He was beginning to gain support, thank the source, but there were still those who heartily opposed, and those who followed suite. This wasn't just some petty argument over dinner with Sonic – this was a political debate, the outcome of which would quite literally decide the fate of millions. In the wake of his speech Miles had made his way to the speaker's pedestal, there to await the questions.
"Why should we grant this request?" one member called out. "Say we do legalise being an adept, what then? What is the benefit to allowing beings of such power to walk among us? Perhaps what you say is true, perhaps you are sane enough to use your power wisely. Can you say the same for all chaos users?"
Miles frowned. He had expected this. "Did I say that we are given absolute freedom? Adepts are still to be bound within the confines of Mobian law, just as any other. But you neglect the most important question. Is it really the right thing to do, to outlaw being something we have no control over? I didn't ask to be born a chaos adept. It's how it happened."
More murmuring came from the assembled politicians, as they discussed this point. Miles flicked his ears around, listening in on a few of them. Some were conceding the point, others trying to find a logical way to dismiss it. At one point, he caught a glimpse of his mother. Even in the midst of the conversation, he could tell that she was panicking about his brash approach to the situation.
Another councillor called down to him.
"And how do we know you aren't simply lying to us to let your depraved kind out onto the streets?"
"Well, honestly, you don't. But I'm no more likely to be a deranged psychopath putting on an air of sophistication and intelligence than anyone else in this room. And ultimately, why do you see us as monsters? Because the king says so. One man, versus an entire group. I doubt many of you had even met a Chaos Adept until I stepped through the door."
More muttering and arguments erupted, and Fiona edged herself over to Miles, squeezing his hand reassuringly.
"And why shouldn't we just continue this way? What harm does it do us?" Someone called. Miles' eyes locked onto him, flashing brightly with anger. The man was a pig, in both senses of the word in Miles' view. He had an air of smugness, yet also seemed narrow-minded.
"Why? Because people who have never done anything wrong are being murdered by the state because of the way they were born! Because Fiona here lost her parents because they dared to speak to an Adept! Because any single one of you could have Adept blood in your veins, or give life to one at some point! Because the king is a maniac who lead to everyone about the state of his daughter, made the city AI from the mind of a helpless teenage girl, and tried to turn said daughter into a super-weapon, not to mention, he based his hatred on the actions of single individual who is most likely dead now!"
Miles let his outburst sink in, both to the council and himself. He realised that he had probably played his trump card, that being the truth about the king, too early. He had been hoping to wait for Geoffrey, so the skunk could corroborate the story. Still, they would want an explanation, so there was plenty of time.
"We're taking this on your word." The pig grumbled. The original fire in his voice had been humbled a little by the outburst, a somewhat reasonable fear of Miles' power forcing him to approach with a little more caution this time. "We have nothing to go upon save your word and this one next to you. I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone of what happened the last time we made our decisions on a word and a whim. The inclusion of a chaos adept into the court was what begun this whole affair." He stopped suddenly as he realised what he had just said.
Miles grinned at the unexpected admission. "That's it." He muttered. "I know the story. I know of the king's loss at the hands of a chaos adept. Would you believe that I heard it from the lips of his daughter, moments before she was stolen away to be pumped full of chaos energy? He intended to make his only daughter a weapon with which to hunt us down. It was myself and my friend, both of us chaos adepts, that rescued her and Fiona from a very painful death. I will admit that some chaos adepts are depraved bastards, and I'm not going to hide from that fact. But I've already told you – it's us that define our power, not the other way round."
"Regardless, that power is still a problem!"
"Not really." Fiona cut in, unable to hold herself back any longer. "You guys have already got metals and weapons that can hurt us and stop our powers from working, and you've become pretty good at killing us. What do you have to fear? We can only do as much with our powers as a normal can do with some guns and homemade bombs, and they can walk the streets without fear of being executed."
"But we don't have any trouble with them."
"You don't have any trouble with us, either. The army just kick down a door and gun down the residents before they can react, just because of the circumstances of their birth."
Before anyone could speak up again, the door swung open with a crash, and Geoffrey and Hershey, followed by the renegade secret police ran into the room.
"Ah, commander St. John. Arrest these terrorist fools, will you?" The pig ordered. In response, Geoffrey smirked, and winked at Miles and Fiona.
