Well hello, and welcome to the fifth collaboration between myself and Therix (DA page can be found here: )
This is the second installment in the Uncivil Trilogy. While Fiona's life has become a dead-end of depressed subservience, things on Mobius are exploding.
"Detection's looking good guys. We're still off the radar and I'm not picking up any patrols coming after us!" Shouting above the wind blasting around them, Tails found his attention divided between the Death Egg, a giant sphere of metal hanging in the air above Mobius, and the many little displays mounted in the cockpit of the Tornado. The little craft had been taking to the skies for a few years now and honestly given the option there were better stealth craft available, but they really didn't have the option. The countdown had begun and they either went with what they had, or found themselves on the receiving end of whatever weapon the station was designed to house.
Still, it wasn't the worst thing to have. Its slimmer frame and design gave it a pretty small radar image without advanced equipment and despite its age relative to other craft, the fox had kept it maintained in his spare time and it still functioned undeniably well.
"Nicole, any way in?" Sonic and Sally nestled in the seat behind him, the squirrel lady held in by the hedgehog's tight grip. If it were any other pair, it would have been awkward, but as it stood she barely noticed, focussed on the pad pressed between her fingers. They'd needed more time, more time to get a better aircraft, a larger team, and solid plan. Instead, they were running in on fumes, good guesses, and the AI lynx's first ever body. Not good.
"I've scanned the outer surface, and there's no way in other than the main hangar bay, and obviously that's not going to be an option." Nicole's voice crackled through the speaker.
"Looks like we have to make our own way in, then." Sonic spoke up.
"Sonic, none of us have a weapon that can penetrate it, unless you think it's a good idea to try using the synth-Emeralds to transform." Sally sighed.
"Actually..." Tails grinned. "I might have taken the liberty of upscaling Rotor's schematics for Bunnie's railgun and mounting it on the Tornado, but I'll need to put the plane into Battle Mode to use it, or I might damage the prop."
"And that'll light us up like a firework on their radar." The lynx almost sighed without lungs. "They'll be all over us!"
"Then we get creative." A thumb on a button and he opened the channel to the rest of the team, two relatively small but just as loud objects, hurtling through the air around them. "We need to go loud and there are patrols everywhere. You guys alright to dance with some scouts?"
"What have you got in mind?" Rotor's voice came back minus the blast of wind from within an insulated battlesuit, an advanced combat machine he kept on standby for situations like this.
"Going to need to blast a hole in the outer shell, but I'll need time to change, deploy the gun, fire and check the shot. About twenty seconds all told." Everything was running on the barest minimum of time here, down to milliseconds. Between political instability generated between Ixis Naugus and the Acorn crown, Robotnik's continued harrying of Mobian society and Fiona's flight to Moebius, the Freedom Fighters had been losing ground for a while now. It had only been a matter of time before things came to a head, and right now the only mercy, the smallest of them, was that Robotnik was the only one making a move at the moment.
"We can handle that, Sugah." Bunnie shouted back, being decidely less-insulated than Rotor. "We'll go and make some noise, get 'em off yer back. If ya need closer cover, just holler."
"Roger. Good luck, guys."
"Same to you, Tails."
The line died, as both of the smaller fliers turned, wheeling away from the Tornado's wings. Up here, this high, the massive station looked positively monolithic despite their distance from it. They could count themselves fortunate that the construction was so massive. It necessitated massive networks of service and maintenance tunnels throughout the entire dermal layer of armour, giving them a choice of weak spots when using a weapon this precise. On top of that its sheer bulk and electrical presence meant that most of its monitoring equipment was less effective, somewhat disrupted by the behemoth they were mounted to.
Putting things simply, if they shot at it with a weapon with such precision and power as the railgun, an energy-driver mounted beneath the main body, then they would likely make some sort of entrance, and it would take a little while to be detected properly into the bargain.
"Nicole, any good locations for me?"
The AI took a moment, then responded. "Artillery battery, eleven o'clock. Not getting any obvious power usage, so just above it. There has to be some loading room there."
"That should do nicely."
"Putting it up on your HUD now."
