"It's awf'ly hot in here for bein' an air conditionin' unit," Bunnie hissed. She dragged herself along the smooth tunnel floors by her feet and extended legs. "Back when we were hostages—Sonic used the air vents to get into the Roboticizer room. Ah doubt Robotnik has vents goin' there now…"

"G-good point…the c-control room might not connect either," Rotor said. "Robotnik wouldn't need Mobians there…"

"True, Rotor," Bunnie said, extending her legs again. "But the control room prob'ly is close to the air conditionin' machine-thing. Afterall, they prob'ly use the control room to monitor the air conditionin' and there's got to be a way in an' out of that room because combots or Mobians mahght need to be sent in to do maintenance—so, all this has to lead somewhere—we just gotta keep followin' the airflow."

Rotor chuckled to himself. "I—I didn't think of that."

"Ah'm just the princess's hairdresser, honey," Bunnie said. "If it hadn't been for her, Ah prob'ly wouldn'ta thought of it either. Ah can't tell you how many times she's rigged plans to break into somethin'—whether it's Robotropolis or the palace furnace or an official's house…"
"The furnace?" Rotor questioned.

"That's a long story," Bunnie said. "There's breakin' into places you shouldn't go, but really should, an' then there's breakin' into places into places you shouldn't go just cause you really shouldn't go, an' back then, we didn't pay as much attention to the difference."

Bunnie stopped beneath another tunnel leading up. She lay on her back, sniffing, her ears perked up. "There's a fan up there."

She sat up and Rotor climbed onto her back again. She extended her metal legs and began to push them up to the next level, leaning against the tunnel wall for support.

She stopped at another break in the tunnel, her ears pricking forward. "It's def'nitely that way."

-

The prison control room was always silent. It was a simple ring of panels, dials and screens on the walls and only one combot stood there as guard. The panels knew what to do themselves. In some ways, the control room was merely an inanimate robot.

That evening, the sound of blaster shots broke the silence. The sound came down the hall from the maintenance rooms.

The sound jerked the combot to attention. It stood up and began to investigate at once.

It met two other combots in the hall. All three filed into the maintenance room together.

Whirring machines hulked together in the maintenance room—turbines to run the airflow units and water systems to the prison below ground. The room was too hot for them to sense anything.

The combot stepped forward to one of the large tubes running down into the airflow fan. Its side had been ruptured open, as if someone had exploded through it from the inside.

All three began to investigate the room, turning on their light sensors. None of them noticed the two Mobians that slipped around the edge of the door until it was too late.

One of the combot's sensed movement. It spun around towards the door and lunged into the hall.

Bunnie and Rotor charged across the floor, Bunnie pointed towards the still open control room—

The combot fired. Rotor lurched.

Bunnie leapt inside, Rotor reeling in after her. He slammed his combot arm against the panel and closed it. The two breathed hard on the inside. Bunnie spun around, looking around the room.

"Ah need to find someway t'lock that thing—will probably take override codes we don't have."

Rotor shot at the panel, trying to shut it down so the combot couldn't open it from the other side. Bunnie dashed to the center of the room.

She took one look at the communication panel and breathed out hard, her green eyes flickering. "Oh mah, bless mah stars, if only Tails was here—this doesn't look lahke a radio—"

"Wh-what?" Sweat plastered Rotor's forelocks to his head.

"All rahght, all rahght," Bunnie hissed to herself, breathing hard. She began twisting dials on the nearest panel, biting her lip.

Something metal slammed against the door, leaving a massive dent. Rotor yelled, backing up.

Bunnie breathed in sharply, working fast. "How do you feel about dyin', Rotor?"

"…I—I've thought about it most of my life," Rotor replied, jumping back up from the wall. He began looking around the room for something he could move in front of the door—

All the prison doors opened on the screens. Bunnie let out a sharp whoop, laughing. "That'll slow 'em down."

She then bent over the panel speaker and switched it on. "This is Rabbot, tunin' into the radio channel number 1, hopefully you all can hear me across all Robotropolis. Ah'm here to send a message to Acorn, Blue Blur, Yellow Sky, an' Rose bearin' word from an eye witness who claims Robotnik took Knuckles and the relic of Angel Island—get that, boys? The relic of Angel Island—Robotnik has—"

Bullet fire exploded through the metal door and into the control panel.

Rotor backed against Bunnie. Bullets sprayed across the panels and lodged in his torso.

Bunnie let go of the speaker. "Rotor!" She turned to him, her green eyes wide.

He did not even scream. He braced his arms back against the walls, pinning her behind him, his grey eyes flashing. He sucked up a deep breath. "G-get out of here, Bunnie."

Metal slammed against the door again—the structure, filled with holes, began to buckle.

Bunnie snatched Rotor around the waist with a shout. She looked up, noting a small hatch—it probably lead to a crawl space for the computer servers—there were wires running up to the roof.

She extended her legs, ramming up against the hatch, barely noticing Rotor's weight. She cried out as she hauled herself inside and pulled her legs back in. "C'mon, Rotor—you can move—you can move, sugah-boy!"

Rotor stumbled to his knees. He and Bunnie looked up—the crawl space extended far back—there might be some way for them to make it out—

The door broke open beneath them. The combot strode inside and lifted its blaster towards the hole.

Bunnie and Rotor were scrambling ahead when a blast struck Rotor beneath the armpit. He stumbled forward with a shout, but his grey eyes flashed. He pushed forward, his blood smearing across the floor as he crawled.