"That will not be necessary, Councillor Hamlin. We do, after all, have many things to discuss." He shot back, as the troops formed a protective circle around the two foxes. "And you're going to damn-well listen."
"Déjà vu." Emerl remarked nonchalantly as the two dropped into the passageway, the final stretch leading to the Anima control core. The robot released Nicole, having carried her most of the way to preserve as much power as she could. The fight through the corridors had been markedly easier than the first time, he noted – Anima had access to the same plethora of attacks as Nicole, but unlike her, she was bound by logic. Her attacks were methodical and repetitive for the most part, and thus he found that fighting her was woefully dull.
The warning lights on his HUD were dimming already, the self-repair module kicking in properly and fixing the damage, relatively minor fractures from lucky hits and concentrated salvos. This was where things got interesting – here the Anima core would be at its strongest, and it could take fuller advantage of that than Nicole could. The path had been easy, and now the pain work had to begin.
As they stepped into the chamber, they found four turrets pointing at them, ready to fire. Emerl leapt into the air, and fired two Chaos Spears out, destroying half of the turrets in an instant. The third caught him in the side, sending him spiralling out of control, but fortunately, it caused the fourth to miss him. A salvo of missiles slashed from their launchers towards the falling robot, but he swerved away from the initial pass and blasted them down with his replicated light beams.
He then started to dive for the core itself, but another beam slammed into his side, sending him crashing to the ground. More missiles and beams flew towards him, but he rolled out of the way and took to the air again. He fired off one of his tendrils, hoping to damage the large device that now replaced Nicole's pod, and managed to get a firm grip on it. However, a saw blade lifted out of the machine and cut the cable.
Nicole looked up at the fight, as Emerl ducked and weaved, trying to reach the core by other means. She'd never felt so helpless in her life. Her role in the mission came into play when Emerl had opened the core, and she couldn't link herself up with it otherwise.
Of course, Emerl wasn't the only target. Another beam sliced through the air, forcing her into cover behind one of the consoles. It was important, she reasoned, so Anima wouldn't try to damage her own software.
The beam split the console like butter, splaying wires and sparks everywhere. With Nicole scurrying from console to console, Anima materialised to explain. "When you were replaced, many of the systems turned redundant. Ninety-percent of the processors here are your life support. Thus they are redundant. Thus I can destroy them without fear for myself."
Emerl tackled her from the side, claws raking sparks from the hologram, light clashing with Megatal. The AI twisted as she fell, hands lashing out and fastening around the robot's head, twisting it with a wrench and throwing him from her. Before the light could crash into a wall she phased out, reappearing along Emerl's flight path and raking her claws across his chest. Deep gashes appeared, flanked by faint light of the nanites racing to prepare it. He pushed back, claws extending from his back, one clamping around the hologram to force her away, another two slashing towards pipes on the walls, in an attempt to sever the flow of power and slow her down.
A second hologram flickered into existence, snatching the two claws from the air.
Emerl played his ace.
He opened his chaos drive, turning on one of the built-in protocols within his processor. He disappeared, and the two holograms lost their target, optics in the walls searching, and failing to acquire.
That was until he reappeared, all five limbs slamming into different targets, cracking optic lenses and half-blinding the AI.
"Refraction pulse." He explained. "Chaos energy used to make me vanish from all spectrums."
The ground beneath his feet exploded, and he was sent flying into another wall. The first Anima turned to face him, while the other headed over towards Nicole.
"In the time you took to explain that, I locked my weapons onto you." They said as one, somehow the lack of emotion still making the voice sound mocking. Emerl used his claws to pull himself up, but another one was severed, causing him to stumble slightly. Evidently, the extra limbs were of little use, so he pulled them back into his shell to protect them. He gunned the engines, and shot forward, coating his fist with light and Chaos Energy, and driving it into Anima's gut.
The hologram exploded, and the second Anima cried out in pain, dropping to her knees. The core sparked violently, and Emerl's optics lit up. He rushed towards the remaining hologram, and prepared to use the attack again, when a large claw grabbed him, lifted him up and slammed him into the ground. It lifted him again, and this time drove him into the wall. Warning lights blinked in his Heads-Up Display, but he didn't have time to respond before a concentrated EMP burst knocked him out cold.
