Chapter 6 "Hang on!" I cried to Sonic, jumping out of the way of a laser beam. The air was thick with them. Luckily, being super fast, I was able to dodge them, but because I was still carrying Sonic, his added weight was slowing me down. I also could not return fire, either, for both of my arms were supporting him. I didn't know how much longer I could continue without Sonic or I getting hit. We needed to get out of there, pronto! But how? "Hey, Sonic," I said, while jumping over the nearest SWAT-bot. "Any ideas as to how we can get out of here?" He thought for a minute. "Why not use the door?" he replied. Oh, right. I jumped high, using my thrusters for extra distance. I flipped over the SWAT-bots, and out the door. I raced down the corridor, my footsteps echoing off the walls. "Mecha, the SWAT-bots are following us!" he cried out. I didn't look back, but I knew he was right, because a laser blast missed my left ear by a millimeter. I ran harder, making sharp turns through the labyrinth, hoping to lose them. Finally. I heard their laser blasts and footsteps fade, until all I heard was my own labored breathing. "I think.we lost them." I said between breaths. I slowed down, turned into the next corner, and stopped in the shadows. "Are you.okay Sonic?" "Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. "Do you think you can walk?" "I think so," I set him gently on the ground with a soft clink as his feet met the floor. He swayed for a minute, and then he stood firm. I leaned against the wall, catching my breath. He checked himself out, from his ion-powered thrusters to the lasers on his arms. He held his right hand up to his face, and flexed his fingers, causing them to glimmer in the dim light. He turned to me. "You know what?" he said. "I want to thank you for, well, err, for what happened back there.you.you saved my life. If you hadn't done what you did." he trailed off. "Well, I don't even want to think about what might have happened." "But Sonic," I said, "I failed saving you from being roboticized. It's my fault that all this occurred." I clenched my fist. " If I hadn't attacked you in the forest, you wouldn't be like this now." I hung my head, unable to look him in the face. Guilt tore at my heart, and I felt regret slowly bubble up inside me. Sonic shook his head. "No, it's not your fault, Mecha," he said. "It's mine. I was being foolhardy, and I thought I could do things my own way. I let my guard down, and I was captured." He walked over to me, and placed on of his hands on my shoulder. I looked at him. "All I see is my roboticization as is punishment for my actions. Now, whadya say we blow this joint?" He had a mischievous sparkle in his eyes. I still felt bad, but his words made me feel better. I smiled at him. "All right then, let's do it to it!" I said. "Hey, that's my line!" he said. Then he laughed, an alarming, yet pleasing sound, and before I knew what was happening, I was laughing right along with him. I heard something, and I immediately stopped. I focused my attention on the corridor perpendicular to us. Sonic, seeing that I was worried about something, ceased laughing. "What's up?" he whispered. "Shhh, listen," I whispered back. His ears flicked forward, and he was paying attention very closely. A light tapping echoed down the hall, followed by others. "Hear that?" "Yeah," he said. "SWAT-bots?" I listened harder. It didn't sound like the dull, thunking sound of a SWAT-bot to me. These were lighter steps, and each one was slightly different. A few sounded like boots, another like large feet, and a final one that sounded similar to when I walked on tile flooring. "No, I don't think so," I said. "It doesn't sound right to me. What do you think?" "You're right," he replied. "It doesn't sound like SWAT-bots, or Butt- nik. But then, who, or what, is it?" I didn't know, but I had a feeling that we would soon find out. The steps drew nearer, and I began to pick out individual voices. "Oh, mah, if Sonic was captured, what can we do about it?" said a feminine voice, with a slight accent. "We have to find him before he is roboticized, and comes after us," said a familiar voice. I winced. Well, scratch the first part of that. "Nicole, scan for any traces of Sonic." *Working, Sally* replied a mechanical voice. I knew it! That voice was Sally's, the squirrel from Knothole! If she was here, then the rest of the Freedom Fighters must be with her. I quickly glanced at Sonic. He had not heard any of them yet, but he would soon. I refocused my attention to listening. *My scanners indicate that there are no traces of Sonic anywhere in this sector* "Are you sure, Nicole?" *I am positive.wait. I am detecting two life forms up ahead. Both appear to be mechanical, and do not seem to be on patrol* "Should we keep going in this direction?" asked a deep, male voice that sounded much like Rotors'. "This is the fastest way to the main chamber, and if there are only two of them, we can handle it." Sally replied. I glanced again at Sonic. He was still lost in his own thoughts. "Hey, Sonic," I hissed, tapping him on the shoulder. He jerked his head up. "What?" "Those footsteps we heard, I believe they belong to some friends of yours," I said. He gave me a confused look. "Why would they be.oh crap. Robotnik cast my capture throughout the entire city, didn't he?" he asked. I shook my head. "I don't know, but whoever is down there knows that you were captured, and they are trying to find you. They know that we are here because of something that was being referred to a Nicole," Sonics' eyes widened. "Did.did you say Nicole?" I nodded. He suddenly looked as though he had seen a ghost. "That's.that's the name of Sal's portable computer. If they are talking with or about Nicole, then that means they are still here. Oh, man, this is not cool." "Why?" I asked. "If they are your friends, then you should go to them." "I can't. If I show myself to them, then they will think I'm working for Butt-nik, and they might attack. I don't want to fight them." He was shaking from head to toe. I felt so bad for him. I peeked down the hallway.

