Sonic and the Freedom Fighters
Chapter 18: The Death Egg, Part 1
DISCLAIMER: The following is a non-profit fan-based work of fiction. All characters portrayed in this story, unless specified otherwise, belong to SEGA.
-Emerald Town-
The ominous visage of the Death Egg continued to loom over the nearby town, steadily climbing into the air as the civilians ran away in terror, either in search of shelter or just to gain distance from the imposing aerial fortress. Meanwhile, the Freedom Fighters, plus Amy, Rouge, Cream, and Knuckles, stared up at the rising Death Egg in silence, their faces plastered with either defiant determination or stunned disbelief. They knew that Eggman was planning something big, but to see the Death Egg towering over them was still an unpleasant shock, especially now that they had the rug pulled from under them with Metal Sonic stealing the Master Emerald.
Antoine was the one to break the silence.
"So, not to be asking ze obvious, but… WHAT IN ZE WORLD IS ZAT?!" He shrieked.
"That's the Death Egg." Tails replied, himself trying to keep calm. "It's one of Eggman's most powerful bases of operation, covered head to toe in powerful weaponry and housing an almost endless number of his robots."
"So that's what he needed the Emeralds for?" Bunnie asked.
"Yeah." Knuckles responded. "It needs a lot of energy to stay operational. Something only the Emeralds can provide." This revelation caused something to click in Sally's mind.
"And those Shadow Androids, they-"
"They'll have a nearly endless supply of power available." Someone interjected, the group turning their attention behind them to see the black-furred hedgehog himself standing on the roof of Tails' house, before jumping down to ground level. "I thought you said you had this under control, Sonic." He continued, glaring at his blue counterpart.
"So did I. You can thank Knucklehead for this." Sonic replied adamantly.
"Guys, arguing isn't gonna get us anywhere!" Tails interrupted.
"He's right, and we don't have a lot of time as it is." Knuckles conceded.
"What do you mean by that?" Rotor inquired
"Without the Master Emerald's energy, Angel Island will fall out of the sky and into the ocean." The echidna explained. "And to make things worse, the island is hovering near a port town right now. If it falls into the ocean, that town will be destroyed."
"Then let's get up there and take this sucker down!" Sonic declared, prompting a cheer of agreement from the rest of the others.
"Count me in." Shadow announced, the restrained animosity in his voice surprising the blue hedgehog.
"Huh. Thought you were the 'I work alone' type. What's the occasion?" He asked.
"I have my reasons." The black hedgehog replied, looking away. Noticing this, Rouge stepped forward.
"Same here. Seems to me that you'll need all the help you can get." She said to Sally, the young princess nodding on conformation.
"Okay then." She replied before glaring up at the looming fortress above them. "Let's do this."
-The Death Egg - Control Room-
Meanwhile, onboard the Death Egg, Eggman found it difficult to contain his glee as we watched the citizens of Emerald Town run in fear. He had managed to get his creation up and running sooner than he ever thought, and now, thanks to the Master Emerald providing the entire fortress with near unlimited power, it was now more powerful than ever. With his forces below deck and preparing for momentary deployment, it was only a matter of time before he was rid of Sonic and the rest of the Freedom Fighters, and with that, we would be truly unstoppable.
"Uh, sir, about the energy from the Master Emerald…" Orbot chimed, interrupting the doctor's reverie.
"What? Are we not getting enough power?" He asked incredulously.
"No, no. Quite the opposite, in fact. It's radiating an amount of energy beyond our initial expectations and we have nowhere to put it." The robot replied. "I don't imagine the energy leakage would be dangerous, but it would be a shame not to take advantage of it. Should I divert it to the exterior defense systems?" He asked. Eggman looked away in thought momentarily before an idea came to mind.
"No, I have an idea." He responded.