"Target acquired..." But they still had time left. Fire too early and they'd have drones everywhere. Too late, and they'd become a wet mark on the side of their foe's station.
Idly he thumbed the trigger controls, everything concerned with the manoeuvrability and dogfighting capacity of his vehicle built into the joystick. He even engaged a countdown on a spare display, though he didn't need it; calculations like this weren't the most precise of sciences, but it was a little more reassuring having it in front of him. Besides, it meant a timer free of distraction.
Three.
Two.
One.
Bingo.
A depressed stud and a twist of the throttle and the Tornado shook, internal mechanisms grinding through into familiar motion. Struts retracted and the wings split, the prop coming to a sharp halt, folding and retracing into the nose-cone. For a few moments, deprived of its main lift and thrust, they were in freefall. But it wasn't done yet.
The nose split once again alongside a port at the rear of the plane, the entire construction splitting down the midsection and elevating it a few crucial inches. Within curved plates extended and locked together and then they surged forward once again, the concealed jet engine roaring into life, pre-charged. Ten seconds done.
It was a combat mode. He didn't even need to deploy the railgun, a hatch dropping open on the craft's belly and the heavy coaxial weapon dropped and extended to full length, the first charge humming in the firing chamber as around them radars pinged and whined. They'd noticed, tearing away from established routes and circling down before him. The blurs of his comrades intercepted them early and a bright ripple of explosions and shrapnel split the space as they opened up with their own equipment and brute force.
Five seconds, and he fired. With no solid projectile to expel it was almost instant and came with no recoil, a thin dot of light easily outpacing them, becoming a glint against the dangerously close outer shell, and then an explosion. A vibrant storm of blue energy it tore past metal and cabling above a bulbous old gun placement, and through the cloud of dust the fox glimpsed open space. That was all they needed.
"Jump!"
Sonic unbuckled himself and Sally, carefully picked her up, and hurled himself from the plane, triggering a boost in mid-air, driving the pair of them towards the opening. They sailed in through the rent and away from the howling winds, the hedgehog pivoting to align himself properly with the floor. His feet touched the ground and suddenly he was in control again, his natural abilities kicking in and killing their momentum with the squirrel's head cradled in his arms. Didn't want to land just for whiplash to get her.
He stopped, halting feet from the wall and spun, just in time to watch as Tails dropped away, a similar trick having been performed by the ace pilot, but with differing results without the benefit of a floor. He'd be fine.
"You alright, Sal?" Sonic asked, setting the squirrel down gently. Patting herself down, to make sure she hadn't lost anything in the jump, she nodded, even as she pressed a finger to her earbud.
"Bunnie, Rotor, we're in. You're all clear to join us."
"Roger that, Sally-Gal."
"We'll be there in a second."
"Tails, stay below the Death Egg, up close to it. You'll be able to shoot anything that comes out of the hangar before they can turn around and dive to meet you."
"Okay, Aunt Sally."
"Hey Sal, I checked the room over. Nowhere for you to plug Nicole in, but there are security cameras, so the Lord of Lard probably knows we're here." Sonic piped up.
"I'd hazard a guess that blasting a hole in the side of his battle station might've clued him in."
"With the sheer size of the place it probably took a bit to reach him though." The AI chirped a little more positively. "Most of the stuff is wired, so lots of minor magnetic interference, and a relatively long time travelling from A to B."
"But he still knows we're here, right?"
"If he doesn't, he will in a few moments."
The klaxons began to wail, automatic responses, as their colleagues joined them, two armoured bodies drifting in out of the atmosphere and into a quieter environment. The Rabbit's fur where it was still organic was matted and tussled by the air, but you couldn't even see Rotor. Full-body armour added a fair whack of height to him, enough to make one think super soldier rather than scientist.
Sonic and Sally headed over the door, covering the two newcomers as they steadied themselves. It wouldn't be long before robots began to arrive, if only to extinguish the fire. Still, now they were here phase two would be more simple. Bunnie and Rotor would again provide a distraction, while Sally found somewhere to plug Nicole in and download the schematics. Then, Sonic could head to detain Eggman and destroy whatever overcomplicated mech the madman had brought with him this time, while she located the core and shut it down.
