ACT II
Chapter 5
"What...is this place?" Rotor woke only to find himself in a makeshift cell. He tried to adjust himself to the oppressive darkness, only for the strong scent of rust and mold to attack his other senses. A hard cough erupted from him as a figure in a black cloak approached him with piercing red eyes.
"I'd ask why you brought me here, but I know what I am. A hostage." The walrus averted her unblinking gaze, but the one on the other end would not be driven off that easily.
The Sally-bot's hands grasped the thick iron bars, and eyed up her guest. The glow of her robotic visual sensors framed a disturbing grin. "No Rotor, you are of far more use to me than you'd might realize. We're going to rebuild what I broke." One finger raised toward him as the steel Sally opened the rusty cage, and beckoned him forward. "No sudden movements."
Bringing him to an old computer room, he saw his old roboticizer jury rigged to the network of cables lying about the rust stained floor. A golden ring was attached through auxillary wires with clamp on the end, emitting a constant glow that flowed to the cobbled together device. "Impressive."
The double grinned at this and gestured with her head toward the amalgamation. "Make sure it's running at full capacity. I'll be working on a little project in the meantime. Don't get too comfortable."
Oh, you can count on that, Iron Lips. Rotor didn't let the words leave his mouth, but perhaps he could use this unique situation to buy some time. His pops used to tell him about mechanics that would leave a little something left loose or a part missing, in order to retain a well-paying customer. Of course, that was an act neither he or his father cared for in the short time the walrus knew him, before he lost his home and family.
"Okay, but on one condition." He quickly thought up of a distraction in the meantime, while he waited for the right moment. The metallic chipmunk looked up at him with a noticeable frown on her imitated face. "You're gonna have to listen to me sing!"
–
Sonic, Sally and Bunnie could not believe their luck, as the Freedom Stormer was still intact, waiting for its next flight.
Relief soon turned to nervous terror, with the rabbot being the first to break the silence. "We only got one pilot left, huh?" Both of the girls turned towards Sonic, knowing what was coming next.
The hedgehog had a wide grin, firing hand pistols at the other two. "Oh yeah! It's go time! The skies are mine once again...!"
Sally's hand met her forehead, with an impact loud enough to be heard by the group of onlookers who had gathered around the runway. For once, they were cheering on the Freedom Fighters, rumors giving away to excited cheering.
Among the crowd, a large motherly squirrel cloaked in red broke from the populace to greet the heroes. "Rosie!" Sally cried out, rushing over to hug their old caretaker, with Sonic following closely behind.
"When I heard you all were heading off to rescue Rotor and Nicole, I knew I had to get here before you left!" She was visibly out of breath as her age clearly catching up with her. "Sally...Sonic. I want you both to give this present to Charles, he'll know what it means."
"Thanks Rosie. I didn't know how much I needed to see you after all that went down last night." Sally replied, allowing the old squirrel to use her shoulder for support.
Sonic as he came up to embrace her as well. In return, she fetched another present out of her basket—another power ring! Seeing this, he instinctively reached in his backpack to find that his spare had gone missing! "Oh man! Thanks. I was really close to leaving here without one, Rosie. How'd you know?"
"Oh, its really difficult to ignore seeing the young lady heading out of the village, toting a massive tube and a walrus in a yellow cap on her back, dear! What a time we live in!" The group erupted into much needed laughter!
The hedgehog leapt in the cockpit of the Stormer, turning to wave one last time to the old lady. "All right. See ya on the flip side, Rosie."
Bunnie gave her a much needed goodbye hug as well, and waved as their elderly caretaker receded back into the crowd. "Thanks Rosie! We'll come back with everyone, ah promise!"
As everyone filed into the plane, Sally joined the hedgehog in the passenger seat, and gave him a firm look with a hand on his thigh. "Rotor and Nicole are counting on us to bring them back safe and sound. That means no crashing the plane before we get there!"
Sonic rolled his eyes as he turned on the motor, feeling the vibrations beneath his feet. "Oh come on, Sal! I promise I'll get you all there safe. This hedgehog does -not- break promises!"