-Outside-
In almost no time at all, the Freedom Fighters were in the air and heading straight towards the Death Egg. Sally was seated in the back seat of the Tornado 2, piloted by Tails, while Sonic remained perched on the wings. The rest of the Freedom Fighters, with the inclusion of Amy, Cream, Knuckles, Shadow, and Rouge, were in the larger Freedom Fighter Jet, piloted by Rotor, with Amy tightly clutching a white cloth bag. The two vehicles flew nearly side-by-side as they approached their objective, even as they saw hatches on the lower portion of the Death Egg open up and release waves of countless robots that flew towards them.
"We have incoming," Sally said into her communicator. "Sonic, Tails and I will act as a vanguard and clear out as many of Robotnik's forces as possible. Everyone else, be ready for combat deployment in case we need assistance." She continued. Everyone in the Jet prepped their weapons as both vehicles flew closer to the incoming mass of robots. Tails wasted no time in activating the Tornado's built-in blaster and firing on the swarm, destroying several robots in front of them. As they got closer and prepared to attack the plane, Sonic intercepted by using his Homing Attack on them, keeping himself aloft as he smashed through the approaching machines while Tails unleashed a few missiles from the base of the plane, clearing out more of the wave of robots. The Jet, meanwhile, followed closely behind the Tornado as some of the robots began to fly around Tails and head straight towards the Jet.
"Looks like we've got some stragglers. Bunnie, Antoine, you're up!" Rotor shouted as he opened the back door of the jet. Bunnie enthusiastically bolted from her seat and jumped out, activating her rocket boosters as she exited, while Antoine followed a little more tentatively, hopping onto his Extreme Gear and flying out as the door closed behind him. Circling the jet, he drew his sword and started slicing at the passing robots while Bunnie swiftly fired her blaster, the two destroying every robot that passed their way.
It only took the group a few moments to clear out the wave of robots and approach the bay doors of the Death Egg, waiting until they opened again to release another wave of robots. Tails fired another volley of missiles into the bay before they could take off, wiping out every single one of them and leaving nothing but scorch marks in the bay. the Freedom Fighters flew their vehicles into the bay without hesitation. Bunnie and Antoine landed safely on the floor while Shadow hopped off the jet and the others exited the vehicles, Tails taking the opportunity to look around the room. He could see that the room was made out of a slightly dark metal with what appeared to be glowing circuitry running through certain parts of it - likely a result of the fortress running on the Chaos Emerald's power - but more tellingly, he noticed the obvious lack of patchwork-like patterns in the walls.
"It's a lot different from last time. Eggman must have built this model of the Death Egg from scratch." He concluded as Sonic hopped off the wings of the Tornado and landed on the steel floor.
"Hey, Nicole, how're we doin' for time?" He asked, turning to Sally, who held Nicole's handheld form in her hand.
"I estimate approximately 24 minutes before Angel Island crashes into the ocean." The holographic lynx reported.
"Crud." He replied. "Sal, if you've got a plan, now would be a good time to let us know."
"I know, I know, I'm working on it." She said as she paced back and forth across the room for a couple of seconds. "Uh… Okay, someone needs to stay behind and protect our transportation. We'll also need to leave the Chaos Emeralds here, just to be safe." She finally decided.
"I could do that." Rotor suggested. "I could even get the jet set up for an emergency take-off, but I'll need someone else to help safeguard it if it comes to that." After a moment of looking between each other to decide who would be better suited to this, Antoine hesitated for a few seconds before sighing in relent and stepping forward.
"I, too, shall stay behind." He declared. The group turned their attention towards him before Sally gave an eventual smile and nod of gratitude, after which he moved next to Rotor. Amy, meanwhile, gave the bag containing the Chaos Emerald to the walrus.
"Okay. First, we need to move the Death Egg away from the town and cause as little collateral damage as possible, so to do that, we'll need to go to the control room. Then, once it's been moved to an appropriate location, we'll remove the Master Emerald from the Death Egg and escape before this place crashes with us inside it." Sally continued. "Now, without a map to help us navigate, we'll effectively be going in blind." She added before turning to Nicole. "Nicole, see if you can access the Death Egg's mainframe."
"I'm afraid the mainframe is heavily fortified. It will take me a little while to access it." She replied. Almost immediately after she said this, a loud warning siren blared throughout the room, and the group could hear the sound of heavy footsteps coming towards them.
