The air cruiser chamber hummed. Eleven combots sat like a collection of buoys around the prison case. Tails lay bound and unconscious on the floor.
The cruiser had just reached full altitude.
In the hold of the ship, a dark-clad figure in a hood and mask crouched at the door to the chamber. It snapped an acid magazine into a single-shot blaster and cocked it. The figure hissed softly, gathering its breath. It closed its eyes.
Just do it.
Sonic might as well have been right there whispering the words himself.
The figure squared its shoulders.
Hopefully, soon he actually would be.
Back in the main chamber, only one combot noticed the hatch door slit open. Its sensory panel flickered.
The combot's arm cannon began to emerge—
The shadow's blaster spat. An acid slug shot across the chamber and exploded into the combot cannon.
The combot whipped back.
All the combots shot to life-their bodies surged to full size—
Each robot's emergency communicators turned on, trying to link their program-controlled minds with each other and Robotnik himself.
But the signal was blocked.
Their synchronization was shattered
"Dispose of disturbance. Link unsuccessful, voice commands activated, dispose of disturbance—"
Acid slugs spat through the chamber. Bursting on impact, spraying across the combots' arm cannons. Even as they tried to charged, their limbs morphed.
One combot raised its cannon. The arm cracked from its elbow down. Its tubes curled like burning grass.
"Last orders indicate in order to quell disturbance, destroy hostage."
"Understood." The combot closest snatched Tails by the scruff of the neck. It pointed its ruined blaster to his head.
The fox gasped, coming to.
The hatch smashed open.
A slight shadow sprinted into the incoming combots. A fierce shout rang through the room. It jumped over a still active cannon.
The combot spun, firing, and the attacker swerved aside. The figure scrambled over the case with a flying leap.
The combot holding Tails pumped its cannon. "Cannon unresponsive-"
The figure dove into the combot. "Precisely!" a girl's voice roared out.
She grasped onto the combot with small, nimble hands, climbing fast. Fast, even for a Mobian. With one hand, she fired acid down its body. With the other, she ripped at the combot's joints with a laser knife.
The combot whirled. "Assistance! Assistance!"
The remaining combots approached. One combot raised its cannon.
The Mobian's head shot up. Her blue eyes flared behind the mask.
They shot. A white blast of energy exploded into the combot beneath her and she leapt.
Her combot whipped back against the chamber walls, its torso burned open.
Tails' body dropped from its grasp.
The figure hit the floor and rolled-she wrapped her thin arms around the fox, snatched him up and ran-a second blast hit her heels—
She charged behind the case, into the mess of the wires, dragging Tails with her.
One combot smashed its fist into the wall, over their heads.
The Mobian let out a yelp, pulling her legs in. The case swerved from the blow. But it was too heavy. The crack was too small.
They were safe. For a moment. A cannon shot still could reach them.
The shadow dropped Tails and shot to her feet. She peered over the case.
She pointed her blaster and fired point blank at an intact cannon muzzle bearing down on them. The combot pulled back.
For next minute, the two sides faced each other. A three foot Mobian with a blaster verses eleven human-sized combots.
The figure fired again and again. The combots staggered back from the force of the acid bullets. One toppled over completely, crashing into another.
Before long, the Mobian glanced at her blaster gauge.
Three slugs left.
She looked back up at the combots. Her gaze shot from them to the cargo hatch door.
She dove back behind the case and whipped a fluorescing Mobium ring from her belt.
At her knees, Tails lay on his face. His tails, arms and ankles were bound with ECcord. Blood stained the bandages wrapped around his back and shoulders. His breathing was shallow and eyes were closed.
For a second, tears rushed to the attacker's eyes.
She pushed the ring into Tails' mouth, beneath his tongue. With a quick swipe of her hand, she brushed his forelocks back from his face.
Then, she turned.
On all fours, she sprang forward. Through the wires, out from behind the case. She rolled to her feet and ran.
Across the chamber floor. To the hatch.
The combots spotted the movement. Sure enough, they started after her. Except for one, which collapsed, its sensory panel and front leg destroyed by the acid.
The Mobian slid down into the darkness of the hold. An energy bolt struck the hatch above her head, just missing her.
The combots followed. Their heat sensors flickered on.
But the cargo hold was situated next to the burning nethyl packs. In the cargo hold, everything was hot.
Their heat sensors were blinded.
One combot turned on a light from its sensory panel.
Something moved in the shadows, next to the hatch—
The combot whirled. It smashed its fist against the wall.
The figure let out a sharp yelp. She leapt out of the way and scrambled up the hatch steps.
The combots swarmed, ready to double back—
Suddenly, a crack of white light split the floor beneath them, blinding their panels.