In reality they were leaving far too much to chance going with such a thin team, but hey, it was what they had. With any luck between the three of them, Sonic and the other two could make enough noise to let Sally and Nicole through undetected. The reality was that the squirrel and AI were the key to the plan; everyone else just had to improvise if they could, and maybe Tails would find something breakable down there.
"Sal, let us get going first, yeah?" Sonic's thinking was simple – make himself a target and they'd forget to notice her.
"Stagger it. Bunnie and Rotor go in first and start the distraction. Then you go for Eggman. You don't get held up as much that way, and we can cover each other's backs a while longer. I don't want to sound selfish, but I'd rather I wasn't left alone for very long on this thing."
"Well, let's get it going then." With the protective cases folding back over his thruster systems Rotor took the lead, eyeing the blast door, the defensive cover having slammed down to limit the damage. Just an environmental seal, nothing more. It'd buckle fairly easy. Getting up close he squatted, forcing the suit's fingers through the more pliable rubber border, bracing and engaging the heavy-lifting hydraulics.
The gate squeal the most, its own pistols objecting to violent force as he straightened, slowly, grinding it against whatever was trying to keep it closed until, with a rattling clang, something important broke, and the resistance dropped away. Above head height he let go, rather satisfied with the field test, leaving the mangled mechanisms to hold the thing up.
"Okay, it couldn't do that before."
"New servos." The walrus grinned behind the helmet. "In any case, we'll see you two later. Good luck."
"Thank you." Sally nodded, as both of her friends' engines warmed up again, blasting them down the corridor. They'd find something breakable, between them. "Sonic?"
"Yeah?" She leant across, delivering a quick peck on the cheek, a quick moment of encouragement. "Go get 'em."
"Sal, you're a real gem. Ya know I don't need luck." He laughed, grinning that same cocksure grin he always wore before a fight. It took a hell of a lot to really phase the blue blur, but it was almost a calling card to how bad things really were. He kept going, there was always a shot.
"Well, best to stack the odds in your favour." She prodded his chest, returning the grin. "Now get going."
"Got it." He flicked a two-fingered salute at her, before taking off at a light jog, so as to not get too far in before Bunnie and Rotor could do their part. Sally watched after him, then pressed her earbud again.
"Guys, I'm moving to another room. Even with the distraction, the hole's going to be a magnet for them." She announced, slipping quietly through the ruined door, scanning the corridor for a side-room.
She moved slowly, keeping to the wall with half an eye on the ceiling and searching for anything that might trigger another alert. The rest of the group might have been setting off every warning they could find on their way, but the organic presence on the base was never more than a handful, and Robotnik kept all of them close to the chest. If she got rumbled, she'd be as loud on the systems as Sonic was.
"Hey Nicole, you've been running simulations, right? What are our options for taking this thing out?"
"Setting a controlled crash-course would be ideal, though accessing the bridge is not really viable, and doing so would potentially take too long. Overloading the core is also an option, but the destruction would leave wreckage raining down on anything below, and the blast itself may be too much for the city shield." The AI responded. "I have two viable options: The first is to do enough damage, by ruining computers and whatever main weapon he has pointed at the city, that he deems the mission he is on impossible, and flees. With this done, we can make a more coordinated assault and enact one of the former two solutions. The second is to apprehend or terminate the upper echelons of the staff. By taking out Eggman himself, and Snively and Lien-Da, we can effectively end the war itself. With that done, the Death Egg can stay where it is until we find a safe way to destroy it."
Well, the others had their first idea covered. Sonic didn't pay much mind to what he hit when Robotnik was involved, and he would cause a respectable amount of collateral damage even without trying. Rotor and Bunnie on the other hand…well, that was their job here. Destroy what they could and keep the defensive forces from homing in on Sally. That left taking out the command groups as their best option. "Where are Snively and Lien-Da right now?"
"I'm guessing we're going with option B then. I can't just lock in on them without access to the station's systems, but they'll be somewhere in the control sphere. There are a few secondary command rooms to handle individual tasks in case the main one goes down."
"Think you could shut the weapon down from there?"
