Sonic Haven

Season 1 - Episode 9

"Hello Princess"

"Please tell me I'm not the only one seeing this." Sonic said, pointing to the lights running down the subway tunnel.

As they had been doing for the last minute or so, the lights turned on in sequence, one after the other, lighting a path down the tunnel ahead. They disappeared after running to the right at a split in the tracks, then started lighting up again from where they were standing, drawing the same path. It was clear that someone was trying to guide them somewhere.

"There has to be someone behind this." Tails said with a hefty amount of caution in his voice. "Do you think they're trying to help us?"

"Either that," Max commented, "or it's Robotnik trying to lead us into a trap."

Sonic shrugged. "Either way, they know we're here. So we might as well follow them and hope for the best."

There wasn't any further comment, so they all followed the lights until they ran into a bricked off section of track. The rails under their feet continued on underneath the wall while a yellow sign that read: "CAUTION! AREA CONDEMNED" hung cockeyed on the dull barricade.

"Must be an old station." Rotor said. "There were a couple of them shut down a few years ago after they cut funding to the Department of Transportation."

The lights above their head kept on incessantly running into the wall and beyond into the station that sat on the other side. Knuckles walked up to the wall and placed his hand on it. Then, slowly applying more and more pressure, eventually cracked the mortar and collapsed the wall.

A huge cloud of dust was kicked up from the falling masonry, causing several in the group to start coughing. "Seems like it hasn't been used for a while." Sally commented. "We'll just need to spend the next few weeks getting the dust down to a manageable level." She was being a bit sarcastic, probably due to her still somewhat sour mood.

Sonic let a smirk cross his face. "Everyone just step to the side."

Quietly, but quizzically, the rest of the group stepped over to the right and up against the wall as Sonic had asked. After a moment, he dashed into the station at incredible speed, creating huge gusts of wind that ripped the dust out of every crack and every hiding place. Then he started running in smaller and smaller circles until he had a small tornado of dust going on in the middle of the room. He slowly moved the tornado out of the station and down the tracks before depositing it in the abandoned tunnels.

He came jogging back to the rest of the group, shaking the dust out of his quills. His eyes were watering and he seemed to be holding in a sneeze. He coughed a couple of times, then cleared his throat. "A- Ahem… did I get all of it?"

Glancing into the now cleaned subway station, the rest of the group nodded.

"That was rather impressive Sonic." Tiara said with an approving smile.

He took a small bow. "Why thank you Tiara. Glad to be of service."

Knuckles stepped into the middle of the concrete room and looked around. "Doesn't look like it's a trap."

Max walked in behind him, examining the space. "No, but somebody definitely wanted us to find it."

The station was rather large and would be a great place to hide. In the center was a waiting area with several benches. Behind that, to the left, was a control room of sorts that would've handled the computerized parts of the station. There were two bathrooms in the back and a ticket booth to the right of them. Across the tracks to the right was an open space where the passengers would've unloaded and a staircase to the street above that had been bricked off at the top.

"This will probably work." Rotor said as he sat down on one of the benches. "I don't think we'll find anything better."

"Not anything that will be this well hidden." Max agreed.

"But if Robotnik finds us we are to be the sitting ducks!" Antoine squeaked in fear.

"Cool it Antoine." Bunnie said calmly. "We need somethin' that'll work fer us. Not just a place to hahde."

"Well," Sally said. "Let's make a list then. What do we need to turn this into a functional base?"

Tiara was the first to chime in. "We'll need a place to sleep."

Sonic pointed to the far side of the tracks. "The empty space over there would be perfect. Plenty of room."

Sally nodded. "Okay, what else?"

Max spoke up from behind her. "We need a place to go over operations, somewhere we can plan."

"What better place than right in the middle of everything?" Sonic asked, gesturing to the benches. "Move those things out of the way and we should have plenty of space."

Rotor was next. "I'd like a place to work on things. I'm really good with mechanical stuff and I might be able to come up with something useful." He looked around for a good spot. "How about the ticket booth? I can just rip the registers out and use the countertop."

Sally shrugged. "That should work." A thought crossed her mind. "A place to set up a computer or two would be nice."

Sonic pointed over his shoulder at the control room. "Already got some computers for ya Sal. Just take the room over there."

"Alright then." She said with a nod. "Anything else?"

Tails raised his hand. "We need a place to train ourselves."

Knuckles nodded in agreement. "Tails is right. We're gonna have to fight those things at some point. We need to be ready when that happens."

Sonic stretched out his arms and let out a sigh. "Okay then. Just make a list of what you guys need to start setting up and I'll go and get you some supplies. The rest of you can stay here and work on the base."

They got to work making lists of items and sending Sonic off to go and get what they needed. It took hours, but they were able to clean up and move most of the benches which they pushed together in the sleeping area to place mattresses on. That made enough space for them to start setting up a small room as a conference area. Knuckles worked on building the frame of the walls so that it would be isolated if there was ever a need for private meetings while Antoine and Tiara worked on putting the chairs together.

Tails and Rotor cleaned out the ticket booth and removed the lock on the door so that it would be easily accessible. Then they set up the tools they'd need to have a proper, albeit small workshop.

Sally worked with Max to get the training area ready to go. They had a small punching bag, a few weights, and some boxes to jump up onto and over. They also devised a training routine that would at least be enough to get (and keep) everyone in shape.

After finishing the training space, Max sat down on his bed to take a break while Sally headed for the computer room.

She walked in and started to clean off the computers, making sure to get rid of as much dust as possible both inside and out. As she worked, Antoine walked in behind her and started making small talk, trying to keep her company. Though she wasn't particularly interested in what he had to say, she didn't mind the company.

In the middle of one of his stories, she noticed that all of the machines in the room had been unhooked from their monitors even though most of them were still running. Reaching behind the one she was still cleaning up, she found a small cable and plugged it into the back.

The monitor above her head on the desk hummed to life, and she climbed up from her knees to see the display. When she saw what was on the screen, she froze.

Antoine cut himself off mid-sentence when he noticed her lock up. "What eez it Princess?" He asked. Then he looked over her shoulder and found himself staring as well, almost without words.

Sally wasn't sure whether she should be terrified or curious, but she was speechless all the same. There, on a black screen, were two words that sent a lightning bolt up her spine:

Hello Princess