Sitting cross-legged under the stars, Athair, the Prophet of the Ancient Walkers, opened his eyes. His aged body looked far worse than that of even his fathers and grandfathers in Haven. The weight of knowledge, of history itself, seemed to bear down on him, crushing his small frame with the choices made between darkness and light. He had been a Guardian, once. Now he was a Prophet, and he yearned for simpler times, when his concerns and troubles were not so… cosmic…
Perhaps, in time, Nail would understand this, also.
"You were correct." Athair let out a long sigh. "The Chosen One has Awakened. But... differently than you predicted."
Behind the old echidna, a figure crossed his arms and frowned.
"I had thought him more properly molded," the shadow spoke in a ageless baritone. "But there is a encouraging turbulence beneath the surface of his psyche. He may suffice, where so many others were found wanting."
"In no small part due to our interference."
"You sound so weary, Athair."
"I am," he admitted. "The Chosen One was so young when I first saw him. So fragile. So innocent. Now, we have forced his eyes open, and thrown him to the wolves."
"No, Athair. He is the wolf, thrown among sheep." The other Mobian chuckled smugly, and reached up, pulling back the hood of his blue robe. "And a wolf is just what we need. Just what I want. Nail did his job well. So did Tempest. Your student and my puppet."
"Will you appear to him? The Chosen One, I mean."
"Only when the time comes for him to know the truth behind his power… only when he is ready to know what it really means to be truly Chosen. He will be the Fourth and the last. So I will meet with him, outside of dreams, only when he is ready. And maybe…"
The being sometimes known as Merlin Prower stroked his short white beard.
"Maybe I will even let him know my true name..."
For the first time since coming back from Chemical Plant, Tails found himself unable to sleep. It didn't help that he was on the damn couch instead of his bed. But that wasn't really it: he was nervous. He was afraid. Much more so than he dared to let on, especially in front of Rouge. If it ever looked like he couldn't handle things on his end, he had feeling the pragmatic bat would start looking for an possible out. There was no room for trepidation when it came to this kind of work.
So he tried to sleep... and failed.
Restless, he tossed and turned on the small couch-turned-bed, trying in van to find that one perfect comfortable spot where he could drift off for a few hours. It proved as elusive as a workable unified field theory. For the last two weeks almost, he had lived life to the fullest and thrown himself into what he knew to be his certain and inevitable future. He had made peace with his demons, with his insecurities, with his fears and doubts. Now, tonight, he felt his resolve wavering in the face of that one critical moment. After tomorrow...
Gods and Source, after tomorrow there would be no turning back.
Burying the back of his head into the flaccid pillow, he started up at the ceiling. Things had come a long way since he had first started to notice the strange changes in his body. He was a scientist, and he had known enough about normal puberty and the rest to realize something different was at work here. Even when he finally analyzed his blood, and referenced Tempest's obscure stories, to find the truth... his understanding had not brought an equal peace of mind.
Kitsune weren't normal Mobians. This ridiculous "turan'ha" was proof enough of that. No other breed had to undergo such a rapid and dramatic phase of physical development (well, except the insect breeds that had pupae, he supposed). It was all fake. All artificial! He certain of it. The science all led to one irrefutable and ugly truth: kitsune, probably the entire race, were all engineered artificially, or had been in the past.
He had been so relieved when Tempest had shown up, apparently proving that the two tailed "mutation" was normal and natural. It felt like he was normal, like he was natural, for the first time in his life. Now that had all been turned on its head. He wasn't natural after all. He wasn't normal. He was just one of a hundred thousand manufactured freaks. Who knew what had even done it? The kitsune were supposedly ancient... or was that a lie, too? He was no sociologist, and he couldn't tell how long kitsune genes had been existing "free range" without other kitsune to study as a reference point.
The point was, that he was just an organic machine.
It was fitting in a way but off-putting in most others. He thought of Fiona - not the organic one, but the gynoid he had rebuilt and repaired. All the time, he had thought them so different, but they weren't, were they? He built her; others had built him. That was what it meant to be kitsune, and that was the truth the kitsune Traditions worked to hard to obscure and conceal. That one, simple, ugly, stinking truth.
Yes, he had come a long way... he had even accepted it, mostly. He had slept soundly for days, but tonight he had no such luck or peace. There was a good chance he would die tomorrow, and his mind seemed to want to spend its last night reiterating all the concerns and doubts he had thought laid to rest. Alone on that couch, he felt adrift in a sea of his own unwanted emotions.
"It isn't just a matter of believing in myself," he thought, staring at his bare hand. "I need to accept who I am and the choices I make. Tomorrow... I'm going to betray everyone I've ever loved. I'm going to become a monster. A pariah. I need to accept that."
Easier said than done.