"That's not what I'm worried about." The chipmunk flatly replied as she tightened her own seatbelt.
"We all need to blow off steam now and then, Sally-girl." Bunnie was also strapped in with an eager look on her face. "Let him have his fun, as long we get there in one piece!" She gripped his shoulder tightly as her voice fell to a lower register. "Ain't that right, sugar-hog?"
"Man, you all are buzzkills!"
–
Watching the plane and his hopes of coming with fly off into the morning sky, Tails slumped away from his window, sighing heavily.
How many times is this gonna happen? He did appreciate that Aunt Sally stopped by to say sorry that morning, but it that didn't do much to help him get over what was said. I'm always gonna be the one who needs protecting, huh.
He walked over to the jet-pack that sat at the front of his bed and ran his fingers over it, reflecting on how cool it was to help someone else in need instead of being helped.
Suddenly, static began to crackle from the headset beside the flying instrument, and a voice began to come in, "Tails. I have something important I have to tell you."
"Aunt Sally?" He shook his head and began to shake as he stared at the headpiece. No way, I know who that is. If she thinks she can fool me that easily... Picking up the headset, he replied. "Me too. Don't try any funny stuff, okay? I know who you are!"
"Well, that will make things easier for the both of us, young man..."
Chapter 6
The Freedom Stormer had arrived in style, doing a tight barrel roll into a massive tail-spin towards the makeshift runway, as red lights poked out of small holes dotting the sides of the city street.
Sally and Bunnie screamed the entire way as their pilot held the brakes down, barely bringing the plane upright before he released the throttle. Hitting the ground with incredible force, the Freedom Fighters bounced in their seats, with the two ladies holding on for dear life!
The hedgehog coolly flipped a switch and released the newly installed drag chute, slowing the aircraft to a crawl. Turning to his distraught passengers, he stated with an excited smile, "I always wanted to do that!"
He then taxied the Stormer to a side street and, after everyone dismounted, proceeded to throw a massive tarp over it in lightning fast procession!
Content with his work he dusted off his hands and turned to see Bunnie and Sally giving him a unified death stare, both with hands on hips. The rabbot's fur was completely poofed out, and Sally's hair had settled into a radical perm.
"I know, I know! Great landing right?"
–
Uncle Chuck was not having a good day, or week for that matter. He had a feeling from what Sally had went through getting to his location that things were ramping up in Robotropolis.
He spotted persistent Swat-Bot aerial cruisers circling the zone around his base, and even with his disguise, he'd dared not risk detection. "Sonny boy, Sal, Bunnie. I hope you get here soon."
The elderly hedgehog was eager to share what he learned. When talking with Sally, he left out a key detail from their discussion until he could confirm his suspicions.
Soon after the chipmunk had left his base, he had returned to the lab where Nicole was infected. Finding the area still abandoned, he ran the data through a spare cleaner unit that had been stored away for just such an occasion.
Running isolated tests on it afterward, he found a complex line in the infecting code that struck him as strange. That kind of code could only affect one kind of device: an Artificial Intelligence! Did she expect the Freedom Fighters to use Nicole to track her down?
All of a sudden, a crash rocked his dug out cave and dust fell from the ceiling. He leapt to his feet as the thought was rocked out of his mind. "What's all the commotion!?"
–
"You handle the ground troops Bunnie. Sonic will cover the cruisers! I'll meet up with the old man and see if he's okay!" Sally gestured toward the suspicious pile of rubble nearby, "...And whatever you do, don't draw attention to Sir Charles. That's the last thing we need!"
Sonic and Bunnie gave their leader a quick thumbs up, putting the plan into action. "Let's do it to it!", they exclaimed.
Sonic raced up the fire escapes nearby, coming to the rooftop of the nearby building. He counted one, two...three cruisers incoming. "Time to juice! Give me some cover fire, Bunnie!"
Looking down from his perch, he saw her with a boulder of mashed together metal in the palm of her robotic hand, "My pleasure, sugar-hog!" The projectile soared through the air with incredible intensity, and the precise strike took out an exposed engine. Immediately after, the cruiser spiraled down to the ground and crashed!
