A Debt to Pay

(PREVIEW)

A/N: A preview of a new story I'm thinking about writing, I thought I'd post the rough draft of the first chapter and see how well it's received. Let me know what you guys think.

Alarms blaring, lasers whizzing by, metal flying everywhere. It was nothing out of the usual for Sonic and his band of brothers. Tails fired his lasers back at Eggman's goons, and hacked terminals while Sonic and Knuckles provided, well, damage control. "Terminal's open, let's go guys! Hustle!" Sonic and Knuckles delivered the final blows to the SWATbots they were punishing, before sprinting through the gate. Tails pressed the tac-pad on his forearm and the door shut behind them, leaving the sound of metal footsteps and lasers bouncing off walls behind them. "Nice job, Tails!" Sonic said, giving the fox his signature grin and a thumbs up. Tails grinned as well, before getting back to the task at hand. Rescuing Amy and stopping Eggman.

"Nebulus Cannon at 57 percent." The trio shared panicked looks. "We can't let Eggman fire that cannon, Sonic!" Tails shouted. "Calm down buddy," Sonic rested his hand on the fox's shoulder, forcing him to look Sonic in the eyes. "I won't let that happen!" he assured. "Can we please get back to knockin' heads?!" Knuckles interrupted, cracking his namesakes. The trio snapped out of their pep talk, and Tails nodded, turning to hack the next terminal. "Is there any way you can do that a little faster?" Knuckles asked, annoyed. "We can't keep up with this stop and go crap. We'll never make it in time." Tails thought for a minute while Sonic glared at the echidna for being a prick. "I can try to hack the security system's firewall and bring down the whole network, but if I make any mistakes it could lock us in here indefinitely." Tails said as he swiped and tapped through his tac-pad, coming up on a window prompting for a decisive yes or no. "Once I start I can't stop. But I don't know that I can do it…" Sonic took a break from the meathead in front of him and let his gaze relax. "You can do it buddy. You got us this far." Sonic smiled.

"Nebulus Cannon at 62 percent."

"Go for it." Sonic grinned. Tails returned the gesture, and pressed the Yes button with confidence. "Soon as that gate opens up you guys will have no more than ten seconds to get through the hallway. The second all the gates hit the ceiling they'll start descending again, I'll do the best I can to slow down that process but like I said, any mistakes and we'll be screwed." Sonic tightened his gloves and got into a sprinting stance, Knuckles did the same, ready to blow the gates off their hinges if he had to. "Opening the gates in 3...2...1!" Tails announced, Sonic smirked and rocketed forward, seeing the gates fire open. At the end he could see the windows of the main control room. The vast emptiness of space, dotted with millions of stars, and the top hemisphere of Mobius peeking out from the floor.

Tails swiped through his tac-pad as fast as his fingers would allow. Sweat formed on his forehead, dripping from his bangs. He licked his lips under the pressure. The firewall started firing new strings of code in place of the ones he dismantled, trying to shut the fox out. Tails smirked, seeing the security system crumble before him in a stream of flawed data. The streams of code began to clear up faster and faster, and Tails smirked again as he cleared the screen. But the victory was short lived. The Rubix Core appeared. "Damn." Tails swiftly clicked on his earpiece. "Guys we've got a problem."

Sonic's voice came through the static. "What is it buddy?" Tails sighed, "I've come across The Rubix Core."

"What exactly is that?" Knuckles asked, smashing through another SWATbot. Tails could hear both teammates punching and leaping through the battlefield at the other end of the room. "I-It's the epicenter of Eggman's entire technological matrix." The sound of machines being smashed to bits accompanied Sonic's next question. "Can ya dumb it down for us a little bit buddy?"

"It's the beating heart of Eggman's entire ship."

"Okay, so what's the problem?" Sonic asked. "Yeah, can't you just do your hacker thing and break through it?" Knuckles added. "I've never successfully hacked one before. Everytime I've tried I just get locked back out of the whole system." Tails's finger trembled, he wasn't going to be able to keep the gates open anymore. The mission was over.

"You can do it Tails!" Sonic shouted over the mic. "Sonic, didn't you hear me? I can-"

"Yes you can! I don't want to hear "Can't"! That's not a word you're allowed to say!" Sonic ordered. "Listen, you worry about that Rhubarb thingy,"

"Rubix Core..."

