AN: Sorry that it's been a while since the last update but various things have been keeping me quite busy! I can't guarantee a regular schedule going forward but for now enjoy this chapter. We're starting to make some real progress now!
11:30 HOURS LEFT / THE INVENTOR
Sally was frustrated. She'd given up on the time-traveller's cryptic replies and lost all hope in getting any sort of help from him. There was little doubt that he was a double agent of some sort for Robotnik, she now suspected, which pleased Sonic to no end. Yet the truly annoying thing about the time-traveller was that she had hoped that he had an alternate entrance to Robotropolis – one that had been used to take Snively out – but that seemed highly unlikely as all the evidence pointed to him using Snively to buy their trust, an act likely condoned by Robotnik.
And yet nothing was truly conclusive. Chuck's letter was the most damning piece of evidence against all the suspicions she had - she had never mentioned the time-traveller in her previous letters to Chuck, so he would have met the boy personally, and yet if he worked for Robotnik alone then Chuck would not have had any chance to send the morning's letter, and he would have outright stated that the time-traveller was a traitor. Her head was hurting enough already without all the stress about this kid.
The only noise in the meeting room was the consistent tapping of a foot, and there were no awards for guessing who was responsible. His pride from first discovering the time-traveller's betrayals had worn off a little too quickly, so Sonic had nothing to do but cross his arms and sigh.
"Booooring."
"Well, do you have any bright ideas in that clearly overworked head of yours, Sonic?" Sally spat sarcastically.
"Duh. The Deep Power Stones?" Sonic said, then smiled with smug satisfaction.
Sally hated when he did that.
"We discussed that half an hour ago, Sonic. We can't just use them and hope for the best. We don't even know how powerful they really are, or more appropriately, if they're powerful enough! This means that we have to get into the Doomsday Project before we use them, and if they don't work? What if Robotnik wasn't bluffing when we destroyed the 'fake'?"
Sonic snorted. "Well sorr-ee. Too much information at once, just gimme the important bits."
"We need a backup plan," Sally sighed.
"Why can't we just roll with it when the time comes? We've beaten Robotnik countless times without any sort of plan. We're the best butt-kickers on the planet, Sal!"
Sally ran her hands through her hair. "Remember Cat? He was a victim of poor planning, and that was in just a simple mission to defend Knothole. Now, we have to defend the entire world! There is no room for mistakes here, Sonic!"
Ari nodded in agreement. "Sally's right, Sonic. Robotnik would know the threat of giving us the Deep Power Stones. If we have the true one, he would have put up much more of a fight to defend them, so we can't guarantee they'll be the true ones. We need a Plan B."
Sonic sighed and rested his head on his hands. "That's a bummer."
"Talk about it," Sally said dejectedly, and looked around the room. "Has anyone come up with even the slightest idea yet?"
There was absolute silence for a long, agonizing moment. This time, even the huts were quiet. A cold breeze flew through the hall, and suddenly carried with it the sounds of an out-of-breath walrus running towards them. At the end nearest to the entrance of the hall, Lupe stood up as she saw Rotor hobbling forwards, flailing his arms wildly.
"Guys! Guys!" he gasped, stopping in full view of the meeting hall. The distressed tone to his voice and expression made both Sonic and Sally immediately jump out of their seats. He turned and pointed behind him with a shaking finger as they ran over.
"Bunnie!" Sally screamed.
Bunnie was fully robotisized as she slowly drudged towards the freedom fighters now collected outside the meeting hall, arms outstretched like a zombie. "Freedom fighters, priority one, capture freedom fighters..." came the undeniably robotic monotone voice from Bunnie's mouth.
Lupe's hand was first to reach her handgun and pull it up to aim directly at the robot. Rotor noticed this and panicked, jumping at her. "No, don't shoot her!" he cried, knocking over Lupe, but also ending up on the floor himself. Lupe growled at Rotor and pushed him away from her, aiming the gun yet again.
