OMG! I'm being loaded with so much work right now that I can barely get any time for freedom! However, I managed to get just enough time to bring you this next chapter.

Enjoy, because it could be a while before the following chapters arrive, too!

Chapter 9

Spider Bot

Zooey felt her entire body shiver as she struggled to free herself from a metal chair she was strapped to. All around her was darkness as she was locked in a dark room, guarded by robots. She was scared to death by the thought of what could happen to her next. There were only two things she was hoping for: for Eggman not to kill him, and for Team Sonic to come and save her.

Just then, the door to the room opened and shot out a ray of brightness that disturbed the vixen's vision. She shut her eyes and turned her head away from the door to fight off the disturbance in her eyes. She then opened her eyes again to see Eggman in a wheelchair, grinning evilly at her.

"What a delightful sight," the evil doctor whispered.

"What do you want?" asked Zooey as she tried to break free of the metal straps that were holding her arms to the chair, to no avail.

"I want to watch with sheer delight as my robots slowly tear you limb for limb. Then, I'll finish you off myself, … nice and slow," Eggman spoke with an intimidating voice.

Zooey gasped in horror as she heard those words from the villainous scientist. Nothing could describe how terrified she was of the idea of a crippled Eggman and his robots raping her to death. This felt like a nightmare coming true.

Hardly a moment later, her fears were confirmed when several small robots entered the room in possession of deadly weapons. The poor vixen once again tried shaking herself out of the chair, but once again it was no use.

"Now don't you worry, my dear. This won't hurt … much!" taunted Eggman with an evil laugh as the robots approached Zooey and were about to start cutting one of her legs off.

Suddenly, just as the chainsaws were beginning to rotate …

A loud beeping alarm echoed throughout the lair, and red lights flashed throughout the building.

"WHAT!? WHAT IS IT!?" Eggman screamed in fury and annoyance.

The robots backed away from Zooey and froze where they stood. The vixen let out a sigh of relief, which she hoped would last.

"If that's the blue pineapple, then I'll have his legs for dinner!" yelled Eggman before he turned to the robots that were guarding Zooey's chair, "Don't let her leave this room! If anyone tries to free her, kill them immediately!"

The villain wheeled himself out of the room, leaving Zooey alone with the robots, before the door closed and turned the entire room back to pure darkness. The vixen continued to breathe heavily as she feared that the robots guarding her could still tear her apart at any minute.

"Tails! Please help me!" she thought as she sat back in the chair and stared off into the cold darkness of the room before she noticed a certain something hanging from the ceiling.

In the meantime, Team Sonic had just arrived at Eggman's lair using Tails' plane. Tails brought his four teammates down towards the ground, and the four released their Enerbeams and came down feet first. The fox continued to circle around the lair in his plane.

Only then, they heard an alarm go off from inside.

"Aw, man! We've been detected already!?" complained Knuckles, "We just got here!"

Right then and there, a large group of Badniks emerged from the front door and began their attack on the squad of heroes.

"Smash 'em!" ordered Sonic.

The hedgehog curled into a ball and started using his Spin Dash, Amy pulled out her Piko Hammer and started hitting everything she could get her eyes on, Knuckles aimed his fists at anything he could see, and Sticks pulled out her boomerang and slashed at everything her eyes could take notice of.

Tails, meanwhile, landed his plane in a small area behind the lair so that it couldn't be detected very easily. The fox shut the engines off and hoped out of his seat. He spun his two tails to steady his fall so that he came down with a soft landing. Then, he looked up at Eggman's lair, which looked very tall from where he was standing.

"Don't worry, Zooey. I'll have you out of there in no time," he whispered to himself as he stared up at the lair with a determined look on his face.

At that moment, Tails looked back down and noticed a doorway.

"Hmm," he said as a thought flew into his head, "I'm sure Eggman won't notice if I took the back door."

Without a second thought, the two-tailed fox walked up to the door and opened it. Sure enough, all that was ahead of him was a dark corridor which appeared to lead to nowhere.

"Sure hope this leads me somewhere," said Tails as he walked in and shut the door behind him.

Suddenly, it was silent as the fox ran down the corridor in hopes of finding his girlfriend. He was sure that he could be anywhere in this building, but, of course, so could Eggman, whom Tails knew was seeking revenge on him. This renewed the seething rage within the fox that was encouraging him to give Eggman a piece of his mind.

Soon, the kitsune reached the end of the corridor, and he spotted another door on his right-hand side. From within, he could hear the alarm that he and his team had set off, and he knew that from this point on he was entering the danger zone.

"Well, … here goes nothing," he said quietly as he slowly opened the door, the volume of the alarm rapidly increasing to the point of nearly forcing him to cover his ears so that he wouldn't go deaf.

