"Status?"
"Still holding position, about five minutes ahead on intercept if we stick with this course."
He'd expected them to be moving faster, to be gunning the engines and burning fuel to get back into Empire airspace before GUN could catch up, but no, their target was ahead, maintaining speed and constant formation. More than that they were gaining steadily, and were set to intercept them about a mile from the border despite having wasted precious minutes scrambling a transport for themselves.

Their own wingmen ghosted through the air around them, the escort fighters keeping a respectable distance around their larger cousin. Within, Shadow gripped the throttle with both hands, hoping that he wouldn't be called up to do anything too spectacular with the aircraft. Though trained to pilot such machines this one was larger than that to which he was accustomed, and despite being built for a degree of dogfighting he did not relish the opportunity. Unfortunately considering that they would have to get in very close to retrieve their targets, and possibly lose the transport, he had had to fly. His team were the ones who could survive something like that.

"So, are we going to get in close and warp into that thing?" Rouge asked.
"That's the best plan I've got." He grunted. "Unfortunately, it means we're going to have to risk a potential tele-frag."
"You used to work for him... Do you remember the layout of the shuttles that he uses?"
"I have a decent idea, but that's only going to help if he hasn't changed the internal layouts."
"We have weapons. We could just blow it up."
"And doing so would damage the princess, and potentially her two friends if they're in there, along with any legionnaires that were conscripted. We don't want them to be trapped in mechanical form, or require further cybernetics, just to survive something we didn't need to do."

"Damn, I know this plan is stupid…" Rouge sighed, "but when Omega suggests stuff like that who I agree with sorta becomes a little redundant, because that was even more stupid." The bat didn't take her eyes off the surveyor tech. Having frequently found herself high above the ground having to make sense of the layout, she had been the sure thing for their navigator.
"It could still go wrong. Even heavy fliers aren't the most spacious things in the world." The hedgehog nodded. "This is all based on memory and the doctor's complacency."
"Your memory is not famed for its reliability."
"Thank you, Omega."
"You are welcome." The robot replied, evidently pleased with himself.
"Just tell me when we're in range..."

The crew lapsed into silence after the awkward conversation, marked by minute-milestones from Rouge as they closed with their quarry. At two minutes their escorts broke formation, powerful engines and lighter craft shrieking ahead to deal with the enemy guard craft early, leaving the transport with only one wingman, left as a warden. At one minute their sensors picked up a massive number of radio signatures coming at them, closing fast. It shouldn't have surprised anyone that they would have mobilised a force to ensure Robotnik's safety, but even so, the number of incoming signatures made the organics present shiver with apprehension.
Omega simply ran a weapons check.

"Alright, we're in range..." Rouge mused. "Best get a little closer in, though..."
"Are those fighters attacking?"
"They're engaging our escort..." She replied. "What is Eggman playing at?"
"Probability of a trap: 73%. Probability of inferior Artificial Unintelligence: 15%. Probability of Eggman incompetence: 12%."
Not exactly favourable odds, but they must have been aware that if they shot down the transport, odds were the team could make it out alive. They were looking to confirm.

For a moment the hedgehog's thumb hovered over the auto-turret controls. A thumb would activate them and fill the air around with carefully-calculated lines of flak, bracketing and destroying anything that didn't have a GUN transponder. That would mean anything, including their objective. No, not an option.
"Omega, connect with the gun controls."
"Do we intend to blow it up?"
"No. Clip the engines. Force them down. If that thing blows up I'm throwing you out of the ship."
"…I am disappointed."

The ship's main cannons spooled up, humming as they spat carefully-targeted streams of fire, shredding the first of the shuttle's four engines. Flames belched from the nozzle for a moment, before the combustion chamber exploded, causing it to lurch dangerously to port, before the new lack of lift on the starboard side cause it to roll back the other way, its flight path becoming a wide arc.

"Take one more. It won't have enough power to stay in the air, but enough for a controlled crash." Shadow commanded.
"Affirmative!"
A moment later and the second starboard engine flamed out under the weight of a second rash of tracer fire, and with a grim satisfaction watched as the remaining two engines' light dimmed to almost nothing, lack of propulsion forcing them offline to avoid spinning out of control. The thick-winged, brick-shaped transport began to lose altitude, fast, in an attempt to extinguish the lingering flames.

