were videotaping it. Jolteia promptly smashed the cameras and phones before forcibly making them leave.

“Hey Blitscreet you might want to close the window!” Jolteia yelled. “People can hear your girlfriend’s moans for blocks.”

A few seconds later the lights turned on and Blitscreet came to the window before looking down at Jolteia.

“Hey how’s your head.” He laughed before she knocked him away from the window by shocking him.

Arius came to the window after laughing and closed it. The lights went out and Jolteia and Tails continued walking into town.

“I knew that shock wouldn’t hurt him, but I knew that it would send him flying backwards.” Jolteia laughed.
“I think seeing Arius laugh at him was even better.”
“Where are we going anyways.” Jolteia asked.
“I thought you knew.” Tails scratched his head.
“I guess we will head to the C.D.A, I figure I should at least apologise. Besides I could use a drink.”
“Sure, I wouldn’t mind lending them a hand either. Could build some security cameras for them.”
“Tails can you go one day without going tech savvy.” Jolteia asked.
“Don’t know never actually tried it.” Tails joked.
“Well can you just relax, it isn’t good for you.”
“I feel fine.”
“If you say so. But you need to relax, you’ve done so much for me and Blitz.”
“It’s no problem.”
“You keep saying that, please let me repay you.”
“No, you don’t need to repay me.” Tails said sternly before walking ahead.
“Fine, but Blitscreet isn’t going to just let it slide.”

When they arrived at the Club, the sign said closed but the door was unlocked.

“Hello, Vector?” Jolteia called out.
“Sorry we’re closed.” Vector came out from the back. “Oh hey, didn’t think I would see you two here. How’s your brother?”
“Blitscreet is fine, new arm and everything. Listen about last week, I want to pay for the damages.”
“No there is no need, it wasn’t your fault. It was that jerk Eggman.”
“Yeah but because Blitscreet was hurt your club was totalled because of G.U.N.”
“No problem, beside they only took the cheap stuff, all the expensive liquor stays under lock and key.”
“Still.” Jolteia wrote a cheque. “This should cover the damages, plus any remodelling you plan to do in the future.”
“Holy, that’s a lot of zero’s!” Vector stared at the cheque. “I can’t accept this.”
“Please, take it. You can use whatever is extra as future payments for me or my brother.”
“Ok, if you insist.” Vector passed Espio the cheque. “Cash this when you can and, keep it away from Charmy.”
“Ok.” Espio took the cheque before disappearing.
“So is that everything or can I get you something to drink?” Vector asked being the gracious host.
“No thanks Vector, I need to find some way for getting back at Blitscreet for taping a note to my forehead.”
“That’s it, just a note taped to your head.” Vector laughed casually.
“He used masking tape.”
“Oh, I would try the bucket of water over the door, classic but effective.”
“Yeah but he would notice that. I think I will just dump a bucket of water on him while he is sleeping, cold water.” Jolteia smiled.
“That works too.”
“Well, be seeing you Vector.” She waved as her and Tails left the club.
“Anytime.”

They walked for a couple of blocks before seeing Sonic at his favourite location in town. Shadow was standing there looking very annoyed.

“Did, you really have to stop and order? Couldn’t you have waited UNTIL we finished the race?” Shadow glared at him.
“You would never understand the delicacy that is the chilidog.” Sonic looked at Shadow clearly offended.
“Sonic if I didn’t know better I would say that you deliberately planned this.”
“And Shadow if I didn’t know any better I would say that, you didn’t realize that Sonic is that vendor’s number one customer.” Jolteia mocked.
“Glad to see your awake but shouldn’t you be home resting?” Shadow asked.
“Glad to see that you care, but no thanks to Blitscreet’s, little joke I’m wide awake. Besides I need to figure out some way to repay Tails.”
“Hey I said you don’t have to.”
“And I said I want to.”
“Just buy him some tools, Tails always needs tools.” Sonic said after licking his fingers.
“No I bought him a set of tools a while back, and these ones were military grade, they are designed to withstand pressure up to three thousand pounds.”
“Yeah, they work alright, there is just one problem.”
“And what is that?”
“G.U.N designed them and that their equipment wasn’t made for small projects. The tools are too big.”
“Oh, well there is that. Guess we are going shopping, I will buy you some other stuff too.”


Jolteia grabbed Tails hand while he reluctantly got pulled along. Shadow sighed before realizing Sonic had just bolted towards the finish line. He bolted after them as the vendor began to move his cart in the direction of Sonic’s house. Jolteia was dragging Tails through the streets. She neither stopped nor looked at any of the hardware stores they passed much to Tails surprise.

“I thought you wanted to buy me some tools.” Tails asked as he managed to catch himself from falling.
“We are, just heading to the best place to buy them that isn’t from G.U.N.”
“And where would that be?” Tails asked.
“Just up ahead.” Jolteia pointed to an older shop that looks as if it hadn’t been visited in years.
“Are you sure about this? I don’t like the look of that place.”
“I know the owner personally, besides he makes all of his tools. You name it he can forge it.”
“So that’s who you got to forge the sword. I guess it wouldn’t be too hard to meet this master blacksmith.”
“Yeah especially since he forges everything he has with chaos energy so it never breaks and never ages.”
“He has a chaos emerald!” Tails spoke astonished.
“Yeah, don’t tell Shadow. Well let’s go in shall we.” Jolteia help open the door for Tails.