The hallways were littered with red flashing lights which were so bright that the fox had to keep himself from looking directly at them.

The fox looked in both directions to make sure that none of Eggman's robots were within his sight distance.

There was no sign of life anywhere, biological or mechanical.

Feeling assured that the coast was clear, Tails walked in and closed the door, and he started snooping around the hallways in his effort to find Zooey.

Meanwhile, the area in front of the lair was now a mess of twisted metal and severed wires. At least fifteen Badniks had been dispatched to fend off Team Sonic, but they were now all in pieces.

Sonic, Amy, Knuckles and Sticks, all completely unharmed, walked up to the front door of the lair and opened it.

"Well, no Spider Bot around here," said Sonic, "It's probably waiting for us inside."

"Or it could be waiting for Tails to rescue Zooey and then attack him out of nowhere!" said Sticks suspiciously.

"What are the odds?" asked Knuckles.

"Maybe thirty percent," answered Amy.

"Well, in that case, we'd better get a move on and find that thing before it causes any harm to Tails … or Zooey," said Sonic.

With that, the four went sprinting through the front hallway and stopped at an intersection.

"Let's split up," said Sonic, "Amy, Sticks, you go to the right. Knuckles and I will go to the left."

"We're on it!" Amy and Sticks replied in unison as they ran down the right hallway.

Sonic and Knuckles then sprinted down the left hallway and began their search for Spider Bot.

"Wait up, Sonic! I'm not as fast as you!" yelled Knuckles as Sonic seemingly pulled away from him.

"Hurry up, Knux! We don't have all day!" the hedgehog replied impatiently, "Spider Bot could be anywhere, and yet … so could Tails."

Inside, though, the speedster was beginning to worry about Tails. He had a hunch that Spider Bot could be waiting for Tails to rescue Zooey and then attack him by surprise, which was exactly what Sticks was suspecting would happen.

"Oh, Tails. I just hope you're okay, wherever you are," Sonic thought to himself, "Why did I have to let you go off on your own?"

Eggman was watching everything from his control room, and he was banging his head on the control panel in frustration from the fact that Team Sonic had once again succeeded in outsmarting the lair's defenses.

"Every time! This defense system desperately needs an upgrade!" the villain sulked to himself.

The crippled doctor stared at his monitors and watched as the five heroes searched individually through multiple rooms and hallways in an attempt to find his captive.

"Orbot! Cubot!" he shouted at the door behind him.

In no time, the two 'said' robots burst into the room.

"Are you in need of medication again, Doctor?" asked Orbot.

"No! I want you and the others to start building a new defense system for this lair!" ordered Eggman.

"I thought you always built the defense systems!" protested Cubot.

"Uh, excuse me!? Can't you see exactly what it is I'm sitting on!?" Eggman shot back.

"A wheelchair?" said Orbot.

"Precisely!" replied Eggman, "Because I can't walk, you crapheads, and when I can't walk, I CAN'T WORK ON MY DEFENSE SYSTEMS!"

The two robots just froze in silence, which only annoyed Eggman even further.

"Well, what are you waiting for!? GET OUT!" the doctor screamed on top of his lungs, which created more stress pain for his broken back, "AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!"

Horrified by Eggman's screams, Orbot and Cubot instantly sped out of the room and left their master alone.

"When will this pain end!?" Eggman asked himself as he could feel nothing but pain from the injuries that Tails had given him, "I can't wait to give Tails a piece of my mind!"

Tails was still searching for Zooey. He had searched the entirety of the first two floors of Eggman's lair without success. Now, he was on the third floor and was more determined than ever to get his lover back.

What puzzled Tails, though, was that ever since the alarms had ceased, the entire area surrounding the lair had been rather quiet. To him, it seemed that his teammates hadn't quite come across Spider Bot just yet. He only hoped that he wouldn't stumble upon it while trying to find his girlfriend.

Just then, Tails peeked towards another hallway and noticed Sonic and Knuckles appearing to be looking for something.

The fox slowly stepped out and revealed himself to his teammates.

"Sonic? Knuckles?" he called.

Sonic turned and saw Tails calling them from about ten yards away.

"Tails?" Knuckles replied.

"Where's Zooey?" asked Sonic.

"I haven't found her, and I'm just worried sick for her now," the fox replied as sweat poured down his face.

"Okay, take a chill, bro," said Sonic as he noticed that Tails was on the verge of hyperventilating, "We'll find her."

The cobalt hedgehog wrapped an arm around his brother to calm him down so that he wouldn't have a panic attack.

"Just relax, lil' bro," he soothed him, "Take a few deep breaths."

Tails did as he was told, and he slowly calmed himself down.