"Just plug me in and I can probably do something." So if Nicole could get herself a physical connection, they had a shot. Snively likely wouldn't pose much of a threat on his own, so all she would need to do would be take care of Lien-Da. "We can get there through one of the secondary elevators – I'll give you directions."
"Right."
Sally quietly ducked out of her second hiding place, scanning the corridor for unwanted company. Seeing nothing that posed an obvious threat, she made her move, keeping herself as silent as possible. Despite their high rank, neither Snively nor Lien-Da would be on the bridge during an assault- both were far too eager to dispatch the mad doctor, and as such, he tended to order them to be kept away from primary controls while he himself was not present.
"Take a left at the end. Then across the intersection, and the second right."
The squirrel moved cautiously, stopping at every turn or alcove and checking her surroundings before moving on; robots could come from absolutely anywhere on this station. Empty. Every corner and turn-off, empty, and she pulled up short before the final turn, perplexed. Either Sonic and the others were doing their job extremely well, or something was out of place. "Shouldn't there be a repair team right about now?"
"Maybe a small hole in the outer shell isn't high on their priorities, or they're busy somewhere else. Either way, they won't be down our path. You wouldn't keep repair units in the command bay."
"You're right, I wouldn't, but competent station design isn't something I'd expect from Eggman. You saw how poorly-defended this thing was from the outside. He's got such an obsession with his warped 'game' with Sonic that he likely designed this place more as a maze to test him than as an actual, tactically viable fortress. Who knows what bizarre decisions he's made just to keep important things away from Sonic." Sally mused.
"Sally, testing Sonic with maintenance robots is about as effective as hoping Tails would fail an Elementary school test."
They both laughed at the sentiment, but the point was taken nonetheless. The bizarre, egotistical dictator absolutely loved subjecting Sonic to increasingly eccentric obstacles and traps, but they were always something he expected the hedgehog would actually find a challenge. A box on wheels with a welding torch probably didn't fit into that category.
Her words proved true regardless, coming to a signature set of sliding elevator doors with little further ado, a password access panel barring access on a closed network. A quick connection and the AI breezed through the firewall, and they were stepping in momentarily.
"Alright, going up." The lift shunted, racing upwards faster than the squirrel had expected. "I also took the time to cut out any response to the call buttons on other floors."
"Thank you."
"We should be there in a few seconds." The elevator shrieked upwards along its rails, towards the command rooms. In reality such a sensitive location should have been harder to access, but most didn't have access to Nicole.
The metal box slammed to a halt against the edge of its operational limits, inertial dampers surrounding the case cancelling any momentum that might have been conserved within. It was the only safe way to function at these speeds without pasting an organic occupant, not that there were many to worry about.
The door slid open without any fanfare, hissing back to allow its passengers out into a small cube of a room, one wall plastered with screens and consoles, the other with thick black cables.
"This seems too small..."
"Most of these appear to be devoted to smaller systems. As an aside, we're far enough away from the others that we might actually run into assailants now, so watch your motion trackers. "
"Of course." The squirrel nodded. "Can you get the door open wirelessly, or is it secure enough here to require a hardline?"
"Every system here is probably going to be isolated from all the rest. We'll have to find the controls for the main gun, otherwise I'll have to try and loop back through another system and that could take time we don't have." She'd been running simulations in her head since they'd deployed. Already a vanguard program was prepared, ready to inject in case things went wrong. Worst case scenario she could send a killer program to follow it, but it'd be like trying to climb a waterfall.
"Alright, alright." She kept them moving forward, plugging the AI into the door's keypad to do her thing with one eye on the display fitted to her forearm. Motion trackers…only reliable system for situational awareness in a place with so much going on technically.
"How thick is the security?"
"Not particularly. Just a simple password." Nicole's voice echoed back. "I'm inputting all possible codes." Normally just going with a trial-and-error like that would send an error code back and lock itself down, but she was on top of that. Every time one went out, it just ran straight into her, and didn't get much further. "You've got to be joking." She blinked internally.
"Something wrong?"
"Well…no. Someone's defaulted all the passwords back to a basic top to bottom sequence. I was expecting some awful egg-based pun, but nothing. The guys must have broken something important."
