After a few more minutes of walking, he arrived at the end of the hallway. A massive steel gate that could stop a nuke barred the way. Behind it was the center, the lair of the mastermind. And the only way to open it was a small panel on the wall to the right. Tails unscrewed the top plate and his work was quickly finished, in part thanks to Rouge's tinkerings with the security system.
Everything was silent for a second or two. Then, suddenly, the door unsealed and opened with deafening screeching and squealing of the metal. But what lay beyond was a sight to behold. It was an immense spherical chamber, measuring in diameter what must have been more than a hundred yards. The walls were red and rough. But the core itself - a single bridge, without security lines or supports, lead out straight into the very middle where it expanded into a circular plate with different consoles and control panels. On the far wall, several massive displays were mounted, with many thick cables running from them, merging into one large cord and disappearing through the very bottom. But by far the most interesting feature was on the ceiling - right above the plate, there was an upside-down dome, reachable only by a high ladder, with three glowing gems.
The fox proceeded down the walkway. In the very center there was a chair with a large figure that was yelling, "How many times have I told you not to interrupt me with your stupid progress reports?!" without even turning to look who it was. "I don't even know why I programmed you like that!"
Tails continued. Eggman heard the approaching steps. "My god, will you..." He violently spun around on his chair just as the fox reached the circular area. "...LEAVE ME ALONE?!" He was pointing his finger at the uninvited visitor. It took him a moment to register who it was he saw. When he did, his arm dropped and his eyebrows raised. "YIKES!" He jumped out of the seat and started backing up. "T-Tails? What a... what a surprise! However did you... get in here?" What the heck is he doing here? HOW is he here? What the devil's going on? These and other questions ran through Robotnik's mind.
"Oh, you know, a trip through the caves, a fly up to the bottom of your little base here..." Tails explained, amused by the doc's reaction. "Y'know, after I got in, it was a walk in the park."
Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have put all my resources into the hull! "Well, umm, it's always nice to have guests..." Eggman reached a panel. "...but it's appropriate to give them the reception they deserve!" He leaped towards a big red button and slammed down on it. "My Sentinels will arrive shortly to annihilate you!" He stared at the entrance. After a second, so did Tails, inrtigued. "Any minute now!" the doc continued.
A few more seconds of nothing passed. The fox turned around, laughing. "Listen, Ivo, I hate to burst your bubble, but this chamber's defences've been deactivated. Check-mate."
Eggman began anxiously looking around. He tried to find something, anything, to keep Tails away, but he just couldn't - everything he otherwise needed was either on his computer or was brought to him somehow. It was the end of the line, and the fat doctor, in an attempt to make a break for it, charged the fox head on.
Tails got an ice-cold expression. He lunged at the rampaging Robotnik and delivered a punch straight to the face. Eggman's large mass stopped rather quickly as he tumbled to the ground. Trembling, he gathered what strength he had to get up on one knee. His nose was clearly broken, as were his goggles, and a trickle of blood ran from his forehead. The fox was standing right there before him. "Hey, doc, how're you feeling? Does your face hurt?" He struck him again. "Don't wory, this is only the beggining. I want to see how your fat-covered insides look." The last blow took Robotnik out cold.
Heh heh. He wasn't so tough. But boy, do I have some stuff to do. He ascended the ladder and gathered the emeralds, preventing any further incidents, and managed to unblock the core. He called a transport unit to take the doc to the opening in the hull, while stopping at two locations: the vent where he'd hidden Rouge, and a supply room for some rope to lower Eggman's large body to the ground. But just as he was about to leave, he remembered something.
Rouge said the others were out there. Let's see what I can do with that. He wrote a few commands in the terminal:
reroute auxiliary power [95]%; dest. thermal_scanner_[MAIN]
[]rerouting... complete
engage: rt. 127 - 8; f(focus) = 100 ++ 270
[]ROUTINE: thermal_scan_local_focus; scanning... complete
[]save: y/n
y
[]saving... done [( .loc.)/scans/spec/- AS thr_scn_ ]
print_disp [( .loc.)/scans/spec/thr_scn_ ]
And an infrared scan popped up on the display. Even though it was covered by foilage, he could see an elevated level of heat in one part of the image - Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow. Perfect. They're right there, he thought, and pressed a few other buttons.
.
.
Sonic was mumbling to himself. "Man, what's taking her so long?" The trio was standing behind some bushes and observing the entrance.
"It's a big place," answered Knuckles. "She might still be searching for a way to get the door open."
"Hey, you two, get over here," Shadow said suddenly. The gate was slowly opening. "Come on, let's go!" He ran of towards the base, while the other two were right on his heels.