"I don't see anyone yet," I reported. "They are too far away. We could run and make a break for it. That way you wouldn't be seen by your friends." Sonic considered this for a moment. Slowly, he nodded his head. "Okay, let's go. But we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves." I turned the corner, Sonic at my side. We took off down the corridor. Our footsteps bounced off the walls, making them a lot louder. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea, I thought. We may as well just set off the alarms while we're at it. Anyone can hear us now. I felt Sonic agree with me. We barreled through the hallway, turned a corner.and ran smack into a patrol of SWAT-bots. "Oh, crap!" I cried out. I screeched to a halt, and Sonic plowed right into me. We crashed to the ground. "Ow, why'd you.oh," he said. I scrambled to my feet, helped Sonic up, and took off back the way we came, Sonic at my heels. Robotniks' voice boomed over the loud speaker. *Follow them! Don't let them escape! * The SWAT-bots followed us, lasers blasting. Lucky for us, they had bad aim. Unfortunately, there were so many blasts if we moved too far in a certain direction, we'd be hit. I pushed myself harder, determined to get away from them. I activated my thrusters, and flew. Sonic followed suit. We pulled away from them, but they still followed us. I turned my arm backward, and fired my own blast. I hit the lead SWAT-bot, causing the others to crash into it. "Nice shot!" said Sonic. I smiled at him. "Thanks," I said. Suddenly, up ahead I saw 5 figures running towards us. I slammed on the breaks, and hovered in the air, staring at them. Sonic pulled up beside me, his attention still focused on me. "Why did you stop?" he asked. "We need to put some distance between us and those SWAT." His gaze followed mine, and he gasped. Sally, Rotor, Tails, Knuckles, and a female rabbit stopped in front of where we were floating, and were gaping up at us. "Oh, no." "Oh my god, there are two of them!" cried Knuckles. He was goggle-eyed, and couldn't take his eyes off us. "They look exactly alike." For the first time, I realized that, in fact, we did look the same. I looked at Sonic, who returned my gaze. I saw myself reflected in his eyes, and indeed I looked just like him. The dark metallic blue color, the goldenrod laser cannons, the white beam that embraced my leg, our eye colour. My spines curled back behind me like his. I felt that, during this time, we were more that just allies. That we were something more. A loud explosion behind me brought me back to reality. I spun around. The SWAT-bots had almost caught up to us. "Sonic," I said. "If we leave, your friends would be at the mercy of those 'bots. If we stay, would your friends believe that you are not working for Robotnik?" His eyes brightened. "I think they would. If they see us trashing SWAT-bots, then they would trust us more than if we just walked right up to them, saying we didn't follow old Butt-nik. Let's do it!" He landed on the floor, and I followed. I positioned myself between the FF's and the approaching enemy, facing the onslaught of robots. I powered my lasers to full. I glanced at Sonic. He flashed me a grin, and withdrew his own blasters. I stood my ground, while the SWAT-bots drew nearer. I aimed at the new lead bot, and fired a red beam. It lanced through the air, hitting the bot in the leg. It tripped and fell, but the others just jumped over it and continued forward. Sonic fired one of his own blasts, but missed. I think we're gonna need both barrels, Sonic, I thought. One isn't going to be enough. I know what you mean, he thought back. He raised his other arm, and began firing from both cannons. I continued blasting, but I knew that we couldn't win this way. We needed a plan. My gaze drifted to the heavy metal beams that supported the ceiling. An idea formed in my head. I stepped back, and motioned to Sonic to get his attention. I pointed to the support beams, then back at my laser. He looked, and then he got it. "Get out of here, now!" cried Sonic to the FF's. "The building is going to collapse in a minute." They just stared at him, looks of terror and disbelief on their faces. "Go, now! There is no need for you to be here.Ahh!" Sonic was hit in the leg by opposing laser fire. Pain shot through my own leg, but I tried to ignore it. Then, I felt a beam connect with my shoulder. It sliced through it, severing a good inch from my body. Ahh!" I cried out, as Sonic gripped his own shoulder. "We need to end this quickly, we can't keep this up with them around. If they were gone, we'd scrap these bozos. We can't leave them exposed!" "I know!" Sonic cried back. "Let's do it now!" I placed both my arms together, and fired my both of my lasers at the ceiling. Sonic fired as well, and the support beams buckled, broke, and landed on top of the SWAT- bots, crushing them. This also created a barricade, so that anything behind it would have to burn it's way through. "All right!" we cried, high-fiving each other. We smiled at one another, and then I looked back at the FF's. They were gazing at us like we were strange. Knuckles looked ready to start a fight, and Tails was staying behind him. Bunnie was prepared to back him up, and Rotor was just standing there, shaking. Sally kept staring from Sonic, to me, and back to Sonic. I looked over at Sonic, and he seemed like he wanted to tell them who he was, but couldn't quite bring himself to do so. He met my gaze, and I nodded encouragingly. He took a deep breath. "Hey, um, we don't want to fight you," he started, but was interrupted