As one the rest of the enemy escort fighters, arrived forces and all, dipped away from the aerial fight, dropping as one towards the ground, undersides rearranging as the internal computer guiding each ship prepared to detach.
"Assault drones!" Shadow snapped, realising Robotnik's intentions. Within each of the fighters was contained the makings of a pair of networked heavy combat robots, along with a miniature armoury selected before they broke away. They intended to surround the landing site and simply wait until evac forces could arrive. With anti-air, ordnance and close-range weaponry available, they wouldn't find it hard. "Both of you get to the exit ramp; we're dropping in on them. We have to get down there before they set up a cordon."

"Affirmative." Omega removed himself from the guns, and stomped over to the exit, as the ramp lowered. Rouge followed, as the hedgehog activated the autopilot. Running back over to his two allies, he grabbed hold of them, and activated Chaos Control. Without manual piloting the craft curved away into a holding pattern, circling over the rainforest-come-desert on the fringe between the two extremes. Below them, having shredded a violent rent into the treeline, the enemy transport lay listing and steaming as the engines cooled against the ground.

The team were ripped out of real space for a moment, reappearing in a violent burst of energy, directly beside the crashed vessel, moments before the first of their targets hammered into the ground around them. Having descended at speeds bordering on the sound barrier most people would have been flattened by the enormous pressure of the landing, but such machines were proof against that kind of punishment.

Each combat pair hammered home into the sand, tight bursts of expendable thrusters killing their momentum, cast aside as they landed. The remaining chunk of the craft, the outer fuselage and wings, didn't have the luxury. Each piece realigned moments before landing, kicking up great chunks of dirt and shearing through trees to form temporary if serviceable defensive cover. It wouldn't do much good against the three inside their lines.
"Omega, anti-air! Rouge, you and me deal with the ground forces. Let's move!"

The other two didn't respond, Omega opening up as much of his arsenal as he could, opening fire, pumping bullets, slugs, missiles, and lasers into the sky. Shadow hurled a barrage of spears at the nearest robot, stabbing through its armour, skating out towards it as the impact of the blows rocked it backwards. Before it could recover he was on it, slamming feet-first into its torso and slamming it to the ground and his fist hammered through its chest, ripping out a bundle of important-looking cables.

Its ally spun to meet it but the hedgehog was already moving on to the next one and as it spun to track, now devoid of half of its operating power, a weight landed against its upper back. A handful of soft chattering noises followed as Rouge's high-velocity rounds punched down through the lighter armour of the inner gorget, shredding its internals.

The machine collapsed, Rouge already flitting toward the next one, opening fire on what looked like an optic sensor. The machine stumbled, but remained functioning long enough to force her to repeat her earlier attack. Like its compatriot, it slumped to the ground, sparking. No time to laud over the kill; even as metal showered the landscape, testament to the voluminous firepower housed within Omega's carapace, scores more opponents broke through the blanket of ordnance to join the struggle.

Shadow moved as a lethal blur of fur and Chaos energy, moving between targets moment by moment, opening a breach around the shuttle to give them a chance to crack its shell. One of Omega's missiles followed. It detonated unspectacularly against the side of the ship, rocking in the steaming dirt and leaving an ugly black scar across the armour.

"Tear this open!" He shouted, jumping back to tear into another droid. The larger robot barged through the hordes, battering drones out of the way. His claws dug into the torn skin of the craft. Metal screeched and tore as he ripped it further open, wide enough for himself to fit through, and despite orders the gunner robot still found the will to spool his weapons before he'd finished extricating himself from the shredded armour.

Ultimately a fruitless endeavour, a great force hammering into his chest reinforcements and launching him backwards into the air. The gunner series crashed down hard onto his feet, thrusters flaring on overload to stabilise him before he landed, the chattering of steel teeth cutting a high pitch across the battlefield. His sensors zoned in on the source, four spinning rings of buzzing metal, wrapped around a thick-armoured fist. THe owner stood, hidden partially by the gloom of the downed ship, but it was plain to see that it was bulkier, even moreso than himself, crimson lights gleaming at each joint.

"Shadow, Rouge, we have company." He steadied himself. "Registering two Robian signatures."
"Just what we need…" The hedgehog paused to take in the development. To their fortune they had struck precisely as he had intended, forcing their own foot in the door before the mechanised assault teams could establish a proper defence, and even now more than half lay crippled or destroyed. Though, he had no doubts that those inside the craft were liable to be a greater threat.