"How long do you need?" The chipmunk asked.
"Factoring in power preservation systems... a little over four minutes."
"Got it. We'll buy you some time until then!" Sally replied before she and the rest of the group, sans Rotor and Antoine, raced to the nearest door. Bunnie, however, stopped momentarily and turned to Antoine.
"Hey, Antoine." She called, catching the coyote's attention. "Be careful, ya hear?" She pleaded, prompting a mirthful chuckle from him.
"I was about to say ze same thing." He replied with a smile. Bunnie smiled back before rushing off to rejoin her friends.
In the next room, the others were in the middle of a battle with a large horde of Eggman's robots. Sonic tore through a large group of them with his Spin Dash before launching himself at a nearby Egg Hammer robot, the attack deflecting off its armour as the large robot swung its mighty hammer at the blue hedgehog only for him to sidestep the attack. Sally immediately took this opportunity by jumping off the robot's hammer and slicing her Ring Blades across its optics, blinding it. The robot tried to retaliate by wildly swinging its hammer around, but this only opened it up further as Sally ducked under its weapon and sliced through its leg, followed by Sonic charging into its chest, causing the robot to topple backward. As it hit the ground, Amy, who was fighting a wave of robots behind the Egg Hammer, swung her Piko Piko Hammer at the larger robot as it fell over, completely tearing its head from the rest of its body before turning back and continuing to fight off the other robots. Her brawl was aided by Cream and Cheese, the young rabbit hurling the curled-up Chao towards the robots and destroying them, freeing up the pink hedgehog to leap into the air and smash the remaining robots with incredible force.
"Alright, who's next?" She said confidently, resting her weapon on the ground. Not too long after was she startled by the sound of an explosion behind her, sharply turning around to see Bunnie flying over her and firing her arm cannon at the flying Badniks, assisted by Tails as he did the same with his blaster.
Knuckles, meanwhile, effortlessly smashed his way through the incoming robots with powerful punches, blocking an attack from a nearby Egg Pawn by grabbing its arm before swinging it around and hurling it toward a group of robots, destroying them. Rouge fought behind him, using her agility to befuddle her opponents as she destroyed them one by one with devastating kicks.
Shadow was currently dodging attacks from a group of three Egg Hammers as he fired volleys of Chaos Spears at them, his powers sustained by the vast amounts of Chaos Energy flowing through the Death Egg. Once the opportunity arose, Shadow quickly charged up and unleashed a powerful wave of Chaos Energy, demolishing the robots around him.
Once the last of the robots crumbed to the floor, however, the entire group was alerted by what seemed to be the sound of very heavy footsteps approaching. Almost immediately after, an Egg Paladin suddenly emerged from one of the corridors, charging at them with its lance at the ready. Without hesitation, the robot swung its lance at Sonic, who deftly dodged the attack as he backed away from his attacker and regrouped next to Sally. The two then rushed forward, with Sonic dodging another attempt to attack by the Egg Paladin, after which Sally quickly jumped onto the robot's weapon and leaped towards its chest to attack, only for the robot to swiftly block the attack with its impenetrable shield. The robot then fired missiles from its back, which Bunnie and Tails quickly fired upon and destroyed before Shadow rushed behind the Paladin and fired a Chaos Spear at the robot's missile launcher, destroying it. The robot tried to retaliate by swiftly turning around and swiping at the black hedgehog with its lance, only for Shadow to jump over the weapon and land in front of the rest of the group. The Paladin turned around and readied its weapon, the lance appearing to glow with energy before swinging it and sending out a destructive wave of energy. The group managed to dodge the attack, but the Paladin kept firing energy waves at them, forcing them to remain on the defensive and prevent them from moving. During the onslaught, Sally noticed that the robot's lance-arm had a very small gap in its armour where the arm connected to the shoulder.
"I've got an idea. Bunnie, cover me!" She commanded as she ran forward. Bunnie readied her arm cannon and fired a powerful laser at the Paladin, the robot simply blocking the attack with its shield and preparing to attack, charging its lance again. Luckily, Sally prepared for this as she leaped off the wall and slashed at the arm's weak point, severing the lance from the body and leaving it to clatter onto the ground.