As he sagged, the claw still holding him firmly against the wall, Anima rotated slowly to face Nicole. "Secondary target eliminated. Tertiary objective achieved. Primary target B selected as target. Process will be terminated within six point three seconds if you do not resist. You have two seconds to comply."
"Fuck you." Nicole told her simply, lobbing the half-tonne steel plate pulled from a nearby console into a mass of cabling. Her strength was augmented by the repair work effected by Emerl and Miles, and by now she wasn't in the happiest of moods – Anima had replaced her and then been set to work killing her friends and pseudo-sister, and as far as she was concerned, that was one step too far.
The plate sliced through the thin casing, ripping apart wires and shattering delicate electronics. Anima's hologram sparked spasmodically, then dropped out of the air, breaking apart as she fell. The remaining fragments shattered against the flooring, spraying bits of light everywhere…and then the lights went out. The chamber was plunged into darkness, and Nicole remembered what she had seen in the database.
"Target Confirmed."
Something was wrong, and it had taken her until now to figure it out.
"Emergency protocols in effect."
Far too long. Far too late.
"Organic Assimilation in effect."
Organic Assimilation. The OA emergency protocol. That was the file name. A variant of the OB, or Organic Backup emergency protocol, instead of putting information into an organic recipient, it took the organic and did the reverse. That was what she had planned. Anima intended to turn Nicole into an organic proxy for herself.
In the darkness and bereft of the sophisticated combat technology built into Emerl, she didn't see anything, only felt a jolt and surge of electricity as the mechadendrite plugged itself into the operation port in the side of her artificial skull. Then the lights went out, even darker this time.
Again, tucked into a skin-tight dress that restricted her movement so much she could only walk in two dimensions. That would be, at least, if she had any movement at all. Being strapped to a slate-grey slab limited even that abysmal movement somewhat.
Sally was, however, in a much better position than Sonic. The hedgehog was suspended in the centre of a large, insulated iron ring. His wrists and ankles were shackled, and thick, heavy wires traced from the cuffs to a large box, which looked something like a portable generator without wheels. Atop the box were a pair of claw-like grips, holding a golden staff. Wires were plugged into either end of it. His jeans and shirt had been swapped for a white bodysuit, pale silver panels attached at various points.
"Sonic?" She ventured nervously. His eyes opened, and he looked up at her.
"Sal? What happened?"
"You got knocked out, and brought down here. I got redressed, and brought down like this. I don't know why he wants me down here."
"And the whole redressed thing?"
"He thinks any dress sense other than this is unbecoming of a princess."
"Weird."
"I know."
"It's also unbecoming of true royalty to be conversing with proles, my dear daughter." The voice rung out, and then the lights came on, or more specifically, the spotlight suspended above Sonic's head. silhouetted at the edge were four Mobian figures, one clearly identifiable as Maximillian Acorn and another two dressed in the bulky combat gear of the Royal guard, each carrying ornate shock-staves. The fourth figure hung back, his somewhat more wiry form indistinct otherwise in the darkness. "This unpleasantness could have all been avoided, dear daughter." The king said, condescendingly.
"You still would have killed him." Sally said icily, fixing her father with a glare that could have halted Miles in his tracks.
The king merely smiled. "Oh but of course – we can't have dangerous delinquents like this running around the streets, can we? Oh no, my dear, I meant this unpleasantness you have caused for both yourself and me. It caused the good Khan a measure of distress when he heard of your capture at the hands of these vile creatures." He explained with a wave in Sonic's direction.
"The 'Khan'?" Sally couldn't help but ask, to yet another smile from her father. He looked back into the shadows.
"Ken, my daughter would like to meet her fiancé."
At the command, the fourth figure, until now hidden in the darkness, stepped forward a couple of paces to bathe himself in the harsh light. His frame was thin, but he was a monkey. His light brown fur and fairly flat features were not particularly pleasing, either. Over his black bodysuit he wore a honeycomb mesh of armour that flexed and followed his form, allowing the greatest movement. He practically ignored Sonic, choosing instead to bow to Sally. "My deepest condolences for your troubles, sweet princess." His own tone was mocking, just like Max's. "And my sympathies for your friend." He gestured to Sonic. "He's about to get very unlucky." Abruptly the monkey wheeled, advancing on the immobilised hedgehog.