"Whatever it is you got this! Let us worry about everything else. If anything we can get Knuckles and Amy to beat down those doors on our way back! Right Knuckles?!" Knuckles assured the fox with a, "Hell yeah!" Sonic smirked again, giving Tails one last bit of motivation. "We've always beaten Eggman no matter what. Why stop now?" Tails laughed. "Even if you didn't crack this thing before, remember this buddy..." Sonic spun through another SWATbot, closing the distance between him and Eggman. "There's a first time for everything!"

"I guess."

"Awesome! Gotta go buddy, I got one more egg to crack!" Sonic chuckled, clicking off the earpiece. "Hey, Knuckles!" Sonic skidded to a halt before leaping into the air to avoid a dogpile of SWATbots. "Kinda busy over here Sonic, what is it?!" Knuckles shouted from across the room. "Forget about those boltheads and go find the cannon! I'll clean up here!" Sonic spun into a ball, shredding through the pile he was standing on and tearing through an advancing column of SWATbots at sonic speed. His face was dotted with oil, any larger blots had flown off during his attack. Knuckles nodded, punching through a SWATbot and heading off to the next room. Sonic turned on a dime and made tracks for the opposite end of the room to find Amy. "Sonic!" Tails's voice came through the mic. He sounded happy. Sonic knew what that meant. "I did it! I hacked the Rubix Core! I now have full access to Eggman's technological network!"

"HOHO! Sorry foxboy, but not anymore!" The entire ship was filled with Eggman's voice as it rumbled through the loudspeakers. "When I'm done with you, you won't ever see the outside of these walls again!" Sonic smirked. "Hey Eggbreath, why don't you come out and fight me like a man instead of hiding behind your walls?!"

"Oh I will Sonic, just as soon as I send my newest troops to take care of your little hacker friend!" Eggman retorted. "Tails!" Sonic pressed his earpiece, about to warn Tails of the impending attack. "Don't worry Sonic, I'm already tapping into the command network for all Eggman's machines. It'll take a while though." Tails reassured. "Just be careful." Sonic cautioned. They had gotten this far, and the blur wasn't prepared to gamble the lives of his friends for the success of the mission. He'd tear a hole through the entire expanse of the ship to save his friends if it meant keeping them all safe. "I've also locked on to Amy's position. She's...with Eggman?"

"Correct you are you little brat!" Eggman chortled. A deep rumble emerged within the control room as half the floor disappeared. Sonic leapt to a higher ledge to get a better view. Emerging from the pit that had formed, was a large, menacing, beast of a machine that was all too familiar to him. "Meet an old friend of ours Sonic! The Death Egg Robot 2.0! Hahahahaha!"

"Sonic! Look! It's Amy! Eggman must be using the naturally occurring Chaos Energy in her body to power it!" Tails growled. "Bastard!" Sonic looked more closely at the machine. at the helm of the machine was the cockpit where Eggman was controlling it. In the belly of the beast was a tempered glass window, showing an unconscious pink rose. Sonic's blood boiled. How dare that Egghead use a living being as a power source! "Right you are Tails, your pink little princess here generates a naturally occurring flow of Chaos Energy which transmits it into electricity which powers my masterpiece! Unfortunately though, she can't generate enough of that energy to constantly power the machine, so I whipped up a neat little mini-reactor comprised of a fake Chaos Emerald, which channels its energy into your friend, allowing me to convert the transmuted energy into electricity the second it leaves her body." Sonic growled in anger, his eyes narrowed, his leg muscles tightened up in preparation for a fight. "Now...why don't YOU come out from behind my walls and fight me like a mouse?" Eggman taunted.

Sonic leapt from the ledge he was on and appeared before the machine, completely unfazed. A wry smirk taunted the Eggman. "With pleasure." the robot's massive metal arms rotated to life, five deadly claws forming a fist. The battle was on. Sonic sped toward the monstrosity, spinning into a ball and attacking the tempered glass window first. The window took the brunt of the blow, but Sonic bounced right off. "Hoho! You can attack that glass all you want Sonic," Eggman teased, launching a massive punch toward the hedgehog. Sonic narrowly dodged the strike, leaping into the air. Eggman retaliated with a vicious left uppercut. "But that's tempered glass. it's four times stronger than what I used to use!" Sonic collided into the ceiling, hard. The robot fired another punch toward the hedgehog, who dodged again and pushed off toward the ground. "Then I'll just have to hit it four times harder!" Sonic replied, spinning into another ball. He made contact with the glass again, but this time, instead of just going for a blunt strike, he continued to spin, fully extending his quills and trying to slice through the glass like a sawblade. Eggman swatted the hedgehog away, sending him colliding into a wall. Sonic grunted and leapt from the wall, determined to save his number one fan. "And you can attack me all you want Eggman, but I'll just keep getting back up."

