The nights sabatoge mission had botched in a spectacular way. It had seemed simple enough on paper, but in practice (of course) events had taken an unfortunate and disastrous turn. The Freedom Fighter who was supposed to create a diversion so that Sonic and Sally could slip into a secure area of the city unnoticed took a tumble into an enormous garbage truck filled with good scraps from Robotnik and Snively's (but mostly Robotnik's) table and sank into the mire. The truck, manned by a SWATbot, took the trapped Freedom Fighter fourty miles out of the city and then dumped the trash. Fortunately, the ensnared agent (of raccoon stock) was able to eat her way out and stumbled back into Knothole about a week later smelling of caviar.
Of course, none of this information was available to Sonic and Sally until much later. Sally was, in fact, hissing curses at the absent Freedom Fighter under her breath as Sonic piggy-backed her through a forest of steaming pipes. The blue hedgehog paused briefly to pant, open-mouthed, as a squad of SWATbots clanked by on the other side of a fat pipe. Sally took the opportunity to slide off his back and pull out the thin blue quills that had lodged themselves in the tender flesh of her belly. Blood dotted the tan fur as she removed them.
Sonic slid up the night vision goggles he wore to rub his forehead. It was hot and sweat trickled through his fur; steam condensed on it as well, soaking him to the skin with warm water. The hedgehog shook himself like a dog, frowning, knowing that if he left the warm area he would quickly get cold.
The removal of the goggles plunged everything into blackness and Sonic's large ears twitched, extra-alert. After another moment to allow the squished feeling around his eyes to dissapate he pulled the goggles down again. It was never safe in Robotropolis but the danger became much greater if you couldn't see.
Vision restored, he turned to face the Princess, only then noticing the speckles of red on her front. Sorry, he mouth to her. She gave him a tight smile in return, worry obvious in her eyes.
It's all right, she mouthed in return. Do you know where we are? She looked down to fidget with the bombs strapped around her waist, pulling up the heavy belt and tightening it slightly.
Sonic looked around, and then we Sally looked at him again he shrugged. The area might have been recognizable to him once, but time and the reign of Robotnik has transformed an elegant, clean side road with shops and cafes into a maze of rusting machinery and sooty walls. Sonic knew that they were within the royal compound area because they were still close to Robotnik's main base, which had replaced the Acorn Palace. That was about it.
Sally brushed her thick brown hair out of her eyes and looked around grimly. It seemed that she didn't recognize the area either, though her eyes stuck on some features if the street as though they struck some inner chord. Sally had probably seen every part of the palace area in her life, playing with Sonic and the other children; but it had been a long time since they wandered freely in Mobitropolis.
Sonic crouched with his back against the wall to rest and keep watch, looking past Sally. He knew that he was the firepower in their team and that he was responsible for keeping Sally safe.
His attention didn't waver from the street when Sally dropped to one knee beside him and pulled Nicole from her boot. The small computer was a familiar aide, and the thought of relying on her information didn't bother Sonic.
"Nicole," Sally breathed to the computer. "Sonic and I are in the west sector around Robotnik's base. We've taken cover in what appears to be an area for the transportation of water or toxic waste; however, we are now lost. Can you project a map of this area?"
"Processing, Sally," the computer returned in a whispery voice. There was no other response for a few minutes as Nicole retrieved the information, and then a map was projected onto the ground in front of them.
Sally studied it for a few minutes, commiting the route she had decided upon to memory. Then she rose and padded quietly away. Sonic followed her.
Fourty minutes later they squired together into a pile of spare parts to avoid a floating hovereye. The scrap metal was heavy and cold, but neither shifted. Sonic only tracked it with his eyes, itching to leap out and destroy it. Sally sensed his tension and and slid her hand carefully across to lay it on his shoulder, consoling, restraining. If Sonic attacked the hovereye now the loss of input would trigger an alarm and Robotnik would know their location, or have an idea of it at least.
They waited for two interminable minutes until the hovereye was gone, and then Sally extracted herself and rose, shaking dirt out of her fur and wrinkling her noseat the smell. Sonic surged up after her, shaking himself violently. Sally pulled a tattered piece of plastic off one of his quills.
