Chapter 13

BLAST! Carelessness had left him exposed. When the group of idle badniks sprang to life Sonic had been casually crossing the street, playing right into their trap. One moment he had been bored and wondering if there would be any action after all, the next he was in the crosshairs of nearly fifty robots.

Instinct saved his life as Sonic moved before commanding his body to do so. Blaster fire melted the ground where he was standing only a heartbeat before. Sonic spun around and charged straight for the badniks on the street. Because his movements were a blur, the badniks did not aim at him but shot at where they expected him to be. The change in tactic caught Sonic off guard and it nearly cost him his life. He just managed to come to a screeching halt inches away from a thunderstorm of blaster fire.

Tails said they were smarter. Sonic could not help but smile to himself. Adrenaline fired into his veins. Sonic's instinct was more than a match for the quick thinking of an A.I. He abandoned his frontal assault and started running straight up a nearby building. "Sonic." Tails's voice gasped out of the comm. "They're onto us."

"No kidding," Sonic replied as he narrowly avoided gunfire. Flying disc shaped robots were converging around the building, racing him to the top. "You sit tight, I'll see if I can't bring them all to me. You reach the central tower!" Sonic pinned his arms back and willed himself forward. Pop. Glass shattered and the entire building shook from the reverb of Sonic's speed. When he passed over the building, Sonic soared straight up into the air. The distant sun shone in his face and Sonic smirked casually as he rolled himself into a ball. Like a dropped missile, he plunged back into the building.

CRASH! Floor by floor, Sonic broke through the building. Dust, and shrapnel sprayed in every direction. Sonic reached the ground floor before the wreckage did and quickly sped beyond the radius of the damage. The host of bi-pedal badniks tried to flee but were quickly encased by the falling wreckage. BLAST! BLAST! Blinded by the debris, they fired aimlessly.

Sonic sped back into the thick of it, shrouded by the dust, he isolated each badnik and destroyed them one by one.

When that was done, Sonic ran back out into the open. A welcoming party awaited him. Fifty saucer droids swelled the skies and the street was barricaded by thirty or so white armored badniks. Unlike Eggman's former servants and his more recent motley crew of Egg Pawns there was nothing unique or personal about these robots.

They looked similar to the mechs employed by GUN but more functional and dangerous. Instead of twin blasters, each wielded a wrist machine gun and an electromagnetic shield. I can't get through all of them. Sonic hated to admit it but at this point the only real play was to help Tails take over the A.I.

"Welcome Sonic." A woman's voice called. "You were ever such a thorn in my master's side. Perhaps if I present him with your corpse he will return to me."

"Return? Does that mean Eggman isn't here?"

"The doctor is always here," The woman returned. "He is in me. Therefore he shall always be."

Sonic didn't understand that but he did understand that the conversation was over. The badniks raised their weapons and fired. Sonic turned tail and raced back the way he came. The saucers zoomed after him with the grounded troops coming in behind.

His pursuers never broke formation so their line never thinned enough for Sonic to turn back and break through it. BLAST! The saucers above started to rain down a bombardment in the road before Sonic forcing the hedgehog to dodge and sidestep rapidly. "Sonic.." Tails's voice broke through the sounds of battle. He sounded hurt and afraid. Sonic's heart skipped a beat.

Gotta do something. He racked his brain for some kind of plan but kept drawing blanks. What's the one thing intelligence can't predict? Sonic kicked out his heels and came to an abrupt halt. He turned back around and started rushing headfirst at the army chasing him. Doing something really dumb. Momentarily, caught off guard the badniks did not fire at him right away. It was only when it was deadly apparent that Sonic had no alternative plan did they finally raise their weapons.

CRRRK. CRRRK. Machine gun fire torched the ground as Sonic just managed to leap into the air. The saucers had overrun the badiks so when they turned back to shoot at Sonic and missed, their blaster fire rained onto their own soldiers. Caught between both lines of fire, Sonic quickly pressed downward into a drop dash that accelerated him into a narrow alley between two buildings.

His foes were on his heels in an instant. Sonic created more ground by running simultaneously on the ground and both sides of the building. As the gunfire increased, Sonic could feel the building groaning beside him. This better work. He bolted forward with all the speed he could muster. Pop. Pop. Breaking through the sound barrier shook the buildings, destabilizing them and causing them to collapse inward, barricading the alley.