"Sonic!" Tails cried. "I shut down Eggman's goons and I've locked on to the Death Egg Robot's signal, I can't shut it down because it's firewall is defended by two Rubix Cores. It'd take too long. But I can interrupt the command prompts from the reactor to slow down the flow of Chaos Energy going through the machine, maybe that can weaken it a little bit and you can punch through that glass!" Tails explained. "That's great Tails! Get on it!" Sonic cheered. The duo worked in tandem, one from a remote location and one on the battlefield, ready to take down Eggman one more time. Sonic smirked as another fist came right at him. "I just need to keep him busy for a minute until Tails gets into the reactor thing. Then it's game over for Eggy." Sonic thought as the fist collided with the steel door Tails had hacked about ten minutes ago. The hedgehog got an idea. A good one. "Tails, I'm going to break these doors down for our escape, let me know when you've done your hacker thing." Sonic leapt out of the way of another punch, spinning into a ball and dashing from one end of the room to the other.

"Arrgh! Quit toying with me hedgehog!" Eggman growled through the machine. Sonic smirked as he appeared atop one of the arms again. "Okay Eggy, if you say so!" Sonic turned and slapped his butt at the scientist, angering him even further. "Catch me if you can Egghead!" Eggman growled again, throwing another punch at the hedgehog. Sonic leapt at the last second, and looped around in a ball, not trying to puncture the arm, but instead, applying downward force onto Eggman's striking arm, redirecting the punch which collided head on with the other arm. Sonic laughed as the attack forced the robot off balance. The right arm that was hit flung wildly the other direction, smashing into the glass window. Fortunately the force of the blow was not enough to shatter it, but enough to set off the alarm.

Red flashing light surrounded the room, waking up the rose inside the beast. "Sonic, I'm in. Go for it!" Sonic smirked. He leapt again into the air, but as soon as Eggman tried to grab for him he looped around in a ball and landed back on the ground in front of Amy's glass prison. Amy slowly regained consciousness as the stream of Chaos Energy weakened. "S-Sonic?" Amy saw her hero with the same determined look she'd fell in love with as it morphed into a spinning ball of spikes. Sonic dug his quills into the floor to gain more traction before firing forward like a bullet. The force of the blow shattered the glass into a spray of tiny pieces that flew outward as Sonic rebounded off the opening. Another spin dash and he was safely inside the Robot with Amy in his arms. The hero held her tight and leapt from the opening, grinning as Amy came fully to her senses. "How's my number one fan?" he whispered. Amy smiled softly and gave her hero a peck on the nose.

"Better now." Sonic's face reddened, but now was not the time for jokes or flirting. They had a cannon to destroy.

"Nebulus Cannon at 89 percent. Calculating trajectory."

Sonic set Amy down at the opposite end of the room where Knuckles disappeared a few minutes ago. Safe from Eggman. "Knuckles went to find the cannon. I need you to do your hammer thing and help take it out. Got it?" Amy nodded, flicking her wrist with confidence and summoning her mighty Piko Piko Hammer. "You got it Sonic!" Amy cheered, taking off. "Give that Eggman what for!" she cried one last time. Sonic smirked, turning to take Eggman down. A large fist collided with the hedgehog, sending him into the wall behind him. "Arrgh! You wretched hog! You've ruined my beautiful creation!" the fist remained locked in place from the lack of an energy conduit. "You should know by now, Eggman..." Sonic began, wiping blood from his lip. "I'll always be there to stop you." Sonic spun into another ball, aiming straight for the cockpit. Eggman mashed the controls of his machine in a desperate panic, frantically trying to regain control of the beast. The Robot remained rooted where it stood. Electricity crackled through it, rendering it immobile. "C'mon! C'mon! Work you stupid robot!" Eggman barked, slamming his fists down on the control panel.