The ensuing explosion barely missed Sally as she slid underneath into the slowly opening mouth of Uncle Chuck's dwelling! Sonic sighed in relief and reached into his backpack for a little pick me up.
"Okay, Sal's safe for the time being. Time to really let loose!" Holding the power ring above his head, Sonic was bathed in a golden glow and felt his heart race as the energy coursed through his body.
"PRIORITY ONE HEDGEHOG DETECTED. PRI-" A supercharged spinball struck the next oncoming cruiser as the hedgehog proceeded to smoothly glide over the roof and launch towards the last one in his patented Buzzsaw maneuver, cleaving the ship in twain. "Bots done and dusted!"
As he fell to the earth, Sonic searched for way to soften his fall. With no ledges or poles to swing off of, he used the last of the rings energy to go into a horizontal spin!
The hog-nado spiraled to the ground, leaving the blue blur dizzy as his feet touched the ground. "Nailed it!", he shouted as tried to regain his balance, with Bunnie rushing over to give him a high five.
–
"Thanks everyone. I'll handle the cleanup as soon as you all head out to Robotnik's old prison. That's where your friends are being kept!" Sonic scratched his head, not quite following his Uncle's words.
Sally then proceeded to key in a few buttons on the old man's computer, showing a blinking red dot on the radar. "Uncle Chuck added more than a few things to Nicole when I left her in his care. It looks like we lucked out this time!"
"It's called being prepared, Sally." Uncle Chuck added, laughing heartily, "She's part of the team and we look after our own, always!"
Sonic slapped his Uncle on the back, jostling around some gears within. "Way past cool, Unc! That Sally-Bot can't hide from us now!"
The elderly hedgehog grimaced slightly and addressed the group before him. "That's not all, Sonny. She's a clever one, all right. However, I may have an idea what she's up to!" He then pulled out a blinking transceiver—Rosie's gift. It was his first completed invention.
Interlude I
A week prior, Charles found himself putting the finishing touches on his latest work. He already gave the young two-tailed one the task of putting together a portable transceiver, using parts from the old one he used to communicate with the Freedom Fighters during the climax of the war.
Now, he had to complete the task that laid before them. If this works, we may have handheld communication at last! This will be a massive boon for our combined efforts going forward!
Hearing a telltale knock at his door, he pressed a switch on the nearby console, racing to the entrance to see the princess arriving in a ratty old black cloak! "Ah Princess Sally! Come in!" He couldn't help but notice the peculiar odor of oil mixed with...something else that he wasn't able to identify. "Did you have trouble on the way in?"
Taking off her cloak, she pulled a bottle out of her inner pocket and took a drink, clearing her throat throat afterwards. "Yes. A little bit. I can't believe that there are still Swat-Bot patrols roaming around at this hour!"
"The city never sleeps, Sal. Here! Have a seat over there." The old hedgehog replied, pointing to a nearby cot. Sally left her cloak on as she sat down on the firm resting place, shivering. "Are you feeling cold, Princess? I could turn the heat up if you like?"
The chipmunk seemed to ignore the request and pointed at the gray device sitting on his desk. "How's Nicole coming along?"
Hearing her question, Charles laughed to himself and turned to Sally with a knowing grin. "Always putting others before yourself, I see. She's still not ready yet I'm afraid. That amount of energy rocked her to her very core!" Sally stood up when he mentioned Nicole's status, with a look of concern. "Those power stones are something else, I tell ya! Must have been a rush to have that amount of energy under your control, for even a moment!"
"Yeah, no kidding." She stood there with hand firmly under her chin. Looking up at the doctor, a question escaped her lips. "If you don't mind me asking, what's the status on those stones by the way?"
The old hedgehog stirred a little at her questioning. I thought you would be more worried about your computer than those old things! He then turned to her with a serious look, trying to gauge her reaction. "You don't know? Well, I suppose their power is beginning to wane, but there's still some serious kick there. Thinking of using it as a clean energy source?"
Sally gave him an affirmative nod with a hopeful grin. That was enough to convince him that she was taking the question seriously, as he expected she would. However, nothing could prepare him for the next thing.
