Night came quickly and so did the time for Manik to execute his escape plan. He used a discarded screwdiver found in the cell to unscrew the bolts securing the grate to the air vent. Manik squeezed into the vent, followed by Lara, Sonia, and Dominic. They crawled through the vent and made it to the exit point.
"Perfect. Down there is where Dominic's fur landed," Manik said before kicking the grate out of its place. He landed on the floor quietly and took out the SWAT Bot standing guard. He walked back over to the vent and helped Lara out first.
"Thanks, Manik," Lara said as she touched down.
"No problem. Anything for a friend." Manik then helped Dominic and Sonia out of the vent before he walked over to the keys. He grabbed them and opened Eggman's cell.
"Thanks. You're not half bad despite being Sonic's son," Eggman said as he stepped out of his cell.
"Future son. I wasn't born in this timeline," Manik said, correcting Eggman.
"We'll go over that later. Right now, we need to go."
"Right behind ya." Eggman, Manik, Lara, Dominic, and Sonia ran out of the room and into the corridor. They all stopped when an alarm started going off, alerting the SWAT Bots to their escape.
"We gotta split up. That's what Josh would do," Manik said.
"All right. Sonia, let's go," Eggman said before he ran off in one direction with Sonia following.
"Guess that leaves us, guys." Manik, Lara, and Dominic then ran off in the other direction. They kept running until Mecha Rocket stopped them dead in their tracks.
Where do you think you're going?
"Now what," Dominic asked.
"Guys, go. I'll hold him off," Lara said.
"Are you sure about this," Manik asked.
"I am." Lara then reached around to the back of her neck, took off her necklace, and handed it to Manik.
"Give that to Argyle if you see him," Lara said.
"I will. Thanks," Manik said.
"I got something else to give you, Manik."
"What?"
"This," Lara responded before kissing Manik on the cheek. "Be careful, Manik."
"I will," Manik said before Lara ran toward Mecha Rocket to give Manik and Dominic a chance to escape. Manik opened his hand and saw that the necklace Lara had given him had Argyle's name etched onto it.
"Argyle." Manik then realized that Lara was sacrificing her own life to help Manik and Dominic escape. "No," Manik said before Dominic tried to pull him back.
"Manik, we gotta go!"
"No! Lara!" The alarm was replaced with silence as Lara fought Mecha Rocket. Manik could only look on as he was pulled away by Dominic. Lara took one more look back and smiled at Manik.
"So long, Manik Acorn," Lara said quietly before being stabbed in the abdomen by Mecha Rocket's armblade. Lara's glasses fell off and shattered as they hit the ground. Manik watched as the life slowly drained from Lara.
Three Omega Rangers down, three to go. Mecha Rocket then used his rocket boosters to speed up to Manik and Dominic. When he was close enough to them, a trail of flames came rushing up behind them. Mecha Rocket, Manik, and Dominic all knew they needed to speed up to avoid being burned to a crisp. Mecha Rocket wasn't fast enough to outrun the flames and was consumed by them.
"Manik, pour on the juice! We gotta outrun the fire," Dominic said.
"Lara," Manik said before Dominic grabbed his wrist and sped up. Manik and Dominic were able to outrace the flames and make it to where Eggman was waiting.
"Where's Sonia?"
"I'll explain when we're on the ground." Eggman, Manik, and Dominic made it into one of the escape pods and out of the Death Egg before it went up in flames.
"Incredible. I guess that takes care of Mecha Rocket," Manik said.
"Mecha Rocket's gone," Eggman asked.
"Yeah. He wasn't fast enough to escape the flames."
"Just like Sonia."
"What was that," Manik asked.
"Nothing," Eggman quickly responded. The mix of fire and metal that was once the Death Egg crashed into the mountains and the resulting explosion was enough to touch the night sky.
"And that's the game. Good guys: three. Mecha Rocket: zero."
"It's time we got back to New Mobotropolis, Dominic."
"What about me?"
"The truce was temporary," Manik said.
"Good point," Eggman said. As the escape pod made its descent, a metallic fist punched its way through the debris of the Death Egg. The debris moved to reveal Mecha Rocket, who had survived the explosion of the Death Egg intact along with his Freedom Fighterbots. He looked and saw Sonia's burned corpse lying there next to Lara's corpse.
It seems I was wrong. Now I have only two Omega Rangers to deal with: Omega Blue and Omega Silver. They haven't seen the last of Mecha Rocket!