by Knuckles. "Who says we don't want to fight you?" he demanded. "Where's Sonic?" Sonic stepped back, shocked. He looked Knuckles straight in the eye. "You are looking at him, Knux," he said softly. Knuckles recoiled from the statement as if he had been punched. The others gasped. Sally looked at him. "Sonic?" she said. He nodded slightly. Her eyes widened, and she dropped to the floor in a dead faint. "Sal!" Sonic cried, rushing up to her. Knuckles got there first and prevented him from reaching her. "Stay away from her!" yelled Knuckles, causing Sonic to stop in his tracks. The others crowded around her to see if she was all right. She woke up after a few seconds. "Oh man, I just had the most awful dream. There were two robots that looked like Sonic, and one of them said that he really was Sonic." she looked up and saw us. "So it wasn't a dream." her voice faded. Sonic looked desperately at her, but Knuckles wouldn't let him near. I cautiously walked up beside Sonic, in case the echidna decided to attack. As I drew even with Sonic, Knuckles gave us a cold look. "Take another step, and I'll rip your motherboard out," he warned. I instantly stopped. I didn't want to fight; I just wanted to see if the female was okay. Oh man, I thought this might happen.Sonics' voice sounded in my head. His thoughts were full of concern and sadness, for his best friends did not believe him. I had a feeling they wouldn't believe me. I should have never left the rendezvous point and entered the city on my own. A wave of intense pity flowed through me. His life had taken a dramatic turn for the worse, and now he had no one to stand up for him. Except me. "Hey, don't blame yourself for what happened," I told him. "It wasn't your fault. I." I stopped abruptly, for at that moment, the floor began to shake, and pieces of the ceiling were falling. "What the.?" I heard Sonic say. I faced him. "The ceiling is caving in!" I cried. "We have to get out of here!" I looked back at the FF's. Sally was up, and Knuckles said basically the same thing that I did. "Let's go!" shouted Sally. They tore off down the hallway, stumbling as the quaking increased. I wasn't about to be left behind, and neither was Sonic. "Let's follow them," I suggested quickly. "That way we can make sure they get out." Sonic nodded. For the fourth time that day, I sprinted down the corridor, Sonic at my side. I kept tripping over fallen debris, and it was slowing me down. I jumped, flipped, and activated my thrusters. Sonic matched my lead. We caught up with the Freedom Fighters. Tails looked behind him, and let out a shriek. "Sally! Those two robots are following us!" he cried. Sally peered over her shoulder. "Don't worry about them!" she called back. "Right now we need to concentrate on getting out of here alive!" Pieces of the ceiling were raining down faster now, and I wasn't sure if we would make it out in time. Sonic and I could easily, but his friends may not. I saw Sonic slow his pace, so that he was flying the same speed they were running. I matched their pace as well. Suddenly up ahead, a thick, solid beam disconnected from the ceiling, and plummeted toward the ground. Knuckles, Bunnie, and Rotor all made it past the point where the beam would hit, but Sally and Tails would be squashed. "Look out!" I cried. Sally and Tails both looked up, screamed, and screeched to a halt. Sonic and I both dove forward, trying to beat the oncoming object. Sonic ran into Sally, snatched her up, and blew through with inches to spare. I, on the other hand, was not so lucky. I reached Tails, grabbed him, and pushed him forward just as the support fell onto the spot where he had been. Unfortunately, I hadn't been going fast enough, and the beam rammed my right leg. I slammed into the ground, putting a good 8-inch hole into it. A piercing scream emitted from me. I heard Sonic cry out ahead of me. I lifted my gaze. The young fox was shaken, but otherwise okay. Sally was in Sonic's arms, staring into his eyes. I pulled on my leg, trying to free myself. A sharp needle shot up it. I tried again. No use. My leg was trapped. I scanned it, and found that my ion-thruster was disabled, and that it was seriously deformed. Crap.I thought. Sonic must have heard me, because he whirled around and looked at me. "Mecha!" he cried out. He began to fly back towards me. "No, Sonic!" I cried. "Take Tails and get out of here!" "What about you? I can't leave you here!" "Yes you can! You have to, or else you won't make it, and neither will these two. Go!" He looked at me painfully, to his friends, and back to me. Sally tapped him on the shoulder, and he looked at her. Her voice was bearly above a whisper, but I could hear her. "Do what you must." she told him. "Do what you feel is right.Sonic." I could have sworn that at that moment, Sonic could have broken down and cried. He landed on the floor, sat Sally down, and ran over to the support that trapped my leg. He grabbed it, and tried to lift it up. "What are you doing?" I cried. "I'm.doing.what I.feel .I need.to...do." he said, trying desperately to lift the heavy rod of metal. He could not do it alone. He needed help, but I could not reach the pipe in my current position. I pulled on my leg, and was greeted with a fresh stab of pain. I saw Sonic cringe, and then continue on with the pipe. I noticed the floor vibrating more violently, and large chunks were now pouring down. Time was running short. We needed to leave, or we never would. My gaze traveled to where Sally was helping Tails to his feet. If Sonic didn't hurry, their future would not be bright.