Closing his eyes for a few minutes, he felt a weight at the edge of the couch. Taking a look, he saw Rouge sitting near his feet, staring at him with teal colored eyes. Pulling in his knees, he sat up and rested his feet on the floor. He certainly wasn't getting any sleep tonight, but maybe...
"Tomorrow, huh?" he asked, broaching the subject a little timidly.
"Yeah," was all she said at first. "I... " but she had a hard time continuing.
He put up a confident grin, like he had seen Sonic use so often.
"I guess I'm a little excited," he said, and looked away. "And a little nervous."
A hand rested on his own, shocking him with the contact. Neither of them had gloves on.
"I believe in you," he heard.
He faced her, and she must've been able to see on his face what he was thinking.
"You're one of the smartest guys I know. You're been working on this since Chemical Plant, and you're going to see it through," Rouge said, a small smile lighting up her eyes. "That's what I believe."
"Thanks," he said, and meant it for once. "I... I think I needed to hear that."
She looked down at her lap, and for a moment neither said anything. In the low light, Tails could see the thin white sheet wrapped around her shoulders. He'd always found her attractive in an animalistic sort of way - a way he patently rejected and found repulsive - but this time, she looked vulnerable. He found it far more desirable than any of her other attempts to be seductive.
"I'm..." he found his voice after a moment. "I'm making you something in case something goes wrong tomorrow."
She perked up at that.
"It isn't a jewel," he said, not surprised all by the reaction. "Its one of my shields. To protect you... just in case."
"Miles," she said, and he cut her off, expecting the response.
"I won't take no for an answer," he spoke up, trying to sound firm. "Shadow's dangerous and unstable. You can't predict how he'll act when the situation gets out of control."
"Thank you," she finally said, letting him have his way. For another long moment, they sat in the darkness, their hands still touching.
Tails felt them drawing a bit closer, and had to bit back the strange feelings coursing through his veins. Academically, he realized what this was: it was an intimate moment. His pulse was much more pronounced and erratic than before. His sense of touch seemed magnified. Yes, he knew what this was. Terrifyingly, he realized he realized it. By the Source - he was going to kiss her!
He hadn't since Fiona. No. Not since Fiona, and then moments later, she had tried to lead him to his death. He had never been very "good" at intimacy, and Rouge had been no exception. It made him feel self conscious and vulnerable and it impaired one's judgment, that wonderful mental faculty he valued above all else. But it wasn't just that he wanted to kiss her... he wanted her to kiss him. He wanted mutual physical contact, affirming and all consuming.
Their lips touched before he could fully process the situation and its ramifications. For a second or two, they brushed gently against each other, not fully touching. He instinctively licked his lips, and felt his tongue touch hers. Her breathing sped up; he both heard it and felt it. Then he felt her hand on his shoulder, wrapping around his neck, and it was all too late to academically digest. He was under the blanket with her, and they were kissing, and it was all completely out of his control and experience.
It wasn't what he had imagined she would be like: she was so confident, so overpoweringly aware of her sexuality, that he had always thought she would be like a force of nature. Instead, she was curious and almost timid. He found his hand running through her hair, still soft and slightly dewy from her shower a few hours ago. Her own hand moved from his shoulder to the base of one of his ears, and he sighed as he felt her run her bare fingers up to the tip.
They broke apart, and Rouge pushed him back.
"What?" he hated sounding petulant, but knew he probably did at that point.
"Couch," she said, pointing down. Then, as if informing a two year old, she pointed off to the side. "Bed."
And with that, she stood up and headed for the latter.
For a few stunned seconds, Tails sat numbly on the couch, genius level intellect processing what she had said and what had happened at a literal snail's pace. Turning to the bedroom door he saw Rouge had conveniently, and invitingly, left it slightly ajar. Looking down at the couch, then back at the door, Tails scrambled onto his feet and threw what was left of his caution to the wind.
Sitting on the roof, masked by a sheen of chaos energy, Lara Su frowned.
She'd never been particularly happy with those two being together in any capacity, in one time loop or any another. Sure, it had happened, which meant it was likely to happen again, and sure: she had even plucked a few heartstrings from a distance to make sure they "got along" a bit better than they would have. Probably. But playing cupid in this case was galling.
Rouge was a liability. And an opportunist.
Hell! Mina Mongoose would have been better!
It wasn't like she was jealous either. She had one of his Sol Emerald to prove just how much more important she was. This was just one last little fling before things became serious. Damn timelines! This was definitely one of the things she would've been secretly happy not to see work out a second time.
"Are you going to sit around moping like this all night, Lara?"
Tikal, annoying thousand year old brat, choose that moment to manifest herself. Lara sighed; this was just what she needed right now. Having the spirit ("Chaos Waveform! Not spirit!" Miles would say) of the former guardian of the former Master Emerald stuck in her head had been both informative and vexing. But mostly vexing.