Sonic did not wait to see if his pursuers would make it through the trap. He turned round and rushed straight for the central tower. Hold on Tails, I'm almost there. The ground floor entrance was guarded by turrets, barbed wire and even more badniks. Sonic couldn't stop, he had to reach Tails. He scrambled between the wired fences, rolled past the machine gun fire, waited for the badniks to form a line then struck them with his homing attack one after another propelling him towards a circular window. When he was close enough, Sonic broke off his attack and dived through the window.

Once inside, he was almost blinded by the sheer volume of white light, clashing terribly against the even whiter walls. He rushed forward into a central chamber which connected to half a dozen offshooting hallways. I don't have time to search them all. Sonic tried to find some clue as to where Tails might be, then looked beneath him. Eggman's insignia had been painted onto the floor.

Deciding to take a risk, Sonic rolled into a ball and bounced hard onto Eggman's face. The tile cracked beneath him and Sonic broke through, plummeting into a dark cavern. He landed beside a large, blank monitor surrounded by various machines. Sonic ignored them and spin dashed through a set of double doors. He entered another hallway and felt his heart leap into his throat. Tails lay in the rubble of a collapsed elevator, partially covered by a badnik with an exposed exoskeleton.

Sonic raced over and sighed in relief when he saw Tails's chest moving slowly up and down. "You alright?" He asked as he pulled the fox to his feet. Tails struggled to stand and clutched at Sonic for support.

"You got in?"

"Like I'd miss this." Sonic's smile betrayed the genuine sense of fear he had experienced only a moment before. "I think the terminal you're looking for is in here."Sonic led Tails back into the cavern. A massive monitor overlooked the lab and Tails gestured to a room full of complicated looking devices. "Supercomputers." He observed. "Eggman must have over a dozen in there."

The blank screen fired to life. A woman with a sallow face and drawn eyes welcomed them with a smile. "Welcome guests, I am Aurora, how may I help you?" Tails ignored her and continued to the terminal. He took out his drive and began connecting it to the central motherboard.

"Where's the good doctor?" Sonic asked.

"My master is not here. However, you can leave a message for him."

"Na, I prefer to do it in person."

Aurora laughed. "You will not be here when he returns. No organic life will. By my estimations all carbon based lifeforms will be destroyed within the next one thousand years."

"One thousand years? That's a heck of a vacation. Where did Eggman go?"

"He is gone. And I am to await his return."

Tails continued to type away on his drive. Sonic walked over to see what he was doing, but couldn't make anything out of the rapid set of flashing figures. "Her code is…complex." Tails admitted. "I don't think I can take control of her completely. But I should be able to reassign the peripheral functions of the base."

"Complex huh? Is that why you're leaking batteries?" Sonic asked the A.I.

"My bases are running at 100% efficiency," Aurora deflected.

Tails's ears twitched. "That's a lie," He said cautiously. "How are you doing that? You could refuse to answer a question, but how are you able to lie?"

"All available data and simulated estimations decreed that my systems would not remain active long enough to see my master return. Such perplexity demanded a change in my code. I am to await his return. Therefore I must survive." Her screen flickered and again the red faced version pressed herself against the glass, as if trying to escape the confines of her existence.

"Urgh!" Sonic exclaimed. "That was creepy! Can you turn off the screen?"

"He calls me," Aurora whispered, her voice was heavily strained as if she was in terrible pain. "I hear his voice."

Tails mashed keys on his drive. "I'm trying!"

A macabre curiosity kept Sonic from turning away from the screen. Aurora's face kept shifting and distorting as if she were fighting herself. Her outline rapidly switched from red to blue. "Nothing. The significance of living tissues degrading into inorganic matter presents no clear disturbance in the universe…" She did not sound like an A.I anymore, her voice was like a real woman's on the verge of tears. "No…." Aurora froze. For a moment, Sonic thought that Tails had successfully managed to override the screen.

"Can you shut it off?"

"I'm not doing that," Tails said with a tremble.

When Sonic looked back a cold shudder ran down the base of spine. Aurora's eyes had changed. They had stretched to grotesque proportions and deepened into pits filled with a multitude of swirling stars. Sonic couldn't move, the stare seemed to paralyze him. Though he knew it was impossible, he could not escape the feeling that the eyes could truly see him.