"Get out of here!" I called to them. "Leave while you still can!" Sally turned and gazed at Sonic, and then into my eyes. She shook her head. "No." she spoke softly. She then ran up to Sonic's side, and began to help him! Sonic looked shocked to see her, but continued with determination. I felt the pressure lift slightly of my leg. They were doing it! I pulled my leg, but it was still stuck. I tried again, but the result was the same. I turned to face them. They were having great difficulty keeping it up. If only the beam wasn't so large.wait. That's it! I fired my laser at the beam, severing a good chunk off the end of it, making it smaller and perhaps lighter. I felt it lift a few more inches off my leg. I yanked on it, and I felt it move a few centimeters towards me as another spark of anguish traveled up my leg. I dug my fingers into the floor in front of me, and pulled as hard as I could. My leg slid a few more inches, almost free of the suppressing beam. I gave one final tug, and it popped free. I heard Sally and Sonic drop the pipe, and they came to my side. "Are you okay?" Sonic asked. "Yeah, thanks," I replied. I tried to stand, but my dilapidated leg buckled underneath me. "I can't get up, Sonic." He and Sally bent down, and grabbed me under my arms, hoisting me up. "Lean on us, Mecha," Sonic said, putting his arm under mine and around my shoulder. Sally did the same on my left side. She gave me a small smile. I returned hers with one of my own. Tails was waiting in front of us. "Come on!" he called, and led the way. I went as fast as I could, leaning on Sonic and Sal for support, but we weren't going very far. Pieces from above kept pelting us, and there were large amounts of debris in our path. Up ahead, I saw a pinprick of light. The light at the end of the tunnel. Tails was slowing down, so that we could keep up with him. I sensed to danger before I saw it. Behind us, the whole building was collapsing, trailing us like a mad dog after a criminal. Tails was now even with us, encouraging us. "Come on, we're almost there!" he cried. His words gave me added strength, and I tried to go faster. At that exact moment, Sonic stumbled on a chunk of cement, sending Sally and I flying into the floor. Tails ran over to where Sonic had fallen, and helped him up. I gazed behind, and I knew we weren't going to make it. "Sonic, get down!" I called out to him. He grabbed Tails, and flung himself and the fox to the ground. He put himself over Tails, sheltering him from the destruction surrounding us. I looked at Sally. "Please do not take offense," I told her as I covered her with my body. "None taken," she said. I heard Sonic cry out behind me as the avalanche pounded on top of him. I felt his pain, and I had no time to react to it, for I was instantly bombarded myself. "Ahhhhhhh!" Sally was screaming beneath me. She wasn't the only one. "Yahhh!" I felt my body being torn apart. Shards of metal sliced through my spines, exposing live wires. A rather large cement block pounded right into my back, punching a hole, seriously damaging my internal computers. I felt oil leaking down my side, and my energy fading. I was determined to keep myself between Sal and the deadly projectiles from above. My eyes met hers, and I saw that she was still unhurt. "Thank.you." I said. "You're welcome," she said. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you guys sooner." Her eyes held a deep sadness, but were also filled with understanding. I no longer felt Sonic's presence in my head. I was bearly able to keep myself functioning, for lack of power. "I'm sorry about your boyfriend," I whispered, unable to speak normally. "It's my fault." She shook her head. "No, it's not. I shouldn't have let him come along today. You did what you thought was best. I honor you for that. You turned against Robotnik when you realized his ideas were wrong. If we survive, you will be welcome at any time in Knothole. Mecha? Mecha!" I heard her, but I could not reply. My vision was blurring, and I was sinking into a black hole. The last thing I heard was her voice calling out, "Mecha, hold on! Mecha.."