"Sal was outta control tonight!" Sonic griped to Rotor's back as the walrus worked on something. "I mean, being a little cautious is one thing, but she was totally wired!" Rotor extended a paw with a circuit board in it. Sonic held it for Rotor to work on but somehow managed to pace-in-place while keeping his hands still. "And then she told me off so she could follow her paranoia-geek-girl stupid stuff! I mean come on!" Rotor took the circuit board back, and Sonic continued to pace as if uninterrupted.
"Do you think there's any possibility Sally's right to be suspicious?"
"I don't know of any. I believe Sophie 100%. Why would she lie?"
"Beats me. But when Sally's on to something, she's usually right."
"Usually. As in, not this time!" He sighed. Rotor pushed some tools in Sonic's direction. Sonic absentmindedly took them. "I don't get it, Rote. I thought Sal would be cool about all this, but she's acting mondo strange. For some reason, she's jealous that I like Sophie."
"Why would she be jealous?"
"Cause she likes me?"
"It's you we're talking about," said Rotor, retrieving his tools from Sonic's hands. "I can't tell you what you're thinking."
"I guess so. She must be jealous, 'cause she's never been like this before. But why's she jealous?"
"Have you done anything that would make her jealous?"
"No! Well… yeah. Okay, so we played together."
"For how long?"
"Most of the day. But so what?"
"On a day when you were playing, Sally was working. You know she hates it when that happens."
"So? Sophie might not be here long. So I don't see why Sally would be jealous about that."
"Maybe she took for granted that you'd help her. Then when you didn't, she got upset."
"It was just one lousy day! If Sal gets upset over one stupid day, then I can do without her!"
Rotor shrugged and turned to his work, shaking his head.
"Okay, what's that about?"
"What's what about?"
"That head thing you're doing."
"What head thing?"
"C'mon, Rote, not you too."
"What'd I do?"
Sonic gave a guttural noise and ran off, furious.
Rotor could only look around, helpless. "What'd I do?"
"I don't want to talk about it, Bunnie."
"C'mon, Sally-girl, you've never been like this before."
"That's because Sonic's never been this dense! Can't he tell that this girl is trouble?"
"What kind of trouble?"
"I… don't know," Sally admitted.
"Y'all can find any trouble you want if you look for it."
"I know, and I know I'm being so…" Sally threw her paws into the air. "I just don't understand. I'm used to being able to control my emotions, but something doesn't feel right."
"Y'all shouldn't be so hard on yourself. Ah mean, it's okay to be jealous an' all. Don' give me that look, Sally-girl, you're jealous. Ah am too, if you wanna know. All the attention on Sophie an' everything, Ah don't feel right either. But it'll pass. Once they know Sophie, she'll be just another pawprint on the ground."
Sally still looked depressed. "I feel like I should apologize to her for how I've been acting."
"No need to go that far."
"Why not? I've been really rude."
"She's been okay 'bout it. After you get to know her, maybe."
She sighed. "I just wish I understood why Sonic was so… appreciative. I… do you think he likes me, Bunnie?"
"Sally-girl, I know he does. An' you like him."
"Then why's he acting like this?"
"Sophie's different. Like I said, just you wait. He'll figure out the better fruit soon enough."
"I hope so, Bunnie. I hope so."
Swatbots didn't normally operate singly. Constant Freedom Fighter attacks had inspired Robotnik to order his Swatbots to travel in groups to minimize risk. However, when a hover unit landed to investigate something, the common procedure was to debark one Swatbot and leave the other to watch the unit.
This time, the Swatbot in the hover unit watched its partner turn a corner to investigate a heat signature. It suddenly lost contact with its partner. Before it could call in for help, a dark figure stormed the unit. One quick welding torch blow later, and the Swatbot would never miss its partner.
"Freeze image!" Robotnik shouted. "Magnify!" An on-screen view of the intruder slowly cropped out the background as the image expanded.
"Is there someway to get a look at the intruder's face, Snively?"
"Negative, sir, it's completely hidden by his clothing."
Robotnik hmphed, but his eyes remained active, scanning the image for anything that might help identify him. "Focus on his weapon. Magnify on that weapon." Again the image shifted, this time to the attacker's paw. "Snively, match the design against our database of all known weaponry. Specifically, with the Southern Continent."
