Darkness had come quickly to the Floating Island and Robotnik's flying fortress was ringed in reddish light. The eyes of the swatbots, their most visible feature in the low light.
Sally and Bunnie crept silently from rock to rock, hiding in the slightest of cover and trusting to the darkness and their timing of the patrollers route. They froze as a bot turned in their direction, barely breathing until it swept its unblinking gaze past them and paced onwards.
Bunnie hissed through her teeth at the close call, but Sally was busy looking at the base of the ship. She consulted Nicole and then pointed.
"Pressurisation vent," she whispered. "We hole it there, we're into the air duct system." She swung her pack off her back and measured out a small amount of plastic explosive. "Wait here until you see it blow. 30 seconds."
With that she was off and moving. Bunnie watched the back of the guard and scanned for the approach of the next one. Ready to call out or leap into the attack, if the timing should be off.
Sally ducked into the shadow at the base of the ship and seemed almost to disappear there. Bunnie counted the seconds until there was a muffled crump of explosive detonating, then held her breath. If the guards hadn't been quite far enough away...
But there was no alarm, no running feet, and she moved from her hiding place and dashed across to the patch of shadow that was Sally.
"Nice," she grinned.
Sally gestured into the opening. "In we go then."
Knuckles had come to a decision. He suspected it was not the one which the display of the horribly changed young cat had been meant to induce, but it was made. He hoped his resolve wasn't too obvious to the watching camera. He sat slumped against the wall, hoping he looked suitably defeated.
In truth 'exhausted and miserable" wasn't hard to fake at the moment.
There were three ways this could pan out, and escape, the only truly satisfactory one, seemed the least likely. If that failed, he fervently hoped to be able to contrive being killed in the attempt. The third option, that he would be recaptured alive, was the worst possible scenario. If it came to that he would--
--The door opened, and further plans died in the making as Knuckles flew at Snively before he even entered the doorway. He barrelled into him and they both tumbled into the corridor as the swatbots brought their weapons to bear, but could not distinguish a clear target at which to fire.
"Tell them not to shoot!" Knuckles shouted, one hand shaking Snively by the collar, the other at his throat. "If I die, you come with me."
"They won't kill you!" Snively gasped. "You're wanted alive." His tone dropped into a wheedling, manipulative whine. "Or close to alive. Upright and moving, certainly..."
Knuckles suppressed a shudder that threatened to make him lose his grip.
"More swatbots will be coming," Snively said, "They'll have seen on the camera."
Knuckles glanced back at the cell.
"They won't aim to kill," Snively repeated.
Knuckles met his eyes levelly, though the effort of maintaining his self control turned his voice into a snarl.
"I will."
Abruptly, he hauled Snively upright. "You wondered about loyalty? Well here's your chance to test your own. Do you really believe you are expendable as you claim? Once those reinforcements arrive, you will be. I'll have no incentive not to finish you off before I get taken." Knuckles threw a glance towards the two bots still keeping their weapons trained on the pair, then looked back at Snivelly. "Does your loyalty extend to dying in order to keep me alive as a prisoner?"
Snively was quaking, looking anxiously from swatbots, the camera, and the corridor.
"I..." he started.
"Tell me the way out." Knuckles said. "Tell them to stand down."
"I can't order the others, I can't stop them chasing you." Snively was all but gibbering now.
"Tell these two!"
"I..." Snively closed his eyes, then, "Lower your weapons!" he snapped. "Hatch B is the closest. Straight down this corridor, two rights and all the way to the end."
He spun away as Knuckles released him. "But you'll never make it!"
Knuckles didn't stop to listen to the threats, and instead threw all his remaining energy into walking as fast as he could. Running was not an option, only teeth-gritted willpower was keeping his injured knee moving under him. A blast shot past, close enough to singe fur. If that was the swatbots' idea of non-lethal, he might not live to be recaptured after all. The thought was not as comforting as it might have been back in his cell.
Suddenly a new alarm started sounding, a wild siren over the top of the crashing metallic boots, and laser fire. The walls and floor started to rumble. Knuckles rounded a corner and was charged headlong by Sally, who staggered backwards into Bunnie. Knuckles himself landed on his backside, winded.
He stared at the pair as he struggled back to his feet. He'd been on the point of trusting them. What were they doing here? Did they still want the Emeralds badly enough to come for him here? Where was the hedgehog?
"What's going on?" he demanded.
Bunnie scratched at an ear, looking abashed even in the midst of the chaos around them.
"Uh, we came to rescue you, hun."
Knuckles glanced over his shoulder and ducked as another blast skimmed past.
"Great job," he snapped. "Run! Next right then right again and out."
Sally shook her head urgently. "We came that way. It's swarming with swatbots, and I think we've just lifted off!"
Knuckles groaned. "Great job," he muttered again. He looked up and down the corridor, slammed a fist experimentally against the wall, leaving only the mildest of dents.
"I will not be taken prisoner again." Slowly he turned to face the oncoming bots. Sally and Bunnie stepped up behind him to cover the opposite direction.
"Sorry," Sally said quietly.
The energy from the Power Ring faded and Sonic slowed, taking in his new surroundings. There was an odd, blue-green light here, which seemed to be accompanied by a low hum. Sonic paused to listen. Not a hum. Not a sound at all. An odd feeling, like a finger on a wine glass, without the sound. He fidgeted then walked on.
The tunnel branched and twisted here, but he didn't hesitate. That non-sound, that feeling was as good as a beacon although he was no longer certain why he was following it.
The rough rock walls gave way, almost imperceptibly to dressed stone blocks, then fluted pillars and arches. The light brightened. The air was redolent with an indefinable energy, like and yet unlike the buzz from the Power Rings. Sonic knew he was close.
Finally a door barred his way. Tall, and cast of a green-speckled metal, Sonic half expected it to swing open at his touch, so right was the feeling of power surrounding him, but even a hard push failed to move it.
Sonic backed away, there was a clear solution to this. He bent in a racer crouch, then bounded, spinning at the door. It gave more easily than its imposing design would have suggested and Sonic hurtled through. He had a brief impression of bright light, colour, and spinning gemstones before he was in the midst of them and the power he had sensed crashed over him.
++On the flying fortress Knuckles froze in mid-strike, his mouth dropping open.++
"Wh..." Sonic gasped, but the single syllable was all he managed as the sensation and the energy filled him in wave after wave until he could barely think. He stared at his own hands as they started to shine, gold like the Power Rings, brilliant fierce light, like that which surrounded him.
Distantly he tried to remember why he had come here, what had this been for. Distantly an image came to him. Robotnik. Yes. This power must be kept from him at all costs. He must be stopped, and now, he could be. Easily. Obliterated with one blow. Sonic had no doubt of it. This power was too great for anyone to withstand. With this he could wipe Robotnik's stain from the planet.
But the power was still flowing in, still overwhelming his senses, becoming painful in its intensity. The sensation built and built. No one had warned him of this. This was too much. This was... Another image. The echidna. He'd talked about the power. He'd known. He hadn't stopped him, hadn't warned him. He'd wanted it only for himself. After Robotnik, he was next.
SuperSonic launched himself upwards, burst through the chambers roof and rose from the volcano's slopes to streak across the night sky, like a comet.