The Mobian paused. A beam of sunlight struck across her face. She crouched on the hatch landing and gripped the rail. She held a small handheld computer.
Her eyes glittered in triumph.
The loading door to the cargo hold opened beneath the combots. The suction started. Wind whipped around the hold, rippling through the Mobian's hood. The floor dipped straight down.
And so did the combots. Into the sky and the forests of Mobia far below.
With a flourish of her hand, the figure snapped the computer shut. Her eyes seemed to smile.
As much as Robotnik tried, no amount of programming could outmatch survival instincts and common ingenuity.
She narrowed her eyes.
Or heart, Sonic would've added.
The figure stood up, whirled about, and ran back to the chamber, slamming the cargo hatch behind her. She raced across the floor, through the prostrate combots, back to the case and Tails.
The ring was at work. Before she'd even reached the case, Tails stirred with a grunt, lifting his head. Exhaustion and pain lingered in his young eyes, but a flicker of life had already began returning to them. He was struggling with one of the wires behind him.
"Wait! Hurry—hurry, Sonic's in the case! He's in the case—I need to cut the wires—"
The figure nearly flipped over the wires in her haste to reach the fox. She dropped next to him and flung her arms around him. "Tails!" She gasped out and wrapped her arms around him. "You're okay, you're okay now. It's okay."
Tails was shaking in her arms and his breathing was irregular.
"W-who…wha…?" His voice cracked. As if he couldn't believe it. "Sally."
"The combots are gone," the chipmunk whispered. "I'll get Sonic out. You both are safe now, Tails."
Tails let out a gasp of disbelief. His weight seemed to drop in her arms. He slumped forward as if all his muscles had given way, bowing his head, his ears flattening back.
Sally leaned over him and took his wrists, bound behind his back. She thrust the blade of her laser knife against the ECcord. Sparks flew, but she held it steady.
Tails did not move from where he lay against her, exhausted.
The ECcord snapped. Tails shoulders heaved and sagged forward. He sighed in relief.
Sally started on his ankles.
"Sally," he said. "Sonic is in the case."
"I'll open it, you get the wires back here," Sally ordered.
The cord on his ankles snapped. Tails thrust himself up on his hands with a grunt.
Sally handed him the laser knife and leapt to her feet. She wriggled out of the wires, charged to the front of the smooth black case and clutched onto the lid. She pulled.
The lid popped and released.
Sally hefted it up, grunting. She lifted it over her head. Only then did she look down into the case, her blue eyes wide.
Sonic lay strapped on his back to a reclined seat of velvet. Blood caked the EcCord around his limbs and the black gag-mask covered his face, its cords snaking through the velvet to the back of the case. The whole scene reminded her of an insect stuck into a pin cushion.
She gasped. Tears welled in her eyes.
She hesitated…then pulled her mask down with one hand, revealing her chipmunk-lined face. She blinked.
She yanked off her hood. Her messy auburn braid fell down her back.
Sally caught ahold of one of the restraints binding Sonic's ankles to the seat. She let out a shout and wrenched it out of the velvet case.
She fisted the restraint in her lithe hand…and let it fall to the floor.
Sally covered her face with her hands.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
She lowered her hands, fisting them.
She glanced back at the hedgehog. Fire began to burn in her eyes.
"Tails! Where's the electric pin for the ECcord?"
"I don't know," Tail's voice came from somewhere behind the case. "But a live wire should get enough electricity in there for it to loosen and then you can cut through it with the laser knife…"
Tails half-crawled, half-dragged himself out, pulling a coil of wire with him. He offered the wire and laser knife to her.
Sally grabbed the severed wire and screwed it down into the ECcord socket. The ECcord loosened. She began sawing at it with the knife, frowning hard.
Tails pulled himself back behind the case.
"I think I got the mask." Tails shouted, his voice weak, but triumphant.
Sure enough, the legs of Sonic's gag-mask released with a hiss.
Sally pulled the contraption off of Sonic's face and out of his mouth and nose. She stared down at his bruised cheek bones, and the foam and blood caking his lips.
The hedgehog heaved a deep breath, and began to cough. His eyelids twitched.
"Sonic-!" Sally started, her eyes flaring and voice catching.
With a lunge, she bent over him, snatching his face in both her hands. "Sonic," Sally's voice shook as the words tumbled out. "Sonic—you—honestly—you—just look at yourself! You're alive, you silly hedgehog—!" Tears ran down her cheeks. "What did you do this time to get here, Sonic? You just had to be so brave and stupid! Honestly, Sonic, where in the world were you when they were handing the brains out?"