"Can I ask you a serious question Uncle Chuck?" She paused and stared at the ground, as if the weight of her words was literally dragging her down. "What's my purpose going forward, now that the war with Robotnik is over?"
He stared at the young princess, clearly caught off guard. Scratching his metallic temple, he turned and stared wistfully at the handheld he was almost finished working on. "That's a big question, Sally. I suppose that, at least this time, we have to be careful with who we trust and how were goin' to develop as Mobians."
Charles gazed at his metallic frame as his red eyes dimmed. "We can't live forever, but we have to leave a lasting and more peaceful legacy for the ones who will carry the torch forwards. Tails is a good example of those we need to protect, so he and the others can bring about a good future for Mobius!"
–
The old man was a genius, but was too wrapped up in philosophy to see the truth! Tails... Your Uncle Chuck is right about a great many things. More than you could ever realize. I need to find you and protect you. This meager frame won't be enough for what's coming next!
"Then that's what we'll have to do at all costs, Uncle Chuck." The robotic double mused, having obtained the information she so desperately needed. The stones would not have left Knothole if they haven't been touched since, so that would be her next destination.
Chapter 7
Antoine found himself pleading with the young fox as Tails left his house, fully decked out in battle ready gear. "You can't be serious! Going off on your own is suicide!" The amber furred lad tested out the rotation of his limbs, and was pleased to find his tails to be fully healed. "No way, Ant. You're coming with me too. …Or are you gonna explain to everybody why you let me go off on my own?"
The coyote was taken aback by the boy's insolent tone; it was so unlike him! "W-w-what are you saying? I am putting my boot down right now, you are to be having a time out, starting right this instant!"
The young fox continued to put distance between himself and the protesting Antoine, who tried in vain to catch up. "Ah! Non, non, non! Don't be walking away from moi as I am talking to you!"
Putting on his headset, the fox launched himself into the air, giggling all the while. "You'll have to catch me first, Ant!"
"Hold on just a couple of moments! If we are doing zis, I have to come prepared!" Oh Princess, please forgive me!
–
Rotor could not be more miserable at this very moment. She had caught him replacing one of the circuits with chewing gum, and had punished him with even larger workload for his trouble. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something reflect in the computer screen next to him.
What is that thing? He was exhausted and found himself unable to move as the Sally-Bot returned with some sort of...animal-like robot? "Hey. You're not planning on using that to test out the roboticizer, are you?" Oh...I hope that's not what I think it is!
She turned to him for a brief moment and replied, "No Rotor, this isn't one of your roboticized kind. Just an empty husk, that's all." The walrus didn't know whether to feel relieved or terrified.
Setting down the limp frame, she walked over to the walrus and stared him down. "However, I will tell you this because I need you for this next step. The boy is coming here with the power stones. You are to let him and only him inside the prison."
"What do you want with Tails, tin can?" For his trouble, he found himself flat on his face with a clawed hand behind his back!
"You just let me worry about the little one. I won't hurt him. Now...do we have an understanding?" Rotor gasped as he felt her grip tighten on his arm, the pain shooting down to his lower back.
He summoned up the courage to ask one last question. Perhaps the most important one. "What are you planning on doing with the Deep Power Stones!?"
The Sally-bot finally released him and he struggled to get to his feet. "Fulfilling my purpose at last, Rotor. That's all you need to know." The robot replied, running a hand over Nicole resting on the walrus' makeshift work table. "You have free run of the prison. I will know if you attempt to escape, so I would advise against it." The walrus rubbed his sore arm and left with a scowl. "Now if you don't mind, I have important work to attend to."
Chapter 8
"WHERE AM I?" Electronic synapses fired as faint signals finally began to pulse stronger and stronger, indicating positive functionality. Nicole was back online, however she detected another foreign signal interfacing with her CPU.
"WHO ARE YOU?" There was no visual confirmation. Somehow, it was accessing the device while it was in sleep mode. No easy task.
A voice trailed through the various transmissions of statuses and computations. "Hello, Nicole. We haven't met yet, but we're going to be the best of friends, you and I."
