Lien Da was rather eager (to put it lightly) to hear that Sonic had switched to villiany. Eggman had not only been suspicious of her, he was an outright fool in her opinion. His plans had no base and were often repetitive. He didn't look at his conquest with a logical mind; all he really cared about in the long run was killing Sonic, which he failed to do countless times where she could've ended that hedgehog's miserable existence effortlessly.

To put it simply, Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik was an idiot.

Sonic, however, was much more clever than he let on. He thought out of the box, which both helped and harmed him at times but anything was better than Eggman's way of thinking. Sure, he was impulsive but he actually had a clear and definite goal: wipe out the humans. He didn't focus his energy on one impossible target only to go into a childish tantrum whenever that said target escaped. If Sonic failed, he merely fought harder until he got what he wanted. Not to mention that he was powerful.

Only problem: he was completely ignorant of the power he possessed. Lien Da had been directly involved in the creation of the first Phantom Ruby prototypes; she knew just what they were capable of. One prototype ruby could power a city for a century. Sonic's was one of the more complete models implanted in a certain Metal Sonic (that was destroyed along with Princess Sally and Eggman's prized battleship). His ruby, is used correctly could robotize the entire human race in the blink of an eye. It could change history and Sonic had no idea.

Lien Da knew that the only reason Sonic had turned to the dark side was because he was grieving Sally's death and blamed the humans for her demise. His goal wasn't one of world denomination; it was simply destruction.

The female echinda had a careful plan of how she'd use Sonic to her advantage. She'd slip into his ranks and slowly earn his trust. Once promoted to assistant like she had been with Eggman, she'd make some... adjustments to the roboticizer. She'd considered just killing Sonic, but he was too powerful to just be dispensed. She could use him to her advantage and as a mecha soldier, he'd be fully compliant to her will.

She could be the conquerer Eggman never had the sanity to be.


Sonic woke up to a loud wail of the alarm. Grumbling profanities under his breath, he tossed aside the bedsheets and glanced at the clock which read 3:47am. Sweet chaos, this had better be important or he'd hang Snively's head on his wall. After all, he had more humans to roboticize and he didn't want to be half awake when he did it.

He bristled down the hall, still grumbling. In the computer room, Snively was talking to a mecha soldier, a female judging by the metallic but feminine silhouette. He hadn't noticed Sonic yet and was speaking quietly and rapidly. Little known was the fact that Sonic could clearly hear every word, every syllable... every nervous intake of breath.

"Sir, we've detained the intruder,"

"You are to let her go and tell her not to come back!"

Sonic's ears flicked in curiosity and suspicion. So there was an intruder. And it was a female. And for some reason, Snively didn't want him to know about it.

"She wishes to speak with you,"

"Tell her I can't talk to her right now! I will not risk my security. One wrong move," Snively paused to draw a line across his throat. "and he'll kill me,"

The mecha soldier's metal eyelids blinked, a useless but emotionless gesture. "What is so significant about this echinda?"

Echinda? Had the Freedom Fighters sent Knuckles to... no. It had to be a woman; they used female pronouns. Perhaps Julie Su broke in?

"She's... an old aqaintance. Just let her go and report back to me so I can wipe your memory of this conversation,"

The mecha soldier was about to turn and leave when Sonic's smooth but cold and cutting voice cut through. "I'm afraid that your order is to stay, Mecha,"

Snively let out a girlish scream and turned to face the blue hedgehog whom was currently glowering at him with crossed arms.

"Snively, do I have reason to question your loyalty?" Sonic asked. His voice was slow and polite, but razor sharp. Just the way he'd intended it to be.

The short human shook his head rapidly as his throat clenched from fear.

"I see, then what reason do you have for letting go intruders without my knowledge or consent?"

"I-I-I..." Snively stuttered before pausing to come up with an adequate answer. "I didn't w-want you to t-trouble yourself with an unruly intruder,"

Sonic shook his head and rolled his eyes in an obvious manner. "Bring her to me right now before I throw your sorry butt into the roboticizer,"

Snively nodded, his shoulders slumping in defeat.


"So, Lien Da," Sonic asked the black clad echinda standing in front of him. He clapped his hands together and smiled a tight smile. "I simply must inquire: who sent you?"

Lien Da chuckled and grinned just as fake as he did. "I sent myself, young conquerer,"

Sonic's hunrgy grin morphed into a smirk of pleasure. "So that's what they're calling me?"

"Among less flattering things,"

The hedgehog could only laugh... as if this whole ordeal was a hilarious inside joke. When he stopped, his grin still betrayed his amusement, but he answered with his eyes sarcastically half lidded. "I'm no conquerer... I'm much, much worse,"

Lien Da smacked her lips and leaned forward, studying Sonic intently. "Then what are you, boy?"

"The humans' worst nightmare. That's what I am,"

Lien Da glanced at Snively, who shifted uncomfortably. Sonic noticed this and chuckled. "Snively here is lucky that I have use for him," His tone became more cynical, threatening if one squinted. "Of course, if his loyalty to me was to be questioned..." He focused his attention back to Lien Da. "Anyway, what exactly are you doing here?"

The female smiled in a presumed attempt to look disarming, but it only made her look devious. "I've come to join you, of course. Eggman was a horrible villian. The guy had no structure or rationale. Sometimes I even questioned his sanity. Naturally, when I heard of your little turn over to the dark side, I was immensely pleased. There's finally a leader worth following,"

Something in Sonic's gut nagged him. No, don't trust her. Was it his sixth sense? Renmants of his past heroic way of thinking that wired his brain to see Lien Da as a threat? Or perhaps he was paranoid... "Why should I trust you?"

"Why not?" Lien Da countered, shrugging nonchalantly. "You trust Snively and him and I are pretty much on the same wavelength,"

"And what reason would I have to recruit you?"

"Many, actually," Lien Da smiled as she listed said reasons. "I'm superb with computers and hacking, I can pilot aircrafts, I was one of Eggman's chief strategists, I know martial arts. I can go on all night, but it's almost four in the morning so you ought to just accept me already and be on your way to bed, little one,"

"Well, aren't we bold?" Sonic mused. "I like that sort of trait. You're hired..."

Yes! Lien Da thought eagerly.

"... and your first duty is to sweep the hall,"

No! she thought in succession.

To add insult to injury, Sonic briskly tossed her a hairball covered broom that looked a hundred years old. Clenching her teeth and stifling a snide remark, Lien Da took it.

It didn't matter anyway, she told herself. Once she achieved her goal, Sonic would be the one handling mundane chores, along with worldwide murder, of course...


A/ N: Is it just me or is there something just so edgy about female villians? For this reason, Lien Da is one of my favorite characters in the series.

Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna oogle over edgy fan art XD