"Alright boys, this likely won't be easy... Remember, nothing lethal, Omega."
"How disappointing."
"Take it as a challenge. Prove that you can defeat Eggman's tin cans without reducing them to molten slag."
"Fine."

The assault teams, or rather, what was left of them stopped, forming a perimeter around the craft and the trio of assailants.

"Why do they not fire?"
"Because whoever's running the show wants to sic these two Robians on us. It's all a sick game to these people, they want to watch us squirm." Shadow grunted. "Get ready."
He couldn't have been further from the truth, but such knowledge was not known to him and he still felt the familiar eerie chill spiralling down his spine as the first Robian emerged from the ship. Its size and shape almost enough to pass for an old-generation robot, it could have been just another target if not for the white alloy tusks bursting from its face.

Mecha Rotor's optics blazed crimson behind the visor of his helmet, his armoured form lumbering forward, several weapons clicking into place. The suit itself had been reworked, now sporting the red and black colouration of the Eggman Empire's standard soldiers- one of the less important benefits of its nanite composition.

"Can I kill it?"
The negative died on Shadow's lips as a humming turbine of a mechanism mounted to the Robian's free arm hissed and spat. A moment later Omega lurched to his knee as the round clipped his shoulder, his last-second evasion enough to have deflected the shot, but not entirely. The force spun the gunner half on his axis, the shell detonating in the air behind him, smaller arms chasing it as he returned fire with his own arsenal. They'd expected hostages, even Robian ones, not targets. It wasn't likely someone with that firepower could be safely subdued easily.
"Engage." Shadow broke for the shuttle, offering a silent prayer that it would not be the case with anyone else. "Attempt non-lethal, but you have discretion."
"Excellent."

Shadow jumped through the tear in the fuselage, Rouge flitting in after him. "Did you really just give him discretion? He'll find an excuse."
"I doubt it will be that easy, even for him."
"This is why I'm normally in charge of this operation." THe bat groaned.
"We'll argue later..." The hedgehog grunted. "For now, let's find the Princess."

The inside of the shuttle was gloomier than they'd expected. Either the crash had killed the lights, or their foes had turned them off deliberately. Fortunately, both of them had solid night vision, adjusting from the light outside with only a few moments. They illuminate a cramped thoroughfare and empty crash harnesses, racks and chains bolted to the ceilings intended for robotic occupants, presumably Robotnik's elite units.
Shadow didn't quite see Rouge go down – he heard a noise, the thump as something collided with her back, and she disappeared from his peripheral vision. An instant later, a prick of blue light shunted through one of the locked doors, and the hedgehog was lifted from his feet.

The shield of Chaos that covered his body at skin-level shattered, slowing the shot just enough to stop it getting deeper into his body. He crashed to the ground, the air knock from his lungs as his head flopped back and cracked against the ground, dazing him. Blearily, he spotted another two crimson pinpricks looming from the door, stalking ever-closer to him. The figure stepped into the light, revealing herself.

Unlike Rotor, Bunnie had not been subjected to roboticization. That hadn't saved her from whatever the doctor was up to, however: Her eyes, aside from the scarlet glint in them, were glazed and lifeless. Her clothing had been replaced with the garb of a Legionnaire, and her arm pointed toward him, two smoking tines extending from the forearm. Railgun. Damn.

He could hear scuffling outside his line of sight, small sounds as his focus fixed on the dots blurring the edges of his night vision with their relative brightness. It made sense, at least, why the assault drones outside had held off. It wasn't a parade – the person running the show knew this was a rescue mission, or at least thought it would be, and had made them fight the ones they were trying to save. Kill them, damage the enemy command structure and bring back the bodies, or run and let them all get away, alive and with the ability to strike back. Even the opponents seemed tailored to them- He was dealing with Bunnie, the one member of the team who couldn't be roboticized, meaning that he had to hold back against her, and he couldn't just attack her programming with his powers. Rotor, the toughest of the bunch, was dealing with Omega, and that left Rouge with Sally, one of the few tactical minds sharper than her own.