Snively did as he was told. "That's it, sir!" he said, turning. "There's almost total correlation between that design and the old personal repair torches used in the Southern Continent!"
"Yes," said Robotnik, "but what's one of their soldiers doing here? Whoever it is has gone to a lot of trouble. Snively, did the Swatbots report any damage to the hover unit itself?"
"Negative, sir."
"Anything unusual about the damage to the Swatbots?"
"Negative, sir."
"I don't trust your judgement. Get me an uplink with the Swatbots at the site." Within moments, Robotnik's monitors were connected to the visual sensors of those Swatbots. "Snively," Robotnik growled, "look at the Swatbot's chest."
"The chest? But sir, the critical damage was done to the head…"
"You idiot! The scorch marks on the chest form an arrow! Which sector is in that direction? Never mind, I'll do it myself. Reserve Stealth Orbs, prepare to receive redeployment orders!"
Sophia dragged herself back into Knothole. Can't let this get to me, she thought. It's much too important to let up now.
Wiping fatigue from her eyes, she paused before beginning her final approach. Quickly as she could, she dashed from the cover of trees and bushes, sprinted to the window of her hut, and leapt in.
She rolled to a stop. In her fatigue she seriously considered lying there and sleeping. But, as if on cue, there came a knock on her door. She moaned to herself but said to her guest, "I'll see you in a moment!" With as much haste as she could manage, she tried to tidy up her hut and herself, pretending that she'd gotten a full night's sleep. As she slid her backpack off, she remembered to dig into its pocket for something.
As she regained her composure and felt her fatigue subside, she said, "Come in!"
When the door opened, Sophia gave an inward moan. It was that damn girl again! Some princess she was! Still, Sophia knew she had to put on her nice-girl routine again. Oh, if she could only have a few moments to tell Sally how she really felt…
"Hi," said the princess, cheerfully.
"Hi," answered Sophia, sounding just as cheerful. "Nice morning, isn't it?"
"Yes," Sally said. Sophia saw that something was on Sally's mind, and cursed to herself. Now what?
"Listen," said Sally, "I feel really bad about the way I've been treating you. I just wanted to apologize—I've been way too hostile, and I want you to feel welcome."
Sophia gave a big—inward—sigh of relief. Well, that issue had resolved itself! Maybe a few things about this could turn out right, after all! Still, her guise demanded a slightly different response. "Oh, don't worry about it," she said. "I know you were just being cautious and doing what you thought was right, and I understand." When Sally's face lit up, Sophia knew she'd said exactly the right thing. Damn stupid, gullible girl, Sophia thought to herself. I don't know whether to hold you in pity or contempt.
Well, I'm feeling nice today in spite of myself. "Here," Sophia said. "You said you wanted to look at my map. I'll get it out for you." And she did so, putting it on the table. She saw Sally look relieved.
"So you really didn't know where Knothole was."
"No. We knew the general area, but we had no idea where your village was. I found it only by finding a path and then getting tripped over by Sonic."
"Well, that's good to know. I feel safer now."
Sophia nodded obligingly. "Anything else?"
"No thanks," said Sally. "I apologize again."
"Don't worry about it. I'll see you later." Sally waved and walked off. Stupid girl, Sophia thought.
This breakfast, Sally felt a lot better. With the trade meeting out of the way, and her feelings about Sophia soothed, she had far fewer worries, and was back to planning the sort of thing she liked far better: carrying her fight to Robotnik.
She looked up. Bunnie was right, she thought. Although Sophia still had a few animals around her, today's main attraction was Boro. Boro seemed to have quite a few weapons on his person, including two light blasters and an array of knives. Currently he was entertaining the breakfast crowd with spinning knife tricks.
Unfamiliar with such things as she was, and finding them not terribly interesting, Sally only gave a half-amused expression before turning her attention to the duty roster. Something caught her eye. Normally there was a set rotation to the guard duties, but many of the shifts were off by one time slot. She tracked them back to their source and was shocked: Sonic's name had been inserted into the rotation. And if the sloppy handwriting was any indication, it was Sonic who'd inserted himself.
Sonic, volunteer for guard duty? The concept simply boggled Sally. It was totally without precedent. Seeing as Sonic saw guard duty as something only slightly less distasteful than Roboticisation, Sally knew no reason for him to choose an extra shift.
