Italics = Flashback

~Chapter Seven: Hope Spot~

Alison had taken to calling the child 'Maurice'. She liked the name, and she knew it pissed off Dr. Robotnik as he kept referring to Maurice as 'Operation Needlemouse' and didn't want her becoming attached to the child. But Alison couldn't help but be attached to him; he was her son after all.

Alison held Maurice in one arm and brought the communicator up to her mouth. "This is 06231991. I still haven't secured an escape route, but I do have most of the lair mapped out. It shouldn't take too much longer for me to get out of here."

The only thing that greeted Alison was dead static. She could have sworn her heart stopped beating as she tried again. "Hello? This is 06231991. Is anyone there?"

"Well, well, well. I knew you were a traitor all along."

Alison swiveled, facing Robotnik who was standing in the doorway with a grin of malice. "I knew you were lying about being an ex-member of the Lightning Bolt Society, and I know you've been in contact with them. Therefore I have... disposed of them."

Alison swallowed back bile."You wouldn't..."

"Oh but I would and did. And I could easily do the same to you... but I'll keep you alive for now."

With that Robotnik left the room, leaving Alison stunned. Maurice began to fuss and Alison held him closer, glaring at the closed door.

"Don't worry Maurice, I'll get you out of here. We're still going to escape, no matter what."

/~/

Sonic let out a heavy sigh as he glanced around his confinement, ears flattened. He hated being trapped like a lab rat, and worst of all was that he couldn't even get up and move around thanks to his broken leg. He wondered if Eggman was lying about the force field disintegrating him, and as he thought about it an idea came to him. Taking one of his shoes off, he removed the sock and eyed the barrier. In a single motion he tossed the sock at the barrier, brightening somewhat as the sock bounced off and to the floor.

"Heh, Egghead didn't think I'd try that, did he? Gettin' outta here will be a piece of-" he stopped himself as his sock slowly began to disintegrate, his eyes widening in horror.

"-cake." Sonic finished in a flat voice, replacing his shoe and sighing. Wracking his brain and coming up with no clear solution over how to get out of this situation, he came to the obvious conclusion.

"So this is how I die."

Nineteen years wasn't so bad. Sonic hummed as he reflected on what he'd accomplished in his life, wondering if he'd done everything he needed to. Tails was fifteen, and Sonic knew that he was old enough to take care of himself. Eggman would probably still be a threat, but he knew that his friends would be able to take care of him with no problem. He wasn't the only one with a Super form after all; Shadow and Silver could harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds, and Blaze had the Sol Emeralds. Not to mention Tails and Knuckles could briefly go Super with the Chaos Emeralds, plus the fact that Cream was older now and could probably help fight even more...

And then there was Mario. Sonic ran a finger over the guitar pick around his neck as he thought about his boyfriend. Sonic had told him that if he ever died he shouldn't mourn for him, and that he should move on and find someone else. It wouldn't be that difficult; Mario attracted a lot of people thanks to his heroism and kindness. It's what made Sonic fall for him in the first place. The only issue was that Mario was somewhat oblivious when it came to romance, not always picking up on the fact that someone had a crush on him. But he was sure that if someone liked him enough, they'd let him know. Maybe not by impulsively kissing him like he'd had, but in a different, less direct way.

With those thoughts out of the way, Sonic lay on his side, tugging on his earring. He wasn't afraid of what was to come; he'd lived each and every day to it's fullest and had no regrets looking back on his life. He could hear something coming from deeper inside the base, and figured his time was almost up. Closing his eyes Sonic focused his thoughts on his friends. If he really, truly was about to die, he wanted his last memories to be of the people he loved the most.

/~/

Pauline took a deep breath, before exhaling it all a few seconds later. She'd made it quite far into the base at this point; taking out fleet after fleet of robots and disabling security cameras along the way. She figured that Eggman was probably aware of her infiltration at this point, but she could care less at the moment. She'd come this far, and wasn't about to give up now.

Turning a corner, she found herself face-to-face with a red orb shaped robot and a yellow cube shaped robot. She winced when she realized she had no power-ups left, but still stared down her opponents. She wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"You're here to rescue Sonic, aren't you?" the red robot asked, Pauline quirking an eyebrow having not expected that sort of question.

"Why should I tell you?" she shot back, getting ready to fight.

"Because we'll gladly show you where he's being kept," the red robot continued, clearly not fazed at all by the situation. In fact, he seemed almost... relieved?

"Why should I trust you?" was Pauline's next question, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at the robots.

"Because we'll tell you all of the lair's secrets!" the yellow robot spoke, Pauline shaking her head.

"No need. Why are you helping me?"

"You ask a lot of questions," the yellow robot observed, tilting his head.

"Because there's no reason for Sonic to be here," the red robot answered. "Sure he may be Eggman's son, but killing him is a bit too harsh in my opinion."

"Eggman's son...?" Pauline murmured in confusion, before composing herself. "Fine, I'll trust you. Take me to him."

"This way," the red robot began floating down the hall with the yellow one in tow, Pauline following but keeping on her guard just in case.

"So do you have names?" she asked.

"My name is Orbot, and my brother here is Cubot," the red robot responded. "We were designed to be Dr. Eggman's assistants, but he left us with free will. That was his first mistake."

"Along with all the other mistakes he's made!" Cubot added.

"I see," Pauline uttered, the three of them falling into silence. After a few awkward minutes, Orbot and Cubot stopped in front of a metal door guarded with a PIN pad.