"She's not Bunnie any more – she knows the location of Knothole!"
Robot-Bunnie suddenly stopped moving and put her hands up, shaking her head. "Hey, hold on there, don't shoot me!" came the metallic voice again, a little more expressive this time. She moved one hand down to her head and pressed a small switch on the side, and the freedom fighters watched as the robotic appearance faded away, leaving Bunnie with a big metal helmet on. She pulled it off and smiled warmly at everyone. "Hey there fellas!"
Sally gaped. "Bunnie, you're safe!" she cried, and ran over instantly to give her friend a warm hug. "We were so worried about you!"
Bunnie laughed and patted her friend's back affectionately as Lupe and Rotor stood up, both smiling. "Aw, sugar-cube, y'all should know that ah'm too tough fer 'buttnik. Ah'd never let ya down!" Bunnie said, then stood back as Rotor opened his arms in anticipation. Sally turned around, still grinning.
"Rotor, oh my gosh!" was the best she could manage before she ran over to him as well and gave him a painfully tight hug.
"I guess you liked my prank, huh?" Rotor gasped, giving Bunnie a quick self-satisfied look. She rolled her eyes at him as Sally stepped back from the hug.
"Actually, I hated it. It was very rude!"
Rotor turned bright red and started scratching the back of his neck. "Oh, uh, sorry," he apologised sheepishly. Over Sally's shoulder, he could see Bunnie sticking her tongue out.
"I guess you really made up for it, though!" she admitted, laughing, and looked back at the helmet in Bunnie's hand. "So this is your long-awaited Fake Robotisizer, then?"
"Catchy name," Griff remarked under his breath.
"You bet it is! The helmet creates a hologram for all the organic matter underneath it, making it look like a robot. It even has a little microphone in there to make your voice sound all robotic!" Rotor declared proudly. Lupe looked at Ari, and he looked back. Both of them nodded, silently agreeing to meet later and discuss – the official meeting was now definitely over.
"Rotor, I don't know what to say!" Sally exclaimed. "This invention might completely win this war!"
Rotor beamed. "I do have a few rules which I'll need to go over with everyone who's gonna use a helmet, but otherwise we have the perfect disguise. Oh, and, erm..." his expression finally began to falter, "...I only have five helmets. Maybe two or three more by tonight."
The excited chatter from the group of freedom fighters was silenced. Sally's smile faded slowly, but Rotor still seemed a little excited. "Hey, cheer up, guys! I've got another one we can use, for groups! It's these big poles which four people hold, they scan the area and project holograms onto everyone in the space between the poles. It's less useful for individuals, but for big groups we'll have our own robotic rallies!"
A general sigh of relief passed through the freedom fighters before one called out. "We can't just simply walk into Robotropolis!"
Bunnie held up a hand and waved. "Ah gotcha covered. When ah escaped Robotropolis, ah found this big long tunnel leadin' right into the middle o' the place! We can fit two abreast down there and sneak in completely secret. 'Buttnik won't know what hit 'im!"
Sally held a hand over her mouth, close to tears. The freedom fighter group cheered as Sonic stepped forward and put an arm over her shoulder, having let Rotor a chance at the spotlight for a while. "We're finally gonna beat 'buttnik, Sal! Save the happy crying for after he's gone, right?" he said softly. Sally turned to him and smiled, then gave him a quick kiss.
"I just can't believe it's going to happen. We're going to save the world!"
All of the freedom fighters, outside and in the huts, were suddenly hopeful. Rotor wasn't nearly as tired as he was before, and started running back to his lab to make more helmets. Ari and Lupe started their walk back to the small hut, both hopeful for their loved ones' survivals. The other freedom fighter leaders began making their way to their friends to deliver the news. Finally, Bunnie joined Sonic and Sally to talk about the future.
Then, they heard something far more foreboding than it should have been.
"Ohhh ma prinzess?"