"No sign of Spider Bot yet?" the fox asked once he had regained his composure.

"Nope," replied Knuckles, "Sticks has her worries, though."

"About what?" asked Tails.

"Don't mention that now, Knuckles," Sonic interjected, "We need to focus on finishing this as soon as possible."

"And?" replied Knuckles.

"And the longer we stand here, the worse the circumstances will be," said Sonic, "We need to end this now."

"There's nothing to end around here," said Knuckles, "There's no robots around."

Tails glared furiously at Knuckles after hearing that.

"Yeah, but they'll be robots guarding Zooey, and I'm sure that any minute now they'll be at it!" the fox shouted.

"At it?" said Knuckles in pure confusion.

"You heard what that egg-shaped son-of-a-bitch said!" Tails yelled, "Those robots could be at it, ripping her apart right now, and Eggman will rape her endlessly until she's dead! I lost one girlfriend through tragic circumstances, … AND I WILL NOT LOSE ANOTHER ONE!"

"Tails! Calm down!" shouted Sonic as he wrapped his arms around Tails again, "We don't want Eggman's robots to hear us in here!"

Then …

"Tails?" said a female voice from behind a door that was next to them.

The fox recognized that voice immediately, and he knew right then and there that his lover was behind that door.

Without a moment's hesitation, Tails wrestled himself out of Sonic's comforting grasp, and he pulled out his monkey wrench and banged it against the door.

His eyes picked up the sight of Zooey strapped to a chair, surrounded by two small robots with chainsaws.

"ZOOEY!?" the fox screamed.

"Tails!?" replied Zooey with a scared look on her face, "What are you doing here!?"

"I'm gonna get you outta here!" said Tails he ran towards his girlfriend.

"No! You've gotta get outta here now! It's a trap!" shrieked Zooey.

"Never!" replied Tails, not believing her.

"Go! Save yourself!"

"I won't leave you!"

Suddenly …

As Tails was about to approach Zooey, a gigantic robot came crashing down between them with a large thud.

The fox lost his balance and fell to the floor. Then, he looked up and realized exactly what it was …

The robot had eight legs and a monstrous insect head. Its jaw was filled with saw-edged teeth.

Tails recognized this robot immediately as the Spider Bot they had encountered on the beach.

Spider Bot then released a monstrous roar from its mouth at a deafening volume level. The fox covered his eyes and screamed in terror.

Sonic and Knuckles burst into the room and gazed at Spider Bot as it roared at Tails.

Once the roar had stopped, Tails looked up and saw Sonic looking down at him with a worried look on his face.

"Are you okay, buddy?" he asked.

"It could have gone without that monster getting in my way!" replied Tails as Sonic helped him back up.

"Guys! A little help here, please!?" called Knuckles as he stared at Spider Bot.

"Speaking of which, where are Amy and Sticks?" asked Tails.

No sooner did he say that when the two girls burst into the room, holding their weapons.

"I knew it!" yelled Sticks as she saw her suspicions come true, "Spider Bot was waiting for us to save Zooey before attacking us! Why didn't you believe me!? It's not like I'm paranoid!"

"Sticks," said Amy, "We know you're not paranoid some-"

"No time for that!" called Sonic, "We gotta crush this thing NOW!"

"CHARGE!" screamed Knuckles.

Without another word, Sonic, Knuckles, Amy and Sticks all charged attacks at Spider Bot.

Tails, meanwhile, tried looking for a gap to sneak past the robot and get to his girlfriend. The only thing he wanted to do was ensure her safety. It seemed that it would be the only way to start re-curing his depression.

The fox's four teammates were all at it, though. Sonic was performing Spin Dashes on Spider Bot's head, which seemed to do quite a lot of damage. Sticks was whamming her boomerang against the monster's blood red eyes. Red glass shattered and went flying across the room. Knuckles was throwing punches at the robot's underside, and Amy was banging her hammer against its arms.

Tails managed to find a gap near a wall, and he tiptoed right by Spider Bot's legs, hoping to not be detected.

Just then, one of Spider Bot's legs came crashing down right in front of Tails. The two-tailed kitsune backed away in fear that the robot had spotted him, but then he realized that there was nothing connected to the leg …

Amy had pounced it off with her hammer.

The fox let out a sigh of relief and continued to tiptoe towards his girlfriend.

Just then, with no glass in the way, the robot's eyes released giant red laser beams that bounced off the walls.

One of them hit Knuckles, and he went flying across the room and banged against a wall.

"OW!" the echidna yelped in pain as he slid down the wall and crashed to the floor.

"Take cover!" called Sonic to his team as he dodged the second laser beam by sidestepping.

Tails jolted upwards as the laser beam went under his feet, and Amy had to crawl underneath Spider Bot to dodge the beam.