What Tails seen both amazed and intrigued him. Adorning the walls were countless weapons, as well as numerous tools and other metal objects. Although the outside looked old and dingy, the inside was remarkably clean, with almost everything adorned with a metal object.

“Hey Burner, you in here?” Jolteia called out.
“Yeah one sec just finishing up on my latest project.” Came a voice from behind a closed door.
“Ok, I’ll be right here, when you’re done.”

When the door finally opened a massive blood red, fox stepped out followed by a rush of heat from the furnace. He was taller than even most humans. His hands were pitch black, as well as the tip of his tail. He wore a pair of darkened goggles. The only other thing he wore besides this was a pair of black steel tipped work booths and heavy brown pants.

“Whoa…” Tails stared in awe.
“I have that effect on most people, don’t worry I don’t bite.” He said removing his goggles revealing a pair of cyan colored eyes. “So what can I do you for Jolteia?”
“My friend here needs some tools, preferably smaller ones.”
“Ah, the famous Miles Prower. I have heard a lot about you, both from the news and from Jolteia.”
“Surprising I haven’t heard anything about you besides that you do smith work.”
“I don’t like to be well known. I don’t need G.U.N breathing down my neck asking for weapons. I can forge anything but firearms.”
“Yeah I remember the last time you tried that.” Jolteia said.
“Aye, nearly killed my daughter and myself, If not for you.” He said giving her a hug.
“Easy big guy, you reek of metal.” Jolteia said returning the hug before pushing him away. “Besides you would have bled out had I not heard the explosion.”
“So what exactly happened?” Tails was once again curious.
“I tried to make a unique firearm. Designed to shoot larger rounds with a smaller gun. I accidentally placed the gun to close to the gunpowder.  The gun barrel was still cooling and in my hurry to assist my daughter in unloading more metal, it fell into the gunpowder. I didn’t forge it with chaos energy so it shattered sending metal fragments everywhere due to it still not solidifying. A few of them hit me and my daughter. Jolteia managed get her fixed up but I had to be taken to the hospital.”
“Yeah being big isn’t a good thing when you have metal fragments flying at you.”
“True, so what tools do you need.” Burner spoke cracking his knuckles.
“I don’t know at the moment, Jolteia didn’t let me get a list.”
“No problem, doesn’t have to be tools, anything you want I can make it, as you can see along the wall.”

Tails thought for a minute before walking through the piles and coming up on a small device that intrigued him. He picked it up examining it closely.

“It’s a plasma cannon. Developed it a while ago when I used to make things for my oldest friend. It’s the smaller version for hand use. If you want you can have it I never actually had any use for it. Besides I don’t want G.U.N to get their hands on it.”
“But why not melt it down?” Tails asked placing it over his hand.
“You can’t melt plasma, plasma melts metal  so it would just burn a hole in my furnace and that will be a hard mess to clean up.”
“So all I do is squeeze the trigger to fire it?” Tails aimed it feeling the trigger.
“Yeah but the plasma has to be charged so all it will do is activate it.”

Tails held the hand cannon before pulling. Despite what Burner said the cannon did indeed fire. It hit Burner in the chest and he laughed.

“Oh shit I’m sorry.” Tails pulled off the cannon and put it carefully on the table.
“No problem, not the first time I got hit by that thing. Best part is plasma disperses on impact.” He wiped off the scorch marks.
“How are you not burnt?” Jolteia asked  startled.
“Ever since I was little I couldn’t be burned or hurt by any fire. That’s why my items are works of art.”
“Wait so your saying you forge everything with molten metal just using your bare hands?” Tails was astonished.
“Yeah, I figure better than using a hammer and tongs. Plus molten metal is easier to work with that waiting for it to harden a bit.” He headed to the back. “You can have the cannon. All you need to do it keep it charged.”
“I can honestly say I don’t know much about plasma, what happens if I run out?” Tails asked picking up the cannon again.
“Technically lightning is a form of plasma. Just give it some juice and it will keep on shooting.”
“Ok.”
“Well thanks Burner, see you around.” Jolteia waved as they headed out the door.
“Have a good night you two.” He waved back replacing his goggles over his eyes.

As they headed back to Jolteia’s house Tails was admiring the small device.

“Amazing. He managed to contain plasma inside a device and use it for a weapon.”
“Yeah it’s pretty neat, surprised he let you keep something so dangerous. Especially after you shot him.”
“Hey I didn’t mean to, this thing has a sensitive trigger.” Tails replied sounding hurt.
“I know. Just don’t go taking that apart, I know you want to but it could kill you especially since plasma is highly conductive.”
“Yeah. So you gonna get Blitscreet back tonight or tomorrow morning?” Tails asked.
“Probably tomorrow, he is a heavy sleeper so I’m gonna get Arius in on it too.”
“I’m sure he isn’t gonna be happy about that but then again I have a feeling he won’t be able to do anything about it.”
“Of course he won’t be able to do anything about it, and that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

Jolteia laughed as her and Tails continued on their way back to her house. Burner watched from the shop window. He walked over to a picture hidden behind a piece of metal hanging on the wall. He took it down before sighing. In the picture Burner was standing beside a blue cat who was wearing a black trench coat.

“If only you could see your daughter now. I’m sure you would be proud old friend.” He placed the picture back on the wall rubbing off some dust.
