This is one of the shorter chapters, and I decided that I would update every few days. Things get a little more tense and mysterious in this chapter, for buckle up for a good read. Remember, reviews are always excepted and appreciated. Now, without further ado, I give you the story.
The Sonic Underground has recently changed its location to another safe house near the East end of the city, it's slightly more roomy than the last one, and it's a smooth six blocks away from a hidden laboratory. It includes a couch, three cots, and a closet…. Hey, I said it's roomier, not huge. Meanwhile, sitting on one of the cots, Manic and Sonic are having an argument of "massive importance".
"I'm telling you, comic books are going to fail WAY before video games start to lose popularity!" Manic says, moving his arms around widely to emphasize his point. Sonic sits with his arms crossed next to him; acting cool in the face of Manic's… well… manic behavior.
"Nope, in the event of a zombie apocalypse, comic books will be the only entertainment for kids, because nobody could charge their videogames. And people can easily make new comics if they wanted to. Comics are better." Sonic smiles smugly as Manic face palms. Sonia stands in the opposite corner of the room, reading a newspaper. Apparently, there have been many mysterious disappearances of roboticized citizens throughout Robotropolis. And if that wasn't enough, a string of thefts has been occurring lately, focusing mainly on jewelry such as necklaces, bracelets, and rings.
"You can't base your opinion on a zombie apocalypse, that's never going to happen!" Manic places both hands between his locks of hair as he becomes more infuriated by Sonic's nonchalant attitude.
"Well, I think that if a robot apocalypse could happen, a zombie apocalypse is not far behind. Just face it man, comics are timeless, and they can be made about anything!" Manic finally gives in and plops himself face down onto his cot. Sonic is just too completely unwavering. Satisfied that he won the argument, he walks over to Sonia to see what's on her mind.
"Hello oh prissy sister of mine, watcha doing?" Sonic says, leaning on the wall next to her. Sonia turns her head from the paper to look at Sonic and turns her head back to continue reading; she looks intrigued.
"It says that people have been mysteriously disappearing all over Robotropolis, and that thieves have been stealing a lot of jewelry over the last few days." Sonic eyes Manic, but Manic sees this distrust and immediately begins covering his actions.
"Wasn't me bro, cross my heart." Manic says, waving his finger in a side to side motion in the air. Sonic turns back to Sonia and notices that she's a little distraught, and he knows exactly why. Knuckles never actually tried to contact Sonia after their date, so Sonia feels like Knuckles is trying to stay away from her. It's probably because he has duties on Floating Island, but Sonia can't shake the feeling that something seems wrong.
The knock at the door sends everyone reeling.
Everyone freezes and stands at the door. The mystery person struggles a little with the doorknob and starts to knock again. Sonic, Sonia, and Manic look at the door with thousands of thoughts running through their young minds. Why would anyone knock at the door if this place is supposed to be abandoned? How did anyone find out where we are? What are we going to do? Most importantly, who is it?
Sonic picks up a standing lamp and holds it like a baseball bat while he slowly approaches the door. He calls out at the mystery visitor and waits for a response.
"Ok, who is it?! I warn you, if you're working for Robotnik, you're gonna be sorry!" Sonic leers at the door as defensively as if he is looking at Robotnik himself; with his grip tightening on the lamp handle, he is preparing himself for anyone. Well, almost anyone.
Upon hearing Sonic's voice, the person at the door desperately wants to run away, and run away fast. The Swatbots are gaining, but as much as the mystery visitor needs a place to hide, hiding with them is not an option, it just can't be. As much as she feels the need to run, the energy is almost completely spent from her body, she can barely stand. But even if she physically can't run away, that isn't going to stop her from trying. She leans against the door to turn and run, but instead, the doorknob breaks and the door swings open. Her knees lose all of their strength and she hits her head hard on the doorknob.
The second she busts into the room, Sonic made for the door with the lamp, but when he sees the visitor's identity, he nearly stops in his tracks. Sonic quickly drops the lamp and runs forth, extending both of his arms to catch the injured woman. Sonic stands there shocked as his mother lay motionless in his arms.
When Aleena blinks her eyes open, she sees the soft blue silhouette of her son before losing consciousness. From her clutched hand, she drops a sweaty flash drive, sending a faint *clink* through the otherwise noiseless room. Manic is the first one to make a move.
"MOM!" Manic runs over to his mother's side and grabs her limp hand, crying softly and pressing it against his eyes. Sonia runs over to the door, noticing that the sound of Swatbot sirens is coming closer.
"Sonic! The Swatbots are coming, do something!" Sonia says, and in less than a second, Sonic carefully takes off Aleena's cloak and puts it on. He rushes out of the door and goes to the corner to wait for the Swatbots to catch up. As soon as the Swatbots race past the hidden safe house, Sonic rounds the corner with Aleena's cloak trailing behind him. The reaction from the Swatbots is immediate; they spray rows of bullets towards their target, hoping to eliminate the spy who stole the files from Robotnik. However, Sonic dodges their bullets with ease, ducking in and out of alleyways, he purposefully moves slower than usual, trying to lead the Swatbots away from his family. After about fourteen blocks, Sonic finally decides that he's had enough fun. He speeds ahead of his competition and turns a corner. When the robots follow, all they see is the cloak of Queen Alena with no actual target in sight. The confused Swatbots are commanded to scan the area, but by the time they do, Sonic has already returned back to the base with his family…all his family.
….
Meanwhile, Robotnik is in his new base of operations, an undisclosed location far from the city of Robotropolis; and he is not happy.
"RAAHHH!" Robotnik pounds his fist on the side of his hovering chair and stares at the live footage from the chase, extremely peeved that the Swatbots let the one and only Queen Aleena get away from them.
"You incompetent droids! How could you let her get away! Bah! Never mind. Run a full perimeter search, find her at all costs!" Robotnik buries his face in his hand as a roboticized minion walks into the room with a cup of coffee. In a fit of rage, Robotnik takes the cup and throws it at the Robians' head; then he immediately tells the minion to get him another one. Left alone now, Robotnik ponders how Queen Alena was able to get away from her robots. The explosion from the bomb should have at least stunned her, the security system should have killed her… but in the end, it seemed like she started going faster, what could it mean? Unless… It wasn't Queen Aleena who escaped from the robots. That's it! It had to be somebody else… but whom? To disrupt his train of though is the scrawny coward Sleet and his massively muscular henchman Dingo; they wear malicious grins as they near Robotnik, pleased with their work thus far.
Sleet laughs nasally as he is ready to inform Robotnik of their progress. Dingo copies Sleet, but Sleet promptly tells him to shut up.
"Dr. Robotnik…" Sleet says self-satisfyingly. Robotnik whirls around in his chair and barks at the two henchmen, not in the mood for talking, but Sleet continues anyway.
"We have just finished brutalizing your new prisoner, and this time, he finally lost consciousness; he's at the roboticizer as we speak." Robotnik is happy to hear the change in his luck and laughs wickedly, but he cannot shake the feeling of impending misfortune from his mind.
"MUA HAA HA!" Good! Well, what are you two waiting for?! Roboticize that pest!" Sleet and Dingo swiftly run out of the room, disturbed by Robotnik's poorly-hidden unease; could something be going on that he's not telling them? Robotnik stands up and walks over to the computer monitors, flicking on an image of Queen Aleena and her three baby children.
"Queen Aleena…" Robotnik says absently. "If you think that your latest futile efforts are going to stop my complex criminal consortium, then you are mistaken." He clenches his fist and shouts at the big glass screen. "You and your children will be bowing down to me; their skulls under the heel of my boot! MUAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!" His voice reverberates through the massive metal room.
