My first fic! Yay! Hope you like it. Yeah, it's going to be really sad, but I was in the mood. I warned that I was the Queen of Torture.

Reminder: This takes place three years after the original series ended. So this makes them almost eighteen. They did not find Queen Aleena yet and Robotnik is starting to get crueler. Wait and see.

I own nothing. Isn't that sad? All copyrights to their owners.

Chapter 1: Tick-Tock

From a hill a mile away, Sonic, Sonia, and Manic looked at the building that was next to go. The snow was falling gently around them. The factory was larger than the normal ones, three stories high, and a bunch of large windows. It was newly installed and built to make a new model of improved SWATbots.

Not if the Sonic Underground has anything to say about it.

"One more time," Sonia said. "We place the bombs inside-"

"Get out and blow the place up!" Sonic finished. "We got it, Sis."

"Dude, she was just making sure," Manic said.

The blue hedgehog sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I know."

"You've been kinda edgy lately," his brother continued.

"I wonder why," Sonic said, glancing at his sister. She said nothing.

"Well, let's do it to it!"

Armed with their bombs, Sonic took a hold of his siblings' arms. Before he started running, he first said, "No disappearing again, right?"

Sonia and Manic nodded in turn. They had noticed over the years that their brother was becoming more concerned about them. Probably because Robotnik was making more dangerous weapons and traps; they nearly lost their lives a few times.

Sonic then took off to the building and at the entrance, they went their separate ways. He couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was going to happen.

Ten minutes later.

"Okay, that should do it," Sonia said as she installed the last bomb.

"Good. Let's get out of here," Manic said. "This place kinda gives me the creeps."

The whole time they were there, they had noticed the absence of sounds. Silent as a tomb, unlike the normal sounds of a SWATbot factory, machines moving, things clanking. It was unsettling.

They stopped short in front of the metal door. It was closed. "That's weird," Manic said. "I don't remember it closing."

He went over to the keypad and entered the code. Nothing happened. Frowning slightly, he tried again; nothing. Annoyance showing, he pulled out a screwdriver from his fanny pack. "Stupid thing. Must've gotten stuck."

While the green hedgehog worked on the keypad, Sonia glanced once more at the bombs. She was almost afraid that they would detonate themselves. But that was silly; they wouldn't as long as the button on the remote control in her pocket was pressed. But if it was accidentally, it wouldn't do anything since the safety measure was on. An improvement just in case.

"Shoot." Sonia turned to her brother, wondering what could be wrong. "Look at this!" he said. She did so and saw a bunch of broken wires. They looked as though they had been chewed apart. "This is just great! You think there wouldn't be any rats here yet."

"Rats. Ick."

None of them had noticed the timer on the bombs had started.

2:00

Sonic meanwhile was at the other side of the building, installing his own bombs. He now had only one bomb to go and then, KA-BOOM!!! He grinned at the thought. It was satisfying to see one of Robotnik's plans go up in flames and smoke. However, he wondered if it would ever end. Were they making any progress at all?

And Mom. It has been nearly three years since he and his siblings had found each other, yet she still hasn't been found. When was the time to come to overthrow Robotnik?

He came to a metal box on the wall, the perfect place to set the last one. He placed it on the little door, the magnets holding it in place, and geared up to start running when he noticed something. Sparks began emitting from the box and bomb.

"That can't be good," Sonic said.

He saw electric currents go from the metal box to the wires connected to it, spreading all over the building. He was about to run when it suddenly stopped. Unsure what happened, he looked closer at the bomb. That was when he ran, as fast as he could.

The bomb had activated.

1:58

Sonic ran outside of the building, skidding to a stop, snow flying everywhere. Panting, he looked around. No one was there. But they were supposed to meet right here, Sonia would activate the bombs, and he would get them to safety.

But they weren't there.

Sonic knew his eyes hadn't been playing tricks on him, yet he was sure his sister wouldn't be stupid enough to leave the safety off and push the button. So what had happened?

Sonic shook his head. He'd figure it out later. Right now, they were in danger. Being blown to bits along with the building. But in which section could they be in? Time was running out. He ran back inside and began where he last saw them, pausing long enough to make sure they weren't there.

1:52

Sonia threw her hands in the air. "Well, this is just great! What do we do now?"

Manic thought for a moment. "Well, maybe I can rearrange the wires to fix it. Might work."

"Well, there is no way that I'm jumping out those windows there," Sonia said, glancing at those big glass panes. "We're bound to break something."

1:45

Sonic was almost through and he still didn't find them. Starting to panic, he called out their names. "Sonia! Manic! We've got to get out! This place is going to BLOW!!!"

0:17

"Okay, that should do it," Manic said as he put the control panel back together.

"That was quick," she complimented.

"This stuff is a breeze to me. Lucky for us."

0:10

"Hey, did you hear that?" the magenta hedgehog said. Sure enough, they heard a frantic voice.

0:07

"It's Sonic!" Manic exclaimed. "Something's up!"

0:05

"Open the door quick!" his sister said. "Something must have really shaken him up."

Her brother reached out his hand to press in the code.

0:00 Times-up

---.

And cliff hanger!!! Don't worry. I'll explain things later. But on to more important things. Did I do a good job? Review please.