Tails was observing all this through camera feeds. Run, Shadow, run! A crosshair appeared on the screen and a robotic voice said, "target-locked". He flipped a switch and FIRE appeared written with big red letters all over the monitor.
Shadow was the first to notice something was headed straight for them very fast. He came to a screeching halt and jumped back to tackle the other two to the ground just as the missile hit and created a blazing fireball. Inside the base, Tails was celebrating. Yes! Bullseye! You black jerk, what're you gonna do now, huh? Sonic and Knuckles' ears hurt bad because of the pressure created by the explosion, but it was Shadow who'd taken the full force of the blast. The other two pulled themselves together and ran to see what state their friend, who'd been flung thirty feet, was in. It wasn't a very pretty sight - he had large burn marks, in some places the skin had melted, and in others, been burnt to a crisp. But that wasn't all, deep shrapnel wounds littered his body, and his limbs were twisted in strange, unnatural directions.
The echidna looked away in disgust while Sonic kneeled next to Shadow with tears in his eyes. "Sh- Shad?" he asked with a trembling voice. No answer. The hedgehog tried to pick up his pal, but when he grabbed him, a tatter of skin got torn off. He barely kept himself from throwing up.
Shadow started moving his head a bit. "M-Maria?" *cough cough* "I-is that you?"
"No, no, it's me, Sonic!"
"Ma-Maria, I'm comin-g... I'm coming." With those words, he fell silent, and the others knew it was over.
"Damn you, Eggman! I'll make you pay!" shouted the hedgehog as he jumped to his feet and blazed towards the entrance. Knuckles tried in vain to stop him, so he stayed behind and guarded the body. Of course, by the time Sonic got his bearings in the facility, the culprit had already escaped. He returned to the field with slumped shoulders and looking into the distance. "Nothing," he said in a deep, depressed voice that sounded devoid of all joy. "Rouge is gone, too. She's probably been captured. Come on, let's go."
"W-what... Rouge? No..." the echidna said with a lump in his throat.
"Yeah, I'm sorry, I know she was important to you."
*sigh* "Shit... Hey, what about Shadow?" Knuckles asked.
Sonic answered, "Take him if you want to. Otherwise, I'll come pick him up later."
"Fine..." said the echidna and put him on his shoulders, cringing as the burnt flesh touched his. He then added, "Damn, this got real messed up... Where d'you think he went?"
"Who?" the hedgehog asked, but not really caring much for the answer.
"Eggman! He wasn't in there from what I gathered."
"You're right. I think he went with whoever it was that killed Shadow," Sonic cryptically replied.
"Huh? ... Oh, no!" Knuckles dropped his friend and looked straight into the hedgehog's eyes. "For fuck's sake, don't give me that shit again!"
"What shit?" Sonic replied calmly.
"You don't think it was Robotnik, do you? You think it was that mystery man, who we've never even seen!" the echidna said with an undertone of anger.
"Yeah, so I do! You have a problem with that?"
"You bet your ass! Look at what's happened to us! That stupid kid, that stalker Amy, those two annoying rabbits, Shadow, and now Rouge! They're all gone! We're the only ones left! Maybe we wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't been such a pain!" Knuckles yelled back.
"Wait, you're saying I've been sitting on my ass this entire time?" asked Sonic who was beggining to get annoyed.
"No, I'm saying we'd be better off if you had!"
"Oh, yeah? Well maybe if SOMEONE was better at their job, Eggman woudn't have gotten the emeralds in the first place!" the hedgehog retorted.
"That so? Well that someone would rather be himself than a certain hotshot blue porcupine!" Knuckles responeded, clenching his fists.
"Well I prefer being a hotshot that a disgrace to MY ENTIRE RACE!" Sonic shouted.
"WHY YOU..." The echidna hit the hedgehog with a right hook, and he fell to the ground. Realising what he'd done, he tried to help his friend up, but he pushed his hand away.
"Just get off me, man," Sonic said while getting up and holding his cheek.
The echidna began apologising, "I'm... I'm really sorry... I-I don't know what came over me."
"It's- OWW" the hedgehog felt a stinging sensation under one of his teeth. "Damn... Anyway, it's fine. I think we both said some bad things, me more than you. I should be the one apologising here."
"It's just that... Sonic, this is too much... Did you see Shadow? I mean, I... I don't think I can take this..."
"Hey, it's cool... Just go home. I can do this alone." The hedgehog picked up his deceased friend. "Bye, Knuckles. I'll let you know if I find Rouge." With those words, they parted ways.