"Or the hundreds of traitors he encourages are trying to make some sort of move and changing them to benefit themselves..."
"Also a possibility. Nevertheless, door's open."
Sally unplugged Nicole, clipping the AI's unit back onto her boot. Stepping quickly and quietly towards the door, she glanced at the tracker on her wrist. Still no movement, but that didn't mean anything. It could mean that death was standing still. Still, had to keep moving.
Pressing the keypad a final time lifted the heavy shutter, and this time it looked like she was in the right place. Massive compared to the pokey cupboard of a room she was leaving, and no possible doubt that these were the main gun controls.
Well, it was practically plastered across every surface.
Big warning signs, giant observation screens, even a courtesy roboticization chamber installed halfway into the wall. A sort of dome of operations, what little of the room wasn't panels of controls was taken up by banks of wiring and displays reading off constant reams of information too fast to decipher. They had to be in the right place – Robotnik's ego wouldn't allow for anything less.
Scanning every corner of the chamber for occupants lying in wait for her, Sally crossed to the largest terminal, and plugged Nicole into it.
"Alright, let's get to work."
"Already hitting the firewall... We know someone has been here before us, so I'm going to be careful... I have the horrible lingering sense that this is a trap..."
"Doesn't take a genius to figure that…" The squirrel turned slowly, surveying the room once again beyond her initial glances. Rather fittingly, it was too quiet. Even with everyone else off causing trouble, this was far too easy. "So come on, who's hiding?"
She didn't get an answer. Well, not a verbal one, anyway. It came as a faint shudder of disturbed air resonating in the centre of the room, lashing out and coiling round her neck. She caught the briefest glimpse of crimson fur, dreadlocks and dark leather before a shock jolted across her spine and she was torn down and off her feet, shoulder smacking on the ground with stars popping in her eyes.
"So…it's you." Lien-Da. Of course, hiding here of all places. An Echidna femme fatale and she'd chosen here to rut of all places. Struggling with agitated limbs Sally felt the semi-prehensile whip uncoil from her neck, the cruel lady letting her cloak disintegrate and beginning to pace round her.
"You know, this is really quite precious. I mean honestly, using the blue guy as a distraction? Letting other people take the fall?" The red lady leered, grinning down at her prey. "Creeping around and sticking a knife in where it hurts most? A woman after my own heart – I might even start to cry. Oh, but what's this?" And like a cat, she found something else. Her eyes drifted from the squirrel on the floor, certain she was not a threat, coming to rest on the handheld fitted between racks of buttons on the console, and her face lit up. "And friends!"
"Damnit…" Sally had been through worse, psychologically and mentally, but it was still a crippling strike. Bristling with enhancement and cybernetics, she wasn't sure if Lien-Da was more organic or mechanism at this point, but she knew what she was capable of. Internal heads-up display, wired reflexes and boosted strength, and powered whips integrated into her arms to boot. Then she realised something. That attack had meant to knock her out, so why hadn't it?
Through blurred vision she saw the Echidna pluck the palmtop from the panel, poking at the screen and the wires attached. As she stood, shakily, trying to shiver off the after-effects of the attack she saw the screen go blank, as her AI friend locked down access to avoid complicating matters, and it sank in.
Grounding. Of course – when the shock had gone off she'd grasped, flailed, grabbed the console, and the shock had been dissipated, leaving little more than a lingering throb from the passing current. Sure, it hurt, but it left her far from defenceless, and that was her advantage.
She almost fell forward into a run, feet pounding against the ground as she broke forward against the distracted lady. Lien-Da saw her coming and twisted, dropping the handheld and throwing a backhand intended to crush her windpipe. The heavy strike met air as Sally's knees bucked in and the squirrel herself tilted backwards, sliding neatly under the strike. With her own momentum and one hand free she gripped the Echidna's face at the jaw and powered forward, thrusting her back and smashing her face into the console, her own momentum arrested and balance regained in the process.