"Knuckles, bring that lance around here. Shadow, on my command, attack the Egg Paladin so that it topples back." She asked as she brought her plan together. The two immediately began following through, with Shadow rushing beside Bunnie and starting to charge up energy while Knuckles dragged the Paladin's weapon behind the robot as is slowly forced its way forward, its shield blocking Bunnie's laser fire. Knuckles struggled as he picked up the weapon and kept it pointed at its back.
"Now!" She yelled. Shadow let his stored energy loose in a powerful blast that rocketed toward the Paladin, the robot raising its shield to block the attack. After a brief struggle, the Chaos Energy proved too much as the robot lost its balance and fell back, skewering itself on its fallen lance and shorting out as a result. The group's collective sigh of exhaustion and relief was followed by the sound of beeping coming from Nicole.
"Access complete! Downloading the map now." Nicole declared.
"Perfect," Sally replied as she opened the handheld computer, a purple-tinted holographic map of the Death Egg slowly materialising in front of her, with their position indicated by a glowing marker. In addition, two of the rooms of the Death Egg, both located on the floors above them, were highlighted, one labeled "Core" and the other "Control Room", along with a thin purple line acting as a path from their location.
"Okay, so it looks like we're on the 3rd floor of the Death Egg. The core is in the middle of the 5th floor, that should be where the Master Emerald is. The control room is on the 6th floor."
"And what about the robots? Where are they being kept?" Shadow asked, prompting Sally to press a few buttons on her device.
"Um…" She muttered before several rooms on the second floor were highlighted on the map. "The storage hangars are on the 2nd floor. Seems like some of them have transfer systems connected to the core."
"Good. You go on ahead." Shadow replied before turning and walking away, much to the confusion of the rest of the group.
"Where are you going, Mr. Shadow?" Cream asked, forcing Shadow to stop and turn back to the group.
"Destroying the hangars. I'd imagine you'll want the robots taken care of before they become a nuisance." He explained.
"Will you be okay by yourself? There are a lot of them." Sally inquired.
"I'll go with him." Rouge volunteered almost instantly, prompting a swift glance of confusion from Shadow and Sally. "Hey, someone's got to keep him from doing something stupid." The bat joked.
"Hold on. I'll send you a copy of the map, in case you get lost." Sally said before typing onto the device again. Rouge's communicator beeped, signifying the transfer, and the black hedgehog swiftly left with Rouge in tow. Sally then turned her attention to the others. "Okay, so here's the plan. We'll split into two groups. One will head to the control room where I can input coordinates to direct the Death Egg away from Emerald City. The others will go down to the core and remove the Master Emerald on my command." She continued before turning to Knuckles. "Knuckles, your Warp Ring can take us there, right?" She asked.
"Unfortunately, it can only handle one person passing through it at a time." The echidna informed regretfully. "Besides, I need to be able to envision the physical space of where I'm going for it to work, and I can't do that in unfamiliar territory without the Master Emerald. And before you ask, it's a similar problem with Chaos Control."
"You're jokin'!" Bunnie exclaimed incredulously.
"Why'd you think I didn't use it earlier to bring everyone here?" Knuckles responded. Sally took a moment to process this information and reformulate her plan, taking note of the number of her allies present.
"Okay... then we'll just split up once we get to the 5th floor." She suggested. "Me, Sonic and Bunnie will head to the Control Room while Tails, Amy, Cream and Knuckles go to the core and await my command."
"Sounds good." Sonic replied, with everyone else nodding in agreement.
"Right. Then let's hurry." Sally declared, and the group raced at top speed towards their destination, unaware of the security camera following their movements...
-The Death Egg - 2nd Floor
Unbeknownst to the Freedom Fighters, Eggman had watched the group formulate their plan from a large hangar on the 2nd floor of the Death Egg, via a small wrist-mounted computer. Beside him, several Egg Pawns were attaching cables suspended from the ceiling of the hangar to a large, imposing mech, fuelling it with the excess energy from the Master Emerald in addition to the energy that was already being supplied. With a growl, he turned to Orbot and Cubot, who were overseeing the work of the Egg Pawns while perched on a separate piece of machinery.