Her memory banks began to activate, as the voice matched the one of her owner. "WE ARE ALREADY...FRIENDS, SALLY." Suddenly. the her various functions began to feel...pain? "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?"
"I have great plans in store for us, Nicole. The pain was the virus leaving your body. I need you at your best for what's coming next." The voice she knew as "Sally" trailed off as it finished it's sentence.
The AI tried in vain to send signals as her processes began to shut down. "SALLY. I DON'T UNDERSTAND. COME BACK." No more signals detected. She was alone.
"I MISS YOU..." These were the last words Nicole could respond with before all functions ceased once more.
–
How long must I keep this act up?
The Sally-bot twitched and jerked as she rose out of her chair, and a sudden cough nearly brought her to her knees. After checking to see if Rotor heard, she looked at the ground seeing the brown stain there. That's worrying. I'll have to push him a bit harder. Like it or not, the time is drawing near...
Bringing her chair over to the nearby computer, she deftly navigated the old hardware, pulling up an old page on Mobian history that had struck her interest, "The Forgotten Races of Mobius."
One of the entries grabbed her attention immediately: information on a supposedly ancient feline race of seers. The local indigenous tribes such as the Wolves of the Mountains, benefited greatly from their guidance.
Sadly, they were mostly roboticized once Robotnik took over. "I think the quote was, the last thing I need is cats running around thinking they can see the future. Good one, Doctor."
Pulling up a visual, a contented grin crept across her face which was all the more eerie bathed in the CRT light of the monitor. "Perfect."
Getting out of the chair far more easily this time, she left for an old accessway to the roof of the prison, noting that Rotor was sleeping in his cell. She almost felt sorry for him, but his suffering would be at an end soon either way.
Knocking open the rusty door blocking the roof, she inspected the Spy-Bot she obtained during her last excursion into Robotropolis. Using her finger's multi-tool, she restored it to life. It soon began a perimeter patrol, completely under her control.
There was one more order to give, however. "Keep an eye out for the two-tailed one. He should be headed this way as we speak. I want no more surprises right now."
The Sally duplicate felt the wind course through her voluminous auburn hair for what was possibly the last time. She felt a conviction stir in her CPU and spoke it aloud.
"We'll have an entire world grateful for bringing them peace at last, Nicole. Mobian and machine, both. Consider it a gift from a fellow slave to another..."
–
"Here we are, Ant!" Tails pointed across the bridge towards the Ironlock Prison, which imposingly stood before them. Antoine was not having a great time being back in this terrible place and had stayed behind the young fox the entire time.
The boy tapped his food on the steel reinforced platform crossing the gorge. "Whoa! I thought this bridge was completely wrecked after the last time. Ain't that a relief somebody came by and repaired it, huh?"
The coyote guard gulped and scanned the area desperately, shrugging in an exaggerated manner. "Oh! Look at that, Tails! No one is home! Oui, oui, maybe we can be coming back later then! How convenient for us, ne-c'est pas!"
Tails shook his head in disbelief. Is this what the other Freedom Fighters have to deal with every time they bring Ant along? Yeesh.
Turning to the guard, he gave him an appropriate task for his position. "Just keep an eye out for anyone sneaking up on us. I'll try and draw them out. We got this!"
Revving up his tails, the boy easily crossed the bridge with the coyote tailing behind. Suddenly, as Tails touched down at the entrance of the old prison ruins, an electric dome sprung up around the area past the bridge, leaving Antoine to barely catch himself with the tip of his boot striking the newly formed barrier!
The young fox cupped his ears as Antoine launched into a tirade and shouting all sorts of illegible nonsense. He mixed in some choice language but Tails couldn't understand any of it.
Waving back at his escort he shouted, "Hey if you can hear me Ant, I'll get this shut down in no time! Just hold tight!"
This could not have made his partner more irate. "Hold tight! HOLD TIGHT! You will be the one who is holding tight! No, don't go in! Please! I BEG OF YOU...!"
Tails felt him channeling his big bro as he entered the base, "Shut up, Ant."
I don't care what kinda plans you have for me, I got this handled!
END OF ACT II