She appeared ad she always did, as a fourteen year old echidna priestess from who knew how many millennia ago. It was at least one, and after that, who really cared to count? She was as old as dirt, but Tikal still seemed to enjoy her new freedom by acting like a brat. Worse: a know-it-all brat, who did actually tend to know it all.
"And where have you been?" Lara asked with an angry huff.
"Everywhere and nowhere," Tikal cryptically replied. Lara frowned at her. "Ok, I couldn't manifest myself until the timelines started to synch back up. I think. but 'everywhere and nowhere' sounds so much cooler!"
Lara hit her face in her hands.
"Oh, don't be so moody," Tikal admonished the other girl, sitting down next to her. "You know what he always said whenever he saw that look on your face: that's the Emerald talking, not you."
"The Emerald is a part of me!" Lara growled.
Tikal sighed, comfortingly leaning against the body she was currently stuck in.
"You know what he's like now. And even if he changed, he'd always assume it was the Emerald. Its just like with that robot girl."
"I wish I could remove it," Lara said after a few seconds. "If only to prove he's wrong." Tucking her legs in and wrapping her arms around them, Lara closed her eyes. "It doesn't matter. Things are back on track... like they should be."
"Except for that thing with Iblis," Tikal reminded her, sinking Lara's spirits even further down.
"Yeah. Except that."
"I can actually help there, though!" Tikal perked up, and grabbed Lara's arm to try and get her to stand up. "Come on, I know where the old man is!"
"Old man?" Lara asked, trying to connect the nickname with an actual person. Did she mean...?
"Merlin?" Lara said the name quietly, like a curse. "He's here?"
"He's always been here," Tikal said. "And I'm not just being cryptic! That old man was ancient when I was a kid."
"You're still a kid!"
"Whatever!" Tikal waved that off.
"Well, he was the one who sealed you and Chaos, but..." Lara gave her mental companion a questioning look. "If he's around, why hasn't he tried to contact me? I have one of the Sol Emeralds! That must make me stand out. Why not show up and help me out?"
Tikal blinked at the foolishness of Lara's inquiry.
"Oh yeah," the echidna girl realized, slapping a fist into her palm as if having a revelation. "Because he's an old fart who likes to watch people flail around and manipulate them! I bet if I'd done something really stupid when I got here that he'd have showed up right from the start!"
"Probably," Tikal guessed. "You are doing his work without even needing to be told."
Lara raised a fist to the sky, flames of determination raging around her. "Demigod or not, from this day forward I will devote myself to making his life miserable!"
"Yea!" Tikal pumped her fist and giggled. "And I'll help!"
Merlin, timeless master and maker of the Chaos Emeralds, felt a sudden and inauspicious premonition starting to form. What was all that about?
That morning, for the first time, he left first.
Or at least, he tried to. With both of them outside, Tails lingered at the door, turning to take a long look at her. It was all too public, and despite all that had happened, it made Rouge blush. It was one thing to say they were screwing around but not actually be doing anything. It was quite another for the whole thing to take on a much more concrete dimension and be real rather than rumor, fact instead of fabrication.
Rouge wasn't sure how much genuine affection there was between them. They got along well enough mostly because they had a set of common goals, ambitions and interests. They had slept together because it felt right and because each found the other attractive. For a while she had wondered if her partner even had more than a passing interest in the female species but last night had proven to be a conclusive argument for the defense. They got along and it felt good; which was enough, really.
"Seventy two hours," he reminded her. "I'll see you then."
"If things don't work out..."
"I'll take responsibility."
She nodded hastily, and he turned to go.
"Don't think I'll wait for you if you're late!"
"You're not that type," he said over his shoulder. "So I'll be on time... Later."
Watching him go for only a second, Rouge pivoted smartly and went her own way. They both had their missions today, and they both had quite a bit of traveling ahead of them. In her case, it involved a designated courier taking her out of the city. Once in one of the public stations to the south, she'd arranged for an old friend in the smuggler trade to take her west. Far to the west.
Just her luck, she hardly got halfway out of the Old Town before running into a bit of trouble. Seeing it coming some distance away, Rouge resigned herself to the confrontation and locked the wheels of her luggage. There was no point in making a scene just yet. Instead, the bat put on a friendly smile and waited for the authorities to arrive.
They did so, led by a passingly familiar face.
It was that girl from before.
Cream marched up in full Freedom Fighter fatigues, with two flanking agents as muscle. They were mostly there for appearances. From what she had read, Cream knew Rouge to be at least as combat capable as Sally herself. The woman even tangled with chaos powered types like Knuckles. Luckily, no one was here for a fight.