"Sonic! I've successfully hacked one of the Rubix Cores!" Tails announced, overjoyed. Sonic released his Spin Dash, curving up the body of the collapsed robot and launching himself high into the air. "That's great Tails! Great work!" Sonic replied, coming out of his dash. He made eye contact with Eggman during his hangtime, flashing his trademark grin and giving the doctor a wink before curling into another ball. Eggman's mouth hung open in shock. How could he have lost AGAIN?! He was dumbfounded. Speechless! Only capable of one word before Sonic started spinning again. "No. NO. NOOO!" the hedgehog curved into the cockpit, his incredible speed shattering the hull and collapsing the nervous system of the robot which sent energy through the machine.

A shard from the cockpit pinched the tubes shut, cutting off the energy and creating a build up at one point. The chain reactions became too unstable, and the chest of the robot started to glow a dangerous orange color. "Sonic! Get away from that thing! It's gonna blow!" Tails alerted the hedgehog. Who's priorities immediately shifted. "Eggman's still in there!" Sonic replied, "I've gotta-" his sentence was cut short. The robot erupted in an explosion of metal and wire, sending both hero and villain in opposite directions while shrapnel and large sharp pieces of metal was lodged into the walls, ceiling, and floor of the control room. One such piece struck through the floor and into the lower deck, where Eggman thought his steering mechanisms would be safe from any collateral damage. The ship rattled fiercely, the malfunctioning jets sending the carrier out of orbit and shifting the orientation of the entire thing. Sonic couldn't handle all the pressure and shaking, and fell to the floor hard, knocking his head and blacking out.

"Sonic? Sonic?!" Tails's voice crackled through the mic, all he heard was a loud blast and then the ship started rumbling and shifting. "Warning, warning, warning. Core malfunction, nuclear fission imminent! Evacuate! Evacuate! Evacuate!" The tac-pad alerted the fox to the situation, who started hacking the terminals again to open a clear path back to the Tornado. "C'mon Sonic! Respond!" The steel doors opened up again, and Tails nearly threw up at the sight. Lying in a pile of rubble and an increasingly large pool of blood, was Sonic. "SONIC!" Tails screamed. His voice achieving a pitch rivaling Amy's. Tails sped over to his pal as fast as he could. He immediately started checking for open wounds and was about to deploy a medkit but he was puzzled when no open wounds could be found. "Ugh..." Slow movement within the hedgehog settled Tails's nerves. Sonic was okay. That's all that mattered. "Sonic get up! We have to go, this thing is gonna blow!" Sonic sat bolt upright at the message. "What?!" He rose quickly, shaking off the massive headache. "Amy and Knuckles are already making their way to the Tornado. The mission is a success now let's go!"

"Warning, warning, warning! Fusion Reactor at Critical Mass! Evacuate! Evacuate! Evacuate!" Tails looked at the tac-pad. "There! You see?! We have to leave!" Sonic was about to run, but something seemed off. He couldn't shake the feeling. Then he remembered. "Eggman!" The hedgehog sped over to the wreckage that was the Death Egg Robot 2.0. There, lying in a massive pool of blood, was the mad doctor, barely conscious, and barely moving. Sonic looked him over in shock. Appalled at the sight before him. Two large pieces of metal cutting clean through Eggman's right arm and left leg, blood pouring freely from the wounds. Sonic looked at his own hands, he was covered in Eggman's blood, "Sonic!" Tails shouted. "The damn ship is going to explode!" Tails looked at the hero, who slowly turned to the fox with a mortified expression. "I-I-I did this Tails. I'm covered in his blood..." The hedgehog's stomach churned and gurgled. Acid boiled and bubbled. He felt sick. "It's not your fault!" Tails said, tugging on his arm, trying to pull Sonic away. "Sonic, please!" Tails was getting fed up. The last thing he wanted was to be bombarded with nuclear energy and obliterated in space. "N-no, I have to save him!" Sonic tugged back, about to run after his rival. "He's dead Sonic! There's nothing you can do!" Tails replied. "I have to sav-"

"HE'S GONE!" Tails shouted. "Look, we can find the Emeralds when we get back to Mobius and go back in time to stop this from happening, but not if you're dead too!" Sonic looked back at Tails, tears stained his cheeks. He was scared. Seriously scared. Sonic took a shaky breath. Tails was right, they had to go. Eggman was dead. Tails tugged on the hero's arm once more, and Sonic gave in, Tails started running, seeing Sonic follow, who was still looking back at the doctor, his head turned to face the hero. Goggles covered his eyes, his severed arm laid slack on the ground, hand open, as though he was asking for help. To be saved. By his killer.

"I'm Sorry Doctor. I'm so sorry..." and he ran.

END PREVIEW