I'll deal with that in a moment, she thought. "Sophia, Boro," she called, "I want to talk to you tonight. We're going to go on a mission tonight, and I want you two in on the planning."
"Tonight?" said Sophia skeptically.
Sally quashed her response; Sophia was alright, remember? "Yes, tonight."
"Good!" said Boro, cracking his knuckles.
Before that, Sally thought to herself, I've gotta visit Sonic.
Sonic dangled his feet in the Power Ring pool. Sally saw that the hedgehog was frowning, as if deep in thought.
I don't understand it, she thought to herself. So many things recently have never happened before. I've got to know what's going on.
She entered the clearing around the pool, walking towards Sonic. He looked up when he heard her, but turned away in a huff when he identified her. "Whadya want?"
"Sonic, what are you doing out here?"
"So I'm not allowed to go on guard duty any more? For someone always tryin' to get me to do it…"
"No, I just want an expla…"
"I don't have to tell you everything!" Sonic exploded.
There was quiet. Sally was stunned. She heard rustling behind her. She looked back and saw Sophia emerging from the woods. It all came together in Sally's mind. Sonic pulled guard duty to get in an isolated area so he could see Sophia without my knowing it! "I get it," she said angrily.
"Get what?" Sonic said.
"Huh?" said Sophia.
Sally stormed off, no longer listening. The only thing she heard was, in the background, Sonic shouting "Go away!"
Fine then, hedgehog, she thought.
"What was that all about?" asked Sophia.
"I don't wanna talk to you right now."
"Is there something going on between you two…"
"Go away!" Sonic shouted.
Although she looked like she might cry, Sophia did so. Sonic banged his head on the ground in frustration. "I came out here to get away from them! I never have the time to think. Just what I needed—now they both hate me!"
Sally sat in the main hall. It wasn't mealtime, but she, Sophia, Bunnie, Rotor, Dulcy, and Boro were gathered to discuss the night's raid. Sonic was not with them. "So," Sally said, "the idea is to shut down a power plant near the last plant we attacked. With such sudden strain on his power grid, we can shut down quite a few of Robotnik's operations and cause him a serious hassle as he tries to recover."
Rotor raised a paw. "How many of us are going?"
Sally grimaced. "I'm not sure on that yet. I want to bring most of you, but if we take too many, Robotnik will spot us." As she said that, Sonic approached. He was heard before he was seen, as the noise from his running slightly preceded his arrival inside.
"Late, as usual, Sonic," said Sally without looking at him.
"Snotty, as usual, Sal," Sonic answered, also without looking.
That set the tone. The two of them spoke when necessary, but did it without making eye contact. Sally was having a hard time focusing on the mission, distracted as she was by her conflict with Sonic.
Much as she wanted to leave him behind, she knew she relied too heavily on his ability to occupy Robotnik's attention. So in the end, Sally went with Dulcy, Boro, Sophia, and Sonic. In other words, she thought grimly to herself, I'm going with Dulcy, one animal that infuriates me, and two I can't rely on.
My confidence is soaring.
Sonic returned to the group. "I don't get it. Way too many Swatbots hangin' around. I'm not sure how we can get past 'em."
Sophia's innards roiled. Of course they're thick here. Why did we have to strike tonight? Any night but tonight! This was supposed to have ended!
Damn, damn, damn.
Gotta think. How can I make up for what this damn girl has made of my plans?
"Duck!" Sally hissed. Sophia, along with everyone else, jumped inside the building and kept their heads down. Sophia kept as still as possible. She could hear the barely-audible noise of a Stealth Orb camera floating by.
I don't care about them, she thought, but I can't be caught in their company.
Sally was the first to stand. She peeked out the windows, then motioned for everyone to join her. "We've still got a chance. Nicole, boot up a street map."
Sophia paid no attention to Sally. She was too busy running through the possibilities in her mind. What if, what if, what if…
She was the last one out, as Sally had started moving before Sophia realized it. "Boro," she was saying, "you and hedgehog go that way. We'll go this way."
Sophia got a little satisfaction out of hearing her say that. Hedgehog, indeed! But then she realized something. Sally could still be of use to her. Yes, who'd turn down such an offer? Sally led the way, and as Sophia followed, she drew a welding torch from her pocket.
Before she could proceed, she heard the wail of sirens. Now what the hell happened? She thought.
"No!" shouted Sally, brushing past Sophia as she backtracked. Another damn lost opