Chapter 4: Escape

Robotnik had the group brought directly to the main building of the city. It towered above the other buildings, practically dwarfing them. However there was one thing bigger: Robotnik's ego. The dictator had Geoffrey, Hershey, and Fiona put in a holding cell, while he brought Sonic and Valdez into a large room. He had a couple SWATbots force the two onto their knees, while he lightly tossed the Chaos Emerald in his hand, a smug look on his face.

What appeared to be a metal tube with a glass door standing directly in the center of the room. Sonic wasn't sure what he was looking at, but Geoffrey and Valdez were all too familiar with what purpose this tube served. It was the roboticizer: the cursed device that turned flesh to steel. This fate awaited one of them.

"You know what this is." Robotnik said flatly. "You rebellious cretins have forced my hand"

"Ah stuff it, egghead. You roboticize people all the time. What makes this time any different?" Valdez spat.

"You hold little interest to me, reptile. The hedgehog, on the other hand, is a much different story. You see, I thought I had killed him, twelve long years ago." He knew. He knew who Sonic really was. The hedgehog saw before him someone who may as well be his arch nemesis. He brought him and Valdez into this room to make a point to the hedgehog. Hate began to well up inside Sonic. Sonic had never truly hated anyone, at least not like this.

"Now I see, that I need to make my point a bit clearer." His glass obscured eyes move from Valdez to the SWATbot guarding him. "Put him in."

The chameleon thrashed at the robot, with little affect. The metal monstrosity dragged him over the roboticizer and unceremoniously tossed him in. The glass door slid shut as Valdez desperately tried to get out. Almost nonchalantly, Robotnik pulled a switch on a nearby console. All Sonic could do was watch in horror as the machine hummed to life. Valdez appeared to let out a blood curdling scream, but it was completely muted by the glass barrier. He began to turn. First his feet, then legs, the metal creeping up his body. When it finally reached his head, the chameleon stopped screaming. For a few seconds, he was frozen in his position, but then began to settle into an unnaturally straight stance. The door slid open, and the mechanized chameleon stepped out.

"How may I serve you, Doctor?" Valdez asked in an electronic monotone voice.

"I believe you already have. You will report to the weapons factory," Robotnik said.

"Yes, Doctor." With that, Mech-Valdez left the room.

"Ah, that never gets old," Robotnick snickered.

"You monster!"

"I'm not the monster here, rodent! Before your filth dragged itself from the muck, humans ruled the planet." The dictator moved closer to Sonic, a very intense look on his face. "You furry freaks have had your fun ruling the planet. It's time that the humans take it back."

"Humans, or just you?"

"For you it doesn't matter. This time, I'm going to make sure you're taken out of this world for g..."

Robotnik was cut off by the sound of an explosion. The dictator rushed to a monitor, trying to figure out what had happened.

"Dammit, what's going on! Someone answer me!" Robotnik shouted.

"INTRUDERS. FREEDOM FIGHTERS HAVE INFILTRATED THE..." the SWATbot was cut off as it was being decapitated by Antoine.

"Blast!" Robotnik turned to order the bot to execute Sonic, but as soon as he did, he saw the hedgehog leaping toward him, the robot guarding him destroyed. The force of the impact caused the dictator to stumble back toward the roboticizer, which promptly slams shut, clamping Robotnik's left arm in the machine. As he struggled to get himself free, he laid his eyes on Sonic, a look of pure hatred on the hedgehog's face. Sonic walked up to the trapped man, and forcibly took the Chaos Emerald back from him.

"Well, Eggman, I think it's time you had some of your own medicine." With that, Sonic pulled the switch, activating the roboticizer. The hedgehog turned his back the screaming dictator and left.


Sonic hurried through the building, searching for Geoffrey and his team. After running through several hallways, he found them in a small holding area. He took out the guard and unlocked the cell door.

"Let's get out of here," Sonic said.

"Wait, where's Valdez?" Geoffrey asked.

"Robotnik... roboticized him..." Hershey let out a small gasp, and Fiona looked away. Geoffrey had a grim look on his face, but quickly shaped up, knowing that the situation was too dire to grieve.

"Valdez knew the risks going in. We can't his loss be in vein. Let's move people." He motioned the group out of the cell. "Just pleas tell me you got the Emerald."

"Yeah, I got it," Sonic said. "And I gave him a little parting gift to remember me by."

Their way out of the building wasn't easy. They needed to fight their way through numerous SWATbots, and navigate around the built in security measures, which included wall mounted lasers, trapdoors into spike pits, and a dozens of little crab robots. Once out of the main building, the group contemplated how they were going to get out of Robotropolis. They were smack dab in the middle of the massive city, and getting as far in as they did before getting caught was difficult enough.

"Alright, now how the hell do we get out of this pit?" Fiona said.

"Some of the Freedom Fighters are here in the city," Sonic said. "If we can get to them, we can get out here."

"Right. We need to contact them somehow. Fiona, you think you could rig one of the swaties' radios?" Geoffrey asked.

"I think so. We just need a SWATbot..."

"Got one," Sonic said. Holding a SWATbot's head.

"Show off," Hershey teased.

After a few tweaks, and a lot of dismantling, Fiona managed to produce a working radio. Figuring the FF would trust Sonic more than her, she handed it to him.

"Come in, come in. This is Sonic. I'm with the rebels near the center of the city."

"I read ya sugah. What happened?" Bunnied replied

"Kind of a long story. Highlight is, we got a high priority package we need to get out of the city."

"Alright. We've got your position, we're comin' for ya. You best get movin' yourselves."

"Got it. Over and out."


Bunny and Antoine sneaked through the massive city to get to their fellow Freedom Fighter. Although, Antoine claimed it was just because Sonic could give away the location of Knothole if he was roboticized. After almost an hour, the duo spotted Sonic and the rebels.

"Well there y'all are," Bunnie said.

"Ze mission was to rescue ze prisoners, not to mount an invasion!" Antoine practically shouted.

"Hey, it wasn't my idea to get caught in a trap," Sonic said.

"Anyway, what's this high priority package you mentioned?" Bunnie asked.

"This." Sonic showed them Chaos Emerald. Antoine opened his mouth to further berate Sonic, but Bunnie gave him a stern 'don't even think about it' look.

"Well, let's get y'all out of here."

With that, the group headed for the city limits, where Tails was waiting in a vehicle of some sort vehicle. It looked rather hobbled together, but this wasn't surprising given what the Freedom Fighters had to work with. The group got in, and took off for the Great forest. However, they weren't out of danger yet. SWATbots were following close behind in hovercraft, zeroing their weapons on the Freedom Fighters' vehicle. They would have to lose the swaties if they were going to make their get away. Bunnie hung out of an open side door, and converts her robotic arm into an energy cannon and opens fire. She manages to bring down one of the crafts, but the bots were still hot on their tails. Sonic pulled the rabbit back in the vehicle.

"I'll get the rest of them," he said, handing her the Chaos Emerald. "Hang on to this for me."

Sonic then leaped out of the vehicle and attacked the hovercrafts. He took out the first one, sending it hurtling into the others, causing them to pile up. With his job done, Sonic caught up with the Freedom Fighters and got back in the vehicle.

"Show off," Antoine scoffed.


Back in Robotropolis, worker bots were busy picking up pieces of SWATbots and dealing with explosion damage. Robotnik, as one could imagine, was incredibly displeased. He had lost three prisoners, the Chaos Emerald, and had yet again letting Sonic get away. All in all, it was a really bad day for the dictator. Robotnik's diminutive nephew was tending to the doctor after his, mishap with the roboticizer.

"Snively."

"Yes, Dr. Robotnik?"

"I think, that I'm going to learn..." Robotnik clenched his newly acquired metal fist, swiftly bringing it down on a monitor displaying video of Sonic, "... to really hate that hedgehog."