S2

Sally dashed to the entrance chamber as the team returned, noticing at once the stretcher the medics had taken into the chamber. Lying on it was a blue hedgehog, Sally only knew he was blue because she had met this hedgehog before, but at the moment he was more red than anything else, the moist, dark red of spilt blood.

"What happened!" she asked the Echidnas behind the stretcher, following the blood matted form,

Knuckles turned to her "I'm sorry Sal, we failed, we were attacked by his heaviest Badniks, E – 4911s, Juggernauts." He told her, his face weary

It was only then that she noticed how badly injured the others were; Knuckles was missing two dreadlocks, one sliced at an angle, the other burned off close to his head, there was a long cut across his eye and another across his chest.

Axel, the other Echidna who was stumbling along beside Knux looked worse off, his visor was cracked and appeared to have shorted out, hence the stumbling, one of his cybernetic dreads looked like it had exploded and his coat was riddled with bullet holes and drenched with blood and oil.

There were also less Echidna commandos that there had been when they had left.

Sally came to her senses and withdrew her communicator, keying in a frequency,

"Tails, get some techies up here, Axel and some of the commandos need help with their cybernetics" she told him, checking the condition of the commandos,

A voice came back out of her portable comm, "Rodger that Sally, techies inbound, five minutes tops, Tails out" He said before Sally keyed in another frequency,

"Med bay, you've got one hedgehog inbound, major injuries, Isopod probably needed," she told them,

"Just one hedgehog?"

"Yes," she sighed, "just one, and send some medics up here as well"

"Will do, Med bay out"

She pocketed the comm and turned back to Knuckles who now had Axel's arm over his shoulders, helping him walk as his visor died completely

The brown furred echidna was grinning a little, "hey," he groaned, "Who turned out the lights?" he laughed a little before he realised that laughing hurt

Knuckles turned to Sally, remembering something, and she could see the darker red of hedgehog blood staining his crimson fur,

"Sal, the Badniks, we may have been followed, they might have found the transport station, I'll take a few back to check it out once I get Axel seen to"

Sally placed her hands on her hips, "Knuckles Echidna, you will do nothing of the sort, you are in no state to go any more rounds with Badniks and if I know you, you're running on a stim pack and adrenalin alone" she told him, forcing him, and consequently Axel (who was grinning at his boss being told off by Sally), to sit on the ground, "one of your squad commanders can handle it, that's why you've been training them"

Knuckles drooped a little as the stimulants in his bloodstream began to wear off, "but Sal, I failed to get him back, I should at least stop the Badniks finding the teleporter in the station" he said weekly

Sally's gaze softened, "I know Knux, I know you fought tooth and claw to get there and back, but there's no sense in getting yourself killed out there, then you wouldn't be able to try another rescue," the medics and techies came down the corridor and began to see to the wounded and damaged, "You get fixed up and get some rest" she told him, hugging him before leaving in the direction of central control

Upon entering the command room she turned to a black and green echidna at the holostation in the corner, the holographic keyboards flashing under his fingers as he typed, the screen projected by the headpiece scrolling through data,

"Mist" she called, the figure turned to her, the screen becoming transparent, "Run a search through the Robotropolis mainframes, find out what they intend to do to him"

"Aye Ma'am" he nodded and returned to the holostation, hunting through the Robotropolis computers for what was planned for the captive they had been so desperately trying to rescue,

Sally turned to a racoon that was watching a bank of screens,

"Jake? How are base defences?" she asked him,

He nodded, "they're all online and ready to go at a moments notice," he told her

"And flying fortress?"

"Its all quiet at their end, lucky devils"

They were distracted from their checks when Mist called out that he had found the information,

"Sonic Hedgehog scheduled for…robotisation" he said, finding the info he was searching for, turning to Sally and the rest of the command staff who were staring at him, their faces aghast, "I…I'm…sorry, Ma'am, I truly am terribly sorry"

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