Her grip relaxed and her hand slipped back, only a fraction of an inch as her opponent still reeled from the surprise attack and then fastened tight once again around the jaw itself, tearing back and launching Lien-Da back away from her and the console, rolling to a scraping, shaking halt back to where she'd started, right in the centre of the room. A few moments of silence and the Echidna dragged herself back to standing, looking visibly shaken and shocked. Wired reflexes were fast – much faster than a regular Mobian could counter, but that didn't count for anything if you knew your attacks in advance.
Not normally given to violence, but recognising the need to finish this quickly, the squirrel was already upon her, bringing the reinforced heel of her boot down towards her skull. Eyes widening for a moment, she caught her ankle, twisting it sharply. Thrown completely off balance, the squirrel fell, colliding with her assailant as she landed. Hands gripped the back of her vest and the world shifted again, thrown round in an arc, cracking hard against the wall. She'd gotten that first attack in with luck and good timing, but there was no guarantee she could repeat it.
Something powerful slammed into her stomach, forcing the air from her lungs and filling her mouth with the taste of bile. Definitely not.Nevertheless she kept going, forcing herself upright, propped against the wall. Unsteadily she blocked a second haymaker, striking out with a foot in response. Lien-Da was faster. Each kick, she stamped down. Each punch she twisted aside and delivered one of her own.
Come on... can't get bogged down with attacking... got to regroup. Feigning a strike from her left, she lashed out with her right instead, staggering the older woman just long enough to slip from her grasp and put a little distance between the two of them. She staggered slightly, reeling from the pain. She swayed backwards, part tactical move and part dizziness, shifting her way towards the console. "Nicole…how's it going?"
"I'm practically there, just a bit longer!" Firewalls, no problem. Intrusion countermeasures? Could have taken care of them in her sleep. Closing the massive firing chamber and cooling down the goliath of a mechanism? That was taking the time. So many little systems to pick apart.
"You really think that just because this machine is shut off, I'll let you go?" The echidna smirked. "The only reason I didn't take her out with my second whip was because I want her to succeed."
"I don't follow... Even if you do want Eggman gone, why ruin one of his plans instead of taking it over?"
"Well, that's easy to understand if you know what the big gun actually is..." She went on, baiting her opponent, taunting her with the knowledge.
"And that is?"
"Oh, just the primary firing point of a planetary scale roboticizer."
"Shit…" the revelation in itself was enough to take a step back.
"Yeah, shit is right." Lien-Da leered. "As ambitious as the doc is, I kinda like a world where everyone is trying to fuck each other over. Makes it easier for me to have my fun. Really not interested in everyone being robots. So go ahead, turn it off. Oh, you don't need to thank me for resetting the passwords for you – this is payment enough." Swinging her arms out to her sides the twin lines of her whips cracked from spur chambers in her forearms, arcs spiking between them and the floor.
World roboticiser…they'd thought he was just planning to wipe out the city. This raised the stakes.
"Sally, it's done."
"Excellent!" Lien-Da smirked, lashing one whip toward the small computer. Sally dove to intercept, snagging the computer and clipping her back onto her boot. The second whip struck her back, electricity charging through her body. This time, this one time, she didn't hold back, pushing up the charge to the limits a Mobian could withstand. The squirrel went into shock this time, muscles thrashing about of their own accord. Her nervous system ignored her frantic attempts to regain control, numb charge paralysing her movements and leaving her to shiver on the ground as she was reeled in by the Echidna.
Nonchalantly she removed the palmtop from her opponent's boot once again, pocketing the device with a chuckle in her throat. "You really won't want that on where you're going." Grabbing her by the foot she dragged her, still twitching, across the floor towards the pod inset into the wall. "Snivs, got this thing warmed up yet?"
"I do wish you wouldn't call me that..." The diminutive human sighed, as his own cloaking device deactivated. "And yes, it's ready. Deactivating the World Roboticizer gave us an extra reserve of power."
"Excellent. And the altered programming?"
"Ready to be installed."
With a glance down at her charge, the lady lifted her, recalling the whips and throwing her into the roboticization chamber, dragging the door shut behind her and stepping away to watch the process. Roboticization was far from her favourite practise, but hey, she wasn't the one getting chromed.
"Let's get this show on the road. First piece of the puzzle, right partner?"