"My... fiancé?" Sally wondered aloud.
"Yes, Sally. Khan and I wished to form an alliance, and wedding you to him will be the perfect symbol of that."
"The people don't even know that I'm alive."
"They will. The story that will be told is that you survived, but you were rescued by Khan here's father before we could reach you, and you are only now regaining your memories of your poor father."
"And when I refuse to agree with your lies?"
"Oh, you will agree with it by the time Anima has finished with you. You'll not only agree with it, but you'll believe it to be true. It may take a while, but she is a very efficient, tireless worker."
"That's disgusting!" Sonic cut in, yelling angrily. "It'll never work either! Your little misinformation campaign's way too flawed, and too many people have found out about Sally since she escaped!"
"Silence you little worm." The monkey spoke up. "You are going to pay for 'kidnapping' my beloved, but first, you are going to tell me where the foxes, the lynx, and the robot are."
"You're not getting a word out of me."
"I was afraid you'd say that." He said, feigning disappointment, and heading over to the generator. He took hold of the staff, and it lit up, glowing with white light. Almost instantly, Sonic felt intense, searing pain emanating from the cuffs, as he was electrocuted. Unable to stop himself, he let out a scream of unbridled agony.
"SONIC!" Sally cried, tears filling her eyes, as Khan removed his hand from the staff.
"Heh... is th-that it?" Sonic mocked. Khan responded by placing his hand on the staff again, and sending another stream of electricity through Sonic's body. Once more, he spasmed, screaming, for a full minute, before Khan allowed some respite.
"... You know... you've got this torture thing down pretty well... Do a lot of it back in Chun-Nan..?" Another shock. "... C-come on here, buddy... this isn't any fun if you don't say anything..."
"Are you some kind of masochist?" He finally responded, delivering another shock at the same time.
"Nah... just a spot of gallows humour..."
"I will grant you a quick, painless death if you only tell me where they are." Another shock.
"Not worth it... I quickly and everyone else gets killed too..? I'd rather suffer through it and let them escape..."
"Stop trying to be a hero." Another shock. "This whole country hates you."
"I don't care..." Another shock. "By the end of this, I'll be dead, yeah, but my friends will get out alive, and hey, maybe they can bring you crazed psychopaths down without me..."
This got under Khan's skin, and he unleashed a much more powerful blast. When he stopped, Sonic's body sagged, smoking slightly.
"Now, tell me what you know!"
"What I know, huh? Well, I know that you're a massive fucking hypocrite that uses Chaos Energy despite outlawing its use. Both of you!"
"Sonic, don't piss them off!" Sally called, though she was worried that she was too late.
"You will pay for your insolence!" Khan roared, confirming Sally's fears. The monkey let loose another shockwave, this one longer and more powerful than even the last. It proved to be a massive, and fatal, mistake.
Sonic was already pissed off. He had spent his life hiding, fucking things up for himself and having to run for it. Shadows had chased him for his entire life. When he had come to Mobotropolis and managed to drag Fiona and Sally into this as well, things had just gotten worse. He had spent his life running, and now, lightning coursing through him, his nervous system being wrecked inch by inch, his mind cried out with one single, crystal-black thought.
Fuck running, and fuck you.
The utmost tip of the spear shattered, a thundering crack that sounded even over the power flaring between monkey and hedgehog. Ken was thrown across the chamber, his nimble form and heritage saving him from cracking his bones as he rolled off the wall.
"You wanted to see what a fucking adept could do?" Sonic roared, his voice like a beating drum, rage flowing where lightning once had. His fur bristled, changing colour from blue to black like a wave passing over him, the restraints holding him in place liquefying under a sudden, intense heat. He dropped to the floor, landing on his feet, an impossibility considering the damage done.
His eyes began to glow, overtaken by pearlescent white, so that his pupils were no longer visible. He was no longer in control – not completely, anyway.
"You wanted to kill chaos adepts so that they could fuck with your power, Max." his voice never dropped below that same bellow. "You wanted to make sure that you couldn't fucking die. Well screw you. You spent your life fucking around with guys like me, so now let's see how much pain you can take." Sonic's face split into a wild grin at the thought, and then he remembered. "But first…" he twisted slightly. "Ken…that torture was nothing compared to what I'm going to put you through!"