Sticks would be the unfortunate one …

The beam hit her back while she wasn't looking, and she was sent on a one-way trip against a wall in the same manner as Knuckles. The badger then slid down the wall and came down to the floor.

By now, Tails had made it to Zooey's chair, but he still had two more robots in his way.

The robot guards started up their chainsaws and pointed them at the fox.

Tails, however, reacted much quicker. The fox got his monkey wrench back out and lifted himself with his two appendages.

"Take this!" he yelled as he swung his wrench at the guards.

The two small robots each took one hit, but that was enough to leave them both in pieces.

Tails came back down and started unstrapping Zooey from her chair, when Spider Bot turned around and noticed him.

The robotic insect roared and fired a plasma ball at the fox.

"TAILS!" yelled Zooey, gaining her boyfriend's attention.

The fox turned and saw the plasma coming right for him.

With no hesitation, Tails grabbed his wrench and swung it at the plasma like a baseball bat.

The plasma ball was sent flying in the other direction, right back towards Spider Bot, and it hit it directly at its right-side arm mechanism.

The robot screamed monstrously in pain as the mechanism melted, and all four of its right legs detached from its body, which in turn went crashing to the floor. The room rumbled from the impact of the fall, which nearly brought Sonic and Tails down to the floor, but the two maintained their balance.

"I'd consider that a home run!" commented Sonic to Tails before he performed another Spin Dash at Spider Bot's head.

Tails turned back to Zooey and unscrewed the right strap. The vixen felt so happy to be able to move her arm again after what felt like so long not being able to move.

The fox then unscrewed the left strap, and Zooey was finally free.

The vixen jumped from the chair and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend.

"Oh, Tails! Thank you so much!" she cried happily, "I love you!"

"I love you, too, Zooey!" replied Tails, "You have no idea how worried I was about you!"

"Uh, guys? I think you two might wanna get outta here quick!" called Sonic with a concerned look on his face as he stared at Spider Bot's three remaining legs.

The legs were all swinging around aimlessly like those of a sea monster. It looked as though in a matter of time someone would get killed.

"Amy! Let's finish this thing!" Sonic shouted.

Amy complied and swung her hammer at Spider Bot once more.

Another arm seared off its body and crashed to the floor.

Tails and Zooey, meanwhile, got back up and ran past Spider Bot as quickly as they could.

"We'll meet you at the back door!" Tails shouted to his team.

"Got it!" replied Sonic as the two lovers left the room.

Knuckles and Sticks got back up to their feet and did their best to fight off whatever physical pain they had left after being hit with the laser beams. They looked over at Spider Bot and noticed that it only had two left legs that were swinging around the room.

"Let's finish this!" said Knuckles.

"Yeah, so I can stop creating nightmarish visions in my head!" added Sticks as she looked at Spider Bot again.

One of Spider Bot's arms whacked Sonic and Amy and sent them sliding across the floor and banging against the wall.

"UGH!" yelped Amy in pain.

Sonic turned just in time to see Sticks swing her boomerang at another arm and yank it off of the robot's body.

The body then started spinning around, and the last remaining arm was now like a deadly fan blade.

The brown badger managed to escape the spinning arm by jumping across the room, while Knuckles took a more energetic approach …

The red echidna took a giant leap of faith and charged his fists as much as he could.

"KNUCKLE SANDWICH!" he screamed as he came down and smashed his fists against the robot's head.

The insect head snapped from its body and crashed to the floor. Upon impact, it smashed into a million pieces as it released one last weak roar. The body stopped spinning, and its remaining leg broke free and flew across the room before it also crashed to the floor.

Sonic, Amy and Sticks watched in astonishment as Spider Bot's head and body steadily stopped moving and slowly died.

Knuckles then emerged from the wreckage and beamed proudly at his teammates.

"For every punch, there is to be a victim," he stated with pride.

"Nice going, Knuckles!" said Sonic as he and Amy got back up to their feet, "Now let's go meet Tails at the back!"

At that very moment, Tails and Zooey were running downstairs to the first floor, panting and sweating while at it, and were about to head for the exit that Tails had used to enter the lair, … when suddenly …

The two lovers found their path blocked by another giant robot …

Well, it seems that Tails' troubles aren't over just yet, as he has run into yet another obstacle. Will he and Zooey escape this giant robot, or will one or both of them end up in the hands of Eggman? If so, can Sonic, Amy, Knuckles and Sticks save them from Eggman's evil clutches?

BTW, the next chapter will contain the REAL climax, as Eggman isn't quite finished yet! At this point, I would consider there being two chapters to go, so I'm getting close to the end of this!

Please review if you'd like, and I'll be back this weekend with the final confrontation!