"We go through this warehouse," Sally whispered to him. She gestured with one slim hand to a door set in the dingy wall. It was unguarded, surprisingly, and made in the old mobian style, out of carved wood. Smog had weathered it to black but the designs of trees and vines cut into it were still visible.
Sonic approached it, reached out and felt the wood. It was hard as stone. He backed away three steps and leaped forward to throw his shoulder against it; this to no avail. He backed to the other side of the alley next and crouched into a spindash. The door shattered under his momentum, and he skidded through. Sally winced at the loud crack of wood and then followed him, regretting that the artifact had needed to be destroyed.
Inside they stood next to each other, looking around, bewildered. The warehouse was dim and cool and very quiet, lacking the grinding machinery and assembly lines that were in most of Robotnik's factories. Instead, what slight light there was gleamed off of glas; elegantly dark, curved glass. Bottled. The warehouse was filled with bottles.
Sally ventured to pull one off its rack. She looked down at the label, then turned it slowly towards Sonic. Red Hen's Red Wine, Sonic read. Mobius' Finest.
The Princess and the hedgehog exchanged glances, silently.
Sonic turned back, ran along the wall for a few rows, and inspected the stock. Jackal's Beer. Sally went twenty feet and looked at another bottle. Dry white wine from lower Mobius, 1963. After this, both of them came to the same conclusion.
"It's a booze warehouse," Sonic snickered to her. "Buttnik has a booze warehouse, with hooch from all over Mobius."
Sally turned and glared at the rows. They were high, ending close to the ceiling; and they extended at least a thousand feet to the other wall. Everything in here could probably water Knothole for a month, if they wanted to be perpetually sloshed. "He probably stole most of the good stuff from the royal winery," she said, shaking her head in disgust. "I can't believe this. He was too cheap to find quality wines himself."
Sonic looked at her quietly, smirk gone. "We should get going," he said. "We've been here long enough already."
The Princess shook herself again, as though she were getting rid of more garbage. She wanted to go, she wanted to stay, she wanted to ruin all this just so Robotnik couldn't use it. "Yes," she replied. But as they set off down the row she reached out and pulled off one bottle, tucking the cool glass under her arm.
The other wall had a large pair of metal doors. Both Sonic and Sally paused when they saw the robots lining the walls to the sides. They were squat, folded devices equipped with grasping claws. It looked like they had little rubber pads on the tips to keep whatever they gripped from sliding away. On their backs were spaces that looked like cupholders. In context, it was obvious what they were for. Sonic started to snicker again. "Booze-bots," he said. "They're booze-bots. When Robuttnik wants some of it, he sends out an order and they get it. They're booze-bots."
Sally looked at them, and then she looked at him, narrowing her pale eyes thoughtfully. "Sonic," she said. "Do you know, alcohol is extremely explosive under enough heat."
The hedgehog looked back at her. Behind the goggles his eyes were still laughing wickedly. "Is it?" he said.
Ten minutes later, the metal doors cranked open. The SWATbots standing guard took no notice of this; Robotnik and his nephew were heavy drinkers and often ordered stock from the warehouse. They became rather more agitated, however, at the streak of blue and brown streaking by seconds later. Before they could really do anything, however, they were flattened by a gush of flame, thousands of flying glass shards, and the roar of an explosion.
The fireball raced along the street, setting piles of garbage aflame, catching on dripped trails of oil and following them to other buildings where fuel tanks caught and eventually exploded, reducing carefully drawn production schedules quite literally to ash. A tongue of flame shot through the wooden door that Sonic had splintered and happened to obliterate a passing hovereye. All of the beer, wine, liquor, sherry, and more was gone.
In the base, Robotnik and Snively watched the damage reports pile up and wished heartily for stiff drinks. But there were none.
Sonic and Sally, sans five explosives, raced for Knothole. Sally still clenched the bottle she had salvaged in both hands as Sonic carried her bride-style. She felt the wave of heat blast across her, ruffling her fur, and the wind pinned her ears back and tangled her hair. She imagined the clink of glass on coarsely cut wooden cups. They could have a party in Knothole tonight.
June 27- END
For Plunderer01