"I suppose telling you to snap out of it isn't going to have any worth?" He asked, energy flickering around his palms.
"No, it 'ain't. Ah'll bet askin' you ta come quietly is about th' same." If not for the toneless quality to her voice and the weapon levelled at him, he'd have had a hard time guessing anything was wrong.
"No dice." He came to his feet carefully.
"Then Ah wouldn't bother gettin' up if Ah were y'all. This ain't gonna last long."
"I see you've been imbued with the Doctor's hubris, too..."
"Who says it's him?" She raised her weapon, and fired a second shot.

Anticipating the hit he slipped to the side, the high-powered shot punching through to expose a second shaft of light from the outside of the ship, but it wasn't enough. In such close quarters with little room to move, she had a third charge aligned before he could recover from evading the second. With no shield to take the impact it hissed into his chest cavity and he sagged in sudden, indescribable agony as the round burst from his back with a gobbet of blood, following its predecessor from the ship through a new hole.

It was suddenly very hard to breathe. Punctured lung, probably. Why couldn't he move?Had to have hit the spinal cord, at the very least. Pain didn't stop him understand the amount of shit he was in right now.

"Got one, Commander." Bunnie announced, walking over to him. "Ah don't doubt yer ability to hear that, but it'll take ya a while... and y'all ain't goin' anywhere fast with yer back broken."

The cyborg raised her heel, and brought it down on his forehead, everything going black.

Rouge hadn't expected to be the one to survive the longest here. Her tricks were avoiding the junk, not surviving once it punched you in the gut. Shadow was stronger than her, faster than her, but apparently that hadn't mattered and worse, the bat got why, same as he had. He'd had to pull his punches against Bunnie, an issue she didn't have. Her problem was, somehow, trying to lay a hand on her opponent.

Sally's opening strike had been almost predictable enough as to get on her nerves. Having spent her life picking through enclosed spaces with every panel concealing some sort of death trap, it had taken no special sense, merely reaction to the expected, to avoid the thrust meant to crack her own spine. Collapsing forward to nullify the majority of its impact and then rolling and hurling herself across the floor back to her feet to avoid the following flurry of attacks, she had yet to get herself a clear look at her opponent. Their duel was fought across the many obstacles littering the compartment, in brief spurts of speed and flicking strikes, leaving the bat too distracted to deal with Bunnie before she could get involved.

One of the crates shifted, hoisting up over the Robian's head. She crouched, boosting the heavy metal box toward her. It bounced, rolling end over end, slamming into the wall as she sailed over it. Mecha Sally's form, marked with crimson lights was visible for a brief moment, before her arm shot out, and clamped around her throat. The limb continued to extend, smacking her against the wall. Pivoting, the droid dragged the bat over the wall, and hurled her against the floor, releasing her at the same moment.

With her arm retracting she paced forward, intent on finishing her work with precision as Rouge dragged herself away, her wings battered from the impacts and lending her no further strength. She was halfway when she heard it, muttering, only a few words, before the bat's gun was free of its holster again. Undirected shots winged the Robian's way and she shifted around them, half-calculating their trajectory and surging forward, had fastening around Rouge's wrist and hoisting her into the air for the second time.

The GUN operative lashed out still, wrapping her legs round Mecha Sally's neck and hauling, collapsing them both against one of the wall mountings as a fist hammered into the bat's stomach. Her lungs emptied suddenly and her muscles went slack, her body suddenly starved. "A minor disturbance." Extricating herself from the inert tangle of limbs, the mechanical squirrel looked down at her, then off into the air, addressing the machines around her. "Do not pursue. We will withdraw."

"Apologies, Commander. The red one escaped." Mecha Rotor announced.
"Are we even airworthy now?" Bunnie asked, folding her arms.
"Negatory, but another shuttle is making a detour to collect us." She replied, folding her arms behind her back. "Mecha Sonic took care of that during the fight."
The errant robot interjected. "I could have brought down the gunner if I had assisted Unit: Mecha Rotor."

"He will bring word of their failure to our foes. Had he been captured, they would have worried. If they know that Team Dark was defeated and added to our force, as well as what has become of our two newest allies, there will be panic."
"An besides, we got the good ones." Bunnie's eyes cast over the two captures they had made as she bound Rouge before she could recover. "Not like th' cannon-in-a-box thang is gonna pick up any new tricks."
"Prepare them for transformation on our return. They will have information we require."