She had orders to "talk" to Rouge about the problem she had stirred up. That was just fine by Cream. Tails was a very important and special person, to the nation, to the cause, and even to her. He may not have known her for very long, but she had always known of him. She liked to think there was some mutual respect to it, too. He had spoken to her, shared things with her, that she doubted he had with anyone else. This batty outsider had no right to interfere and take advantage of the situation!
Cream gritted her teeth at the thought. Something had to have been done to him, impairing his judgment in some way. Her money was on Rouge: an uncommon thief and notorious flirt. Had she seduced him for her own gain? Cream couldn't prove it - not yet - but it seemed likely. Given this highly sensitive situation, it was only prudent that something be done.
"Hello there," Rouge said, waving to them as they approached. She seemed completely unconcerned by a confrontation. Did she have her claws sunk that deeply into him?
"How can I help you?" the she-bat asked in as amicable a tone of voice as Cream had ever heard.
"We'd just like to have a little talk, if you don't mind?" Cream walked up to the slightly taller winged Mobian. "Come with us, please?"
"I'm in a bit of a rush, actually," Rouge replied. "We can talk here."
Cream balked. This was the kind of place to have a talk about... these things! It was a public square on the way to the city transport depot. There were a hundred people coming and going!
"I..." Cream quickly adapted to the situation. "If you prefer. I wanted to talk about Mr. Prower."
"Miles, you mean. And I can guess what you came here to say. I didn't do a thing to him," Rouge said, a self-satisfied smirk making her intentions crystal clear. "In fact, he's the one that's done some things to me. Very good things."
The two agents chuckled at the insinuation. For her part, Cream gasped, flustered by how Rouge had brought a topic like that up in public in front of Scource-knows-who.
"We... by which I mean his friends... are concerned that you are taking advantage of his situation."
"We're just having a bit of fun, that's all. We used to work quite closely together, professionally I mean," Rouge lied flawlessly. "Now we can enjoy each other's company in other ways."
The blush rising up on Cream's ears only confirmed the poor girl's inability to really deal with the situation here, where people were coming and going out of her control. Rouge has guessed that the girl had some lingering ulterior motives for getting involved. It was rather obvious, even after just that one run in the other day.
Rouge laughed. "I guess there just weren't any women around here he found particularly interesting, you know?"
"Just what do you mean by that?!"
Rouge's cordial smile morphed into a smug grin.
"He was doing just fine before you came along!" Cream all but snarled. She was normally quite a nice Mobian, but this shady thief of a bat was well on her way to pressing all the wrong buttons in the span of less than a minute.
"He was?" Rouge asked, sounding mildly surprised. "That isn't what I've heard."
"Oh?"
"The way he told it, he was frustrated by the total absence of any cosmopolitan women around. He said that I was a godsend. You do know what cosmopolitan means, don't you?"
Cream's scowl deepened.
Rouge tapped her chin in mock-thought. "I can't say I'm surprised. This is a nice little city, but it can't hold a handle to Station Square or Casino Night. There's no real culture here, so of course the girls here are going to be bucolic. Country types, I mean. What Miles wanted was someone who could speak and think on his level, you see? Did I explain that slowly enough?"
Cream shook, struggling to control herself. She took a step towards Rouge, just enough to whisper. "I know what you're up to. We know. If anything suspicious happens, we're going to come down on you like a thousand fucking bricks."
Rouge had to keep a chill from running down her spine. The girl, sweet as she had first appeared, could be rather nasty when she really, really wanted to be. It was cute. Especially because, if Miles came through, the shit was about to hit the fan in a really big way.
"I'll keep that in mind," Rouge replied with a shrug. "But, like I said, it was just a little spring fling."
Cream glared at her as if there were a thousand things she wanted to say, but no way to properly say them all. Rather than wait and give her a chance, Rouge leaned forward and whispered right back.
"If you want to yiff him, you can go ahead. I don't mind."
Predictably, Cream's eyes grew wide as saucers. Her mouth went up and down, but the wind seemed to have blown completely out of her sails... as well as lighting them on fire. It probably be minutes before the girl managed an real response.
"Well, this has been fun, really, but I have to catch my flight. Ta!" Rouge patted the younger girl on the shoulder and slowly walked away, carelessly pulling her carryon luggage behind her without a worry in the world. Cream turned, struggling to think of some sort of comeback. The two flanking agents were just smiling in amusement.
As Rouge went through security, she found that the exchange had actually left her in a better mood than she had been in before. She didn't begrudge Tails' friends butting their noses in the little affair... how could she? The whole point had been to distract them with it, draw attention to it, and get them worked about something completely irrelevant. they were acting just like they were supposed to.
It was just sort of... funny.
Then, halfway through one of the terminal security screens, Rouge realized something. Almost certainly, she had popped Tails' cherry last night. The thought literally made her laugh out loud, much to the consternation of the confused security personnel around her. Rouge's sensitive hearing even picked up another passenger complain quietly about the 'crazy chick' on the plane.