"11-07-17," Orbot muttered. "10-27-17"

The door slid open, and Pauline turned to Orbot and Cubot. "Thank you for the help."

"Just get him out of here," Orbot said. "Someone needs to take down Dr. Eggman in the future. Sonic's the only one who can do it."

Pauline blinked, watching Orbot and Cubot float down the hall; stunned. Turning she stepped into the room, her gaze falling on the hedgehog with his back turned to her.

"If you're gonna kill me, you may as well do it now," Sonic droned, still with his back to her. Pauline couldn't help but snicker at his bluntness.

"That's not what I was sent in to do," she quietly answered, Sonic jumping and turning towards the unfamiliar voice; confusion in his eyes.

"Who-" he started, before realization set in. "Wait, you're Pauline, aren't you?"

"Now it's my turn to be surprised," Pauline mumbled, groaning in frustration at yet another keypad. "How do you know who I am?"

"Mar showed me pictures," Sonic explained. "And he told me how you're the Mayor of New Donk City, was it?"

"Yes, I am indeed the Mayor," Pauline confirmed. "I'm surprised he's shown you pictures."

"Yeah, he's shown me pictures of when he was younger, an' told stories an' all that good stuff." Sonic paused, quirking an eyeridge and turning serious. "So I'm guessin' you're here 'cause Egghead doesn't have your DNA, right? So you can get in here without bein' disintegrated?"

"Exactly," Pauline studied the keypad and frowned. "This looks like it will deactivate all his defense forces. Do you have any idea what the password could be?"

"Did you try Eggman? That's usually what it is, 'cause he's narcissistic and likes lettin' people know it."

"That was the password I used to get into the lair." Pauline pointed out, Sonic humming in response.

"Then it's not that, an' I doubt it would be Robotnik 'cause that would be too obvious..." Sonic wracked his brain, trying to think of what else the password could be. He was coming up blank, until an idea struck him. "Maria..."

"What?"

"Maria, the name of his cousin! See if that'll work!"

"Alright," Pauline typed in the password on the keypad, hitting the enter button and waiting. For a moment nothing happened, until the barrier vanished and the capsule opened, both Sonic and Pauline looking startled.

"It actually worked," Sonic said, dumbfounded. "Did that disable the barrier on the outside too?"

"It seems so," Pauline answered. "We should probably leave now."

"I have a broken leg," Sonic pointed out.

"Then I'll carry you," Pauline replied, effortlessly picking up Sonic. "Don't worry, I'll get you out of here."

"Wait," Sonic pointed towards the picture and journal that had been left there by Eggman. "Take those with us, they're important."

Pauline set Sonic down for a brief moment, handing the items off to him before picking him up again. It was time to make their escape.

/~/

A beeping sound came from the Miles Electric, both Tails and Mario jolting at the sudden sound. Tails picked up the device, drawing in a breath. "Eggman's defense system is down. She did it."

"I knew she could," Mario breathed. "But Eggman will know if his defenses are down, right? Won't he go after them?"

"With Sonic's speed they should be here any minute!" Tails proudly stated, before he realized Mario had his eyes on the floor. "What?"

"Sonic broke his leg," Mario explained. "He won't be able to get out of there quickly, so I'm guessing Pauline's carrying him."

"Well, you gave her power ups, right? I'm sure they'll be fine."

"Right."

Tails suddenly marched over to his transportation device, tapping a few keys and pulling a lever, the device whirring to life.

"What are you doing?" Mario asked, Tails turning to him with a smirk.

"Well, since Eggman's defenses are down, he won't be able to get them back online for at least a day or two. I say this is the perfect time to call for some backup for a counterattack," he twirled the coin between his fingers. "Right?"

Mario didn't say anything for a moment, before his smirk mirrored Tails'. "Right."

/~/

"Why are you crying, Mama?"

Alison's head snapped up, and she quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and put on a smile for her five year old son. "Oh, it's just allergies. I'm fine, don't worry about me."

Which was a lie. She still wasn't any closer to escaping this damn place, and time was running out. She didn't know how long Robotnik was planning on keeping Maurice alive, so she needed to act fast or else...

Maurice frowned seeing the distress on his mother's face, too young to understand the situation he was in. So he gave her a bright smile, hoping to cheer her up. "No more tears, Mama! Everything is going to be okay!"

Alison let out a small, bitter laugh. If only that were the case.

Replies

TheGameNguyener: Honestly, Pauline's past is one of my favourite scenes I've written, not just for this story either. And yeah, Alison is in a really bad spot right now. Who knows what's gonna happen next? Thank you for the review!

Pamitydesu01: I'm glad the vibe I was trying to give off with the chapter worked out in the end. Thank you for the review!

TemUltimate: That was actually a reference to Sonic Adventure, where the password to get into the Chao Garden upon the Egg Carrier was Eggman. I thought it was funny, so I decided to use it here! Thank you for the review!

AN: Some of you may be confused as to why Tails is fifteen and Sonic is nineteen when they canonically have a seven year age gap between them. The reason for that is because in my headcanon Sonic lost three years being in the Super Smash Brothers, where time does not flow. So I hope that clears things up a bit! :) And also, thank you for over 1,000 views! Considering I wasn't exactly that confident in this story simply because of it's premise, I'm glad it's managed to actually intrigue some of you! :)

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and see ya in the next one!

~Steel