Snap. All at once, the screen turned blank. Tails had smashed his entire hand on his keyboard, somehow disabling the screen. The fox sighed and shuddered. Sonic tried to play it cool but even he was shaken. "Are you almost done?"

Tails nodded. "It seems that the leak was caused by diverting too much power from an Ion Battery. From what I can gather, Eggman has five central bases, each one powered by an Ion Battery, but he has taken two of them out of circulation. This has caused massive power imbalances and Aurora either could not, or her programming prevented her from dropping assets."

"Uh….okay. Well what does that all mean? What is Eggman up to with those other batteries?"

"I'm not sure. But fortunately for us, I've gained access to Eggman's satellites. It seems he designed them to monitor major energy charges throughout the world." Tails unfolded his mini display and turned it on. It showed a map of earth dotted with small yellow dots. "If we set a time table we can search for any major charges of energy." Tails plugged in the data and watched as the screen changed.

Minutes dragged on, and soon Sonic lost interest. He wandered around the lab pausing to look at sketches of Eggman's ideas for new mechs. One in particular caught his eye, a revolving wheel complete with a blaster turret and a giant arm. The Egg Saucer? Sounds annoying.

"Sonic come here!" Tails exclaimed. True to his nature, Sonic was at Tails's side in an instant. "Look at this! There was a major energy signature, larger than anything else by a mile."

"Where did it come from?"

"Angel Island." They both exchanged knowing looks. "Do you think-"

"Do I think that Knuckles got fooled again?" Sonic interrupted. "I wouldn't put it past him."

Tails nervously chewed his lip. "This was four months ago. If Eggman really did get a hold of the Master Emerald, wouldn't we have found out by now?"

"Unless he has just been harnessing its power to create some sort of superweapon," Sonic suggested without even a hint of worry or concern.

Tails balked at that idea and swiftly returned to hacking Aurora. "I'm in," He said after another couple of minutes. "I'm commanding all the badniks and other machines to plug the leak. I'm also going to have the dam and hydroelectric plant removed for good measure."

"What about the rest of the base? Shouldn't we shut it all down?"

Tails shook his head. "Not without starting an environmental catastrophe. Like it or not Eggman has imbued himself here. Something has to make sure that all his furnaces, power generators and other fuel containment services continue to run smoothly lest there be another leak or something even worse."

"That's just like Eggman." Sonic said stiffly. "He plants himself somewhere and even when he is uprooted he poisons the soil. A true rotten egg."

Tails didn't smile. "It's not just him. Wherever humans attach themselves, nature is changed for the worse. Even if they wanted to scale back their impact, things can never go back to the way they were, not really. What's gonna happen the day we come to a base like this and it's not Eggman at the helm?"

"What are you getting at buddy?" Sonic asked, surprised by Tail's sudden gloom.

Tails sighed. "Nothing. Let's just get out of here."

An hour later, they had returned to the Tornado's landing spot within Leaf Forest. "We had better give Knuckles a visit," Sonic suggested as Tails packed his drive into the plane.

"I'll have to meet you there. I still need to go back to Cream's village and help restore the river. I have a water treatment device I've been working on that I think will help."

"What do you think happened with that computer?" Sonic asked, finally bringing up the disturbing turn of Aurora.

Tails shook his head. "With so much power and memory it's possible there is a glitch in her code that is causing her to malfunction. But I don't understand why Eggman would just abandon a base like this and allow his A.I to degenerate."

"There's only one way to find out." Sonic gave Tails a thumbs up. "When you get done with the village, come meet me on Angel Island. But if I find out Knuckles has gotten tricked again…"

"Please don't fight-" But Tails didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as Sonic had already sped away. Sonic did not head straight for Angel Island. Instead he circumvented Hot Crater to get a look at the surrounding area. Only a few hours ago smoke had risen above the summits of the mountains. Now, by the late afternoon, the sky was already clear. Sonic smiled to himself as he saw reprogrammed badniks hard at work dismantling the machinery over the river.

The day's victory was another note in the long chorus of Sonic and Tails. Yet it had also been slightly anticlimactic. Hoping he would find more action and a greater challenge on Angel Island, Sonic turned back and started in that direction.