Still chuckling to herself, Rouge thought about that revelation. She really hadn't thought much about it before, but it certainly explained his... enthusiasm. But no wonder his friends were all worked up! She'd taken their poor little friend's virginity! There had to be an award or something for finally screwing a guy who had turned into a chaos powered boy-god before getting laid. It was a civic duty to break ground there, if only for the benefit of the girl he eventually ended up with.
And now Rouge found herself regretting she didn't drop more innuendo in that conversation. Something like, "you'll thank me for it later," or, "he's such a quick study! A-plus!" That would have been hilarious! Plus, the sex itself hadn't been bad at all. Definitely up there as far as lovers went.
That was only part of it, though.
Waiting to board the designated flight out of the Hidden City, Rouge ran her tongue over her small fangs. She could almost taste the hint of his blood lingering there, teasing her with its power and vitality. She was half blood drinker, thanks to her ugly savage of a mother, so the urge for it had never really been a concern for her. She had had the occasional taste now and then but never very frequently. In the heat of the moment, sometimes these things happened (in retrospect, they usually happened), but few males complained. But Miles' blood was different. It wasn't coppery or acidic, it was almost sweet…
Had to be the chaos energy.
Sonic or Knuckles would almost certainly have the same affect. Rouge was fortunate enough that her barely functional racial echolocation had mutated into a form of chaos sensitivity, a "radar" of sorts, so it made sense that she would be receptive to it in other ways, too. there were no weird transformations or anything, but being able to "taste" it was a nice surprise and something only she could really appreciate and enjoy. She'd have to mention it next time she and Tails met up.... just in case it caused any strange side effects.
When it came to Chaos Energy, it was always best to err on the side of caution.
T minus sixty four hours
"I'm hit! I'm hit! Oh god… it…!"
"Another wave! Sir, we can't hold this position!"
"We can't… aaAA!!!"
"Damn it! Fall back! Fall back!"
"Command! This is Corporal Westfield! Major Vandov is dead! Tripwire Fifteen has been broken! We can not hold the position! Repeat: position is tits up! Can Not Be Held!"
"Sector Fifteen has been compromised, Captain Florentine."
Inside the command center of the Egg Carrier, Aya Florentine silently cursed. They were secure, at least for the moment, but the situation was rapidly deteriorating. On numerous screens around her, she could see the assault as it broke through one defense cordon after another. This was the newest and most secure part of the refitted Egg Carrier, designed to accommodate an overlander command staff, but Aya could swear that she almost felt the explosions outside, instead of just seeing them. Looking from the monitors to one of the many human operators monitoring the situation and running the still beached ship, she slammed her fist on the slightly oversized chair – built not for her, but for Mastermind, the man they all served. At least in theory if not in practice.
She had been ordered to secure and refit the Egg Carrier as the flagship of the New Navy. They had been working on it for two months and found solutions to everything except the hoverdrive issue. The Egg Carrier was just too massive for a normal hoverdrive. Even the most advanced and powerful drives could barely lift the big ship off the ground, and even then only at the expense of every other ship system. They needed time to find a work-around, and the damned ceasefire with those Mobians had diverted more than half the Eggman's army and airfleet right into GUN's lap.
Now it looked like they'd have to scuttle the Egg Carrier and retreat further east.
"Mr. Jorgen…" she said, trying to keep calm despite the panicked situation. "Pull back all human assets to the fifth defense cordon. Have them begin setting up EM mines on all avenues of attack. Deploy all robotic and auxiliary systems to the fourth and third lines. When they break through the third cordon, close all bulkheads and detonate the secondary and tertiary ammunition storage facilities."
"But ma'am… that'll gut the ship!"
"And cripple their forces!" Aya gave her subordinate a hard glare. "Do it!"
"Yes, ma'am. Deploying…"
"It will destroy much of the ship… but the ship can be rebuilt. Every human life lost, however, is a tragedy. We have no choice if we are to survive this…"
Aya nodded to herself and looked back up at the displays. Additional reports came in from other subordinates as Overlander combat units fell back from their positions. On the master display, overlaid on the schematics of the Egg Carrier, Aya watched as the red-schemed infiltration secured strategic positions inside the ship, and paused to regroup.
"Camera seventy four has something, Captain!"
"Put it on my personal view screen," Aya commanded, and looked down at the much smaller display that was attached to the command chair. She narrowed her eyes at it. "Metal Sonic."
"All units are in position! Mines are being placed."
"Good. Good…" Aya turned away from the life feed from outside that showed the commander of the robot scourge and his personal entourage. Metal Sonic was a major threat in and of himself, and he was obviously commanding Robotnick's forces, given that floating 'Tails Doll' type AIs surrounded him. The weaponless (or it was assumed that they were weaponless – none had ever been captured intact) Tails Doll constructs were, Intel believed, the 'brains' behind every regiment and division of enemy troops.
They, and Metal Sonic, had to be destroyed for there to be any sort of victory.
Important though it was, the Egg Carrier wasn't Mastermind's primary base of operations. That was the city of Tesslik, two hundred miles to the north. They had gotten off a distress call before the outside of the Carrier had been secured by the enemy, and that had been over five hours ago, but Aya knew help was still a long was off. The Carrier had most of Mastermind's crack overlander troops guarding it, and a substantial number of Droid units, but none of his Special Corp of Mutates. They'd done well at first, despite that.
The robots had been forced to make repeated breaches into the ship itself, and even then every breach was hard fought by tenacious human marines, and then the entire area sealed off by self sealing the bulkhead with foaming armorete when it became impossible to hold. That had delayed Robotnick's forces long enough for the active weapons emplacements to inflict substantial losses on the enemy, but by now, most of those emplacements were destroyed or disabled, force fields had been deactivated, and the marines had been forced back to less and less easily defensible positions.
The fifth cordon was their last.
After that, there would be no falling back.
"Were is Mya, damn it?" Aya worried about her twin sister in Tesslik. What if another vanguard assault had attacked there? What if no help would ever make it? No: that seemed unlikely. They were fighting like demon's here. It seemed more likely that they were being left to fight to the last man while everyone else pulled back.
"Captain Aya!"
"I see it…" She answered sharply, watching the main screen as the red dots began to advance against six of the eleven cordon points. Her own Droid forces, represented by blue, took up defensive positions, and the lines stopped briefly as half dozen firefights broke out less than a hundred meters from the command center itself. The red dots, representing Robotnik's Combot Legion, began to wink out, but they were replaced in seconds by a steady flow of reinforcements from outside the ship. It was almost like a solid line, there were so many…
Mines quickly began to decimate the enemy ranks, but Aya knew that the Droids wouldn't hold very long against that kind of pressure. They could taken down a dozen enemies for every casualty and still lose.
Steadily, inexhaustibly, the pressured defenses began to weaken. In such tight spaces, and under such duress, the Droids were at a severe disadvantage against the heavier and equally armed Combots. Inside the ship, there was no way to take advantage of their superior accuracy or AI. All that mattered was volume of fire and an ability to soak up attrition. Only in the wildest simulations had Robotnick thrown this many of his forces against them. It was impossible…
Then, when the Droids were finally overrun in six of the eleven sections, and pressured heavily in the other seven, the last of the bulkheads were closed. In short order, the remaining Droids were crushed by sheer weight of numbers. It would buy them a little more time, but that was all it could do. Once the bulkheads were cut through, the Combots would be free to stream into the core of the Egg Carrier. The Command Center itself would be under direct siege. Even the last of their EM Mines would only cripple the first wave. There were ten times that waiting to take the place of any that fell.
It was… hopeless…
"Everyone. Check your sidearms," she said, wearily. "You all know what we must do if this station falls. Load the protocols for judicious self destruct. None can say we didn't hold the line as long as humanly possible. None can say we faltered."
There was silence on deck as the command staff did as ordered, checking and reloading their meager sidearms. They were anti-Mobian weapons, designed for unarmored targets, but against a Combot or Shadowbot… The Command Center's massive blast door would delay the enemy further, probably force them to seize the rest of the ship first, but then it would be over. She and everyone else would end up like their friends and loved ones in Station Square, obliterated beyond memory…
"Heaven help us," Aya whispered.
"Captain! Captain! Long range surface sensors are detecting something... massive EMP!"
"EMP?" Aya checked the display on one of the secondary screens.
Tails stood alone atop his assault GEAR, fifty thousand feet above the battlefield below, one hand behind his back and the other held out palm up. A ruby tinted eyepiece fitted over the right side of his face. Flattening his palm, he reached over to his left arm and began typing onto a holographic keyboard projected by hidden circuitry in his glove. A red circle appeared with black and yellow stripes, with a loud "WARNING" in the center.
Flanking the kitsune fox, a half dozen unmanned autonomous Assault GEARS flew in tight formation, breaking through a small cloud. Each one carried, in lieu of a passenger, a large cylindrical package tightly bound and secured in place. Tails gradually lowered his arms to his sides and let out a deep breath. This high up, ice crystals mixed with the visible breath, leaving a faint trail like a cloud in his wake.
"Eggman..."
Two of the GEARs took off, accelerating ahead of the others. Followed by two more in their heels. Then two more. Soon, Tails was alone once more, between the clouds and the heavens.
"Consider this my declaration of war."
Less than a minute later, two small suns set on the battlefield down below. The buds of yellow and orange bloomed, even as two and then four similar blossoms of fire twisted and crowned far below. Waves of overpressure blew past the kitsune, fifty thousand feet in the sky and fourteen kilometers from the actual blast zones. Clouds crumpled around him and tore into pieces, dyed black and red as the light below outshone the midday sun.
On the ground, nearly a thousand Combots vaporized instantly.
Fifty-ton Caterkiller warbots were flung through the air, some coming to a crashing halt more than a mile from where they had once been stationed. Even larger spider shaped giant mecha, the largest more than a hundred tons, were tossed across the battlefield like tumbleweeds. Thousands more hovering Shadowbots and E-class assault mechs came apart under the stresses and heat, breaking apart like a shower of leaves in a gale force wind. One massive Egg Phoenix class Mobile Support Depot crumpled like a tin can the size of eight city blocks.
A cluster of shockwaves ran first through the enemy ranks, and then over hills and forest. Trees swayed and burned like matchsticks. Four kilometers away from the battlefield, what few animals remained in the area found half their bodies covered in third degree burns. Six kilometers away, flocks of battered birds fell out of the air. Eight kilometers away, anyone unfortunate enough to have been looking in the direction of the battle would have been blinded instantly by the flash. Far further field, the electromagnetic pulse shorted out unshielded circuitry and blew out regional communications.
In twenty seconds, Hell came to Mobius... taking more than half of the Combot Legion with it. Watching through one eye, protected by the tinted eyepiece, Tails blinked a few times to correct the minor flashing in the periphery of his vision. It was hard to imagine that these piddling little blasts were, for the time being, the best he could manage. Each was barely equivalent to five kilotons of TNT. He knew for a fact that the humans had once used bombs in the tens of megatons.
What was that saying? Peace through superior firepower?
No: this was simply Destruction, nothing more or less.
"But without destruction there can be no creation. Without a fire, the forest becomes choked and unhealthy. In which case... I guess I never had a choice," Tails thought, still taking in the scene below.
"The forest fire. The lightning strike!" His hands clenched to fists as he accelerated towards the conflagration. "No regrets."
"Low yield nuclear devices of some sort, Captain! Reading minor damage to the hull... it looks like their deployment was designed not to damage the Egg Carrier. Not picking up and friendly IFF."
"Not one of ours?" another officer asked, surprised.
"External feed!" Aya yelled, and the main monitor switched to one of the surviving watch stations outside the ship. The area was transformed. The battlefield before had been scarred, but now it was cratered and burned clean. Rubble and wreckage was strewn everywhere and swirling dust storms scoured the land.
"Captain…" The lieutenant turned in his chair, until he was facing her. "You don't think…?"
Aya frowned and returned to her chair. "Keep comms active."
Holding the inadequate pistol in her right hand, Aya knew all too well that the difference between a miracle and a disaster was often a matter of what side one was on. Eying the screen with a mixture of hope and fear, she licked her lips, not even realizing they were dry.
"So, she actually came through?" Aya quietly mused.
Inside the Egg Carrier.
Metal Sonic felt the blasts as they shook him to the core.
He turned, facing the assembled Tails Doll AIs. One moment he was directing his Combots forward, deeper into the human hideout, and then, in the next moment, the floor shook. His audio sensors picked up the distinct sound of explosions. There was no mistaking it.
"Status," he demanded, monotone.
The Dolls didn't reply and Metal knew the nine of them were exchanging information at incredible speed, sharing hundreds or thousands of recordings and sensor inputs, from as many sources. Their stitched faces, however, betrayed nothing. Grotesque creations, they resembled nothing more than patchwork husks – empty shells – stitched together from the preserved remains of slain Mobians.
Floating eerily with large glowing pins stuck into their limp heads, the Tails Dolls were perhaps the eeriest of the Eggman's creations when it came to Mobian sensibilities. Even Metal, accustomed as he was, found them unnerving. Not their appearance, mind you. He cared nothing for that. It was the powerful artificial intelligences within that he found off-putting. They were spies and information gatherers, and did nothing else. They didn't even seem to have a personality, despite the massive power of their networked AIs.
"Conclusion: we are under attack by weapons of unknown manufacture." The nine Dolls spoke at the same time in perfect synch. "Conjecture: analysis corresponds closely to the 'Ivy Bravo' device used in The Ring, nineteen days ago. Capabilities are similar; scaling for increased energy output."
Ivy Bravo. That had been the unusual explosive device used against Colin Junior - Snively - and his forces. Archived reports indicated that it had been equivalent to roughly two or three hundred tons of TNT. Unfortunately, the report was anecdotal. Snively had survived only by using an emergency eject, and all recording equipment in his mecha had been damaged, including the shielded black box. Only some basic data had been analyzed and distributed to relevant Underbosses and Command AIs.
"Losses?" Metal demanded.
"Mobile Repair and Re-supply Depot, EEV 027091, Egg Phoenix class, heavily damaged. Conclusion: total loss. EEV 010772, 010458, 010891 Egg Illusion class, heavily damaged. Conclusion: total loss. EEV 036022 Egg Slasher class, moderate damage. Conclusion: fifty percent functional."
Another Tails Doll then spoke: "Query ground forces; returning ping. Estimate recent combat losses. Combot classes: two thousand eight hundred and fifteen destroyed; one thousand four hundred and seven damaged and unable to function above sixty percent. Six hundred and twenty two damaged but functional. Six hundred and eighty three fully functional."
"Robian losses at ninety seven percent," another Doll added.
Metal nodded. The losses were crippling. This latest attack had knocked out more than half of the Combot Legion. 4,222 units were essentially out of commission. The humans had already mauled the legion simply getting to this point. They had left the Empire with over eight thousand Combots, and were now down to 1,305 in varying states of repair.
"Summarize armored and assault assets."
"Fourteen Heavy Armored units non-functional. Five heavily damaged. One functional. Shadowbot losses at eighty five percent; one hundred and seven units still combat capable. E-class losses at sixty percent; eighty units still combat capable."
Metal processed that data. He had been tasked with recovering the Egg Carrier at all costs, and to press the attack against the humans. Things had been going well. None of their projections had taken into account a sneak attack like this. The majority of the air fleet was still pursuing the human New Navy in the East. Metal had opted to leave only a single Egg Slasher class in the area to defend the landed Mobile Base and troop carriers.
Did they have enough combat capable resources to press on and take the Egg Carrier? It seemed like they did, but what was the nature of this attack on their rear? Their supply lines had been cut and the bulk of the Legion devastated. They had the humans holed up in the ship. It made more sense to turn and secure the area behind rather than press on and potentially end up in a vice.
"Warning: incoming stealth craft detected. Chaos Waveforms detected. Extrapolating response. Initiating counterattacks."
The gemstones embedded in the Tails Dolls' foreheads began to glow.
"Identify the waveform." Metal's eyes flashed red. "Who did this?"
"Warning: detecting munitions," The nine answered. "Units are currently… Update: Anti-Air defense net penetrated. Withdrawing Anti-Aircraft batteries. Update: Sensor relays are being targeted… update: sensor network is under attack… Initiating counterattack…"
"The waveform!" Metal snarled, as annoyed by the Dolls' toneless voices as the situation itself. "Is it the hedgehog?"
"Statement: waveform analysis complete," a Doll declared in monotone. "Collaborating. Confirming. ID: Alpha-class Priority Target 07-05-12, Miles Prower."
Metal's eyes glowed. "The sidekick? He did this? Alone? Impossible."
"Correction: not impossible." The dolls chorused. "Improbable. A scenario similar to this was calculated for pervious to this attack."
"Oh?" Metal asked. "And what scenario was that?"
The Dolls' dull eyes reflected some passing light. "Aggressive Intervention."
"Warning: communications with Eggnet disrupted." Another Doll announced. "Satellite Charlie Baker Nine is not responding. Conclusion: satellite destroyed by unknown weapons system."
"No matter!" Metal looked down at his fist – his steel claws gleaming and polished. "The assault will continue. Thin out the first wave set to attack these human scum… almost certainly, they have booby-trapped the avenues of attack. With this other business, we will not have the liberty of taking this slowly or carefully. You will march the Combots in fours and detonate any devices prematurely along the three secondary corridors. When they are clear, the next eight waves will drive forward and seize the inner facilities. I trust your vaunted calculations show that a mere hundred and sixty Combots should be able to finish this job?"
The nine Dolls paused for a millisecond before replying, "They do."
"Good. Then I leave it in your capable hands…" Metal raised his claws to eye level. "I will deal with the sidekick."
"Caution is advised." Just one of the Dolls said this, and Metal paused in his exit.
"Caution, did you say?"
"Explanation: observation indicates that Miles Prower has access to a high reserve of Chaos Energy. The subject is currently not in a known transformed state, however, energy readings are abnormally high. Target had also displayed a use of previously unknown weapons systems. With the Eggnet down, we will be unable to assist you in the field and you will be unable to summon aid."
"I am aware of all this." Metal's voice synthesized with true self-confidence. The Tails Dolls may be more advanced AIs, but they had no pride, no feeling, no true sentience. They were just… computers. He was a REAL AI. Cycling up his internal power plant, Metal Sonic walked past a small army of Combots all waiting to storm the human holdouts. That so many of the robots had been destroyed in the opening attack…
Was impressive, yes. But it would take more than a lucky sneak attack to defeat the Combot Legion! And it would take more than a little growth spurt and some bombs to defeat Metal Sonic!
"Miles Prower," Metal hissed. "You will regret coming here to face me…"