"Orbot! Cubot!" He yelled. "Those Freedom Fighters are heading to the control room! I need to get back before they interfere with anything!" As the two hastily clambered down from their perch, Eggman pressed a button on his device, and the feed from the security camera was instantly replaced with an audio feed, below which the name "Metal Sonic" appeared.
"Metal Sonic, it seems that the Freedom Fighters managed to sneak onto the Death Egg and are trying to take it down. Get rid of them!" He commanded.
"AFFIRMATIVE." The robot replied before the audio feed disappeared, and Eggman hurriedly exited the hangar to return to his control room.
-The Death Egg - 5th Floor-
With only 15 minutes left on the clock, time was most certainly against the Freedom Fighters as they raced as fast at their legs - or, in the case of the non-speedsters, Extreme Gear - would allow, tearing through the various robots that guarded the corridors in the process. When they reached their diverging point, there was no time for the teams to remind each other to be safe, just a quick exchange of "Good luck" between them as Tails, Amy, Cream, and Knuckles swerved to the left while Sonic, Sally and Bunnie continued forwards. As regrettable as it was, they had a mission to accomplish, and time was very much of the essence.
"Sally, I've accessed Robotnik's security cameras. Eggman has just exited one of the 2nd-floor hangars." Nicole said, much to the surprise of Sally.
"Wait. So, he's not in the control room?" She asked.
"That would appear to be the case. However, the room itself is quite heavily guarded." Nicole replied.
"What could be so important that he'd to be away from the control-" Sonic tried to ask before something crashed through the wall next to them. Sally and Bunnie were knocked onto the floor while Sonic suddenly found himself pressed against the wall by his neck, courtesy of his robotic duplicate Metal Sonic.
"PRIORITY ONE: SONIC THE HEDGEHOG." The metallic hedgehog droned. Sonic replied by kicking the robot in the head, freeing himself of his grip before tackling him through the hole in the opposite wall and into an adjacent corridor, using his super-speed to pin Metal Sonic in place even as the robot began to push back.
"Sonic!" Sally cried out in concern.
"Don't worry, I'll keep Metalhead busy! You guys get to the control room!" He yelled before he raced down the corridor, dragging Metal Sonic with him. Sally rushed forward and looked into the corridor, watching the two disappear. A few seconds later, Bunnie gently placed her right hand on the princess's shoulder, wordlessly reminding her of their mission. With a begrudging nod, Sally climbed back onto her Extreme Gear and continued onwards, Bunnie following close behind.
-Death Egg's Core-
Meanwhile, the others swiftly sailed towards their destination, Amy and Knuckles in the front tearing their way through any robots that the passed while Tails, Cream and Cheese stayed at the back of the group. In virtually no time at all, they entered a massive and incredibly spacious circular room, the only thing of note being a large cylindrical device in the middle of the room, with a narrower lower section, presumably a containment unit. The group could see countless wires coming from the device that entered the walls, glowing green energy passing through them all.
"This must be where the Master Emerald is being kept," Amy suggested. Not wanting to waste any more time, Knuckles rushed forward in an attempt to destroy the device, only for a loud siren and flashing red lights to interrupt.
"INTRUDER DETECTED. INITIALISING CORE DEFENCE SYSTEMS." An automated voice rang out as the access platform connecting the core to the rest of the floor disappeared, and in its place, a circular mechanism rose up and covered the lower part of the containment unit, containing an array of blasters and missile launchers, while a section of the upper part of the unit opened up to reveal a device resembling a camera lens. Without warning, the missile launchers fired, sending an array of missiles speeding towards them and forcing them back. The missiles collided with the floor, and the explosion knocked the four back further. Recuperating from the attack, Amy and Tails readied their weapons while Knuckles got into a fighting stance and Cheese hovered protectively around Cream, preparing themselves for battle as the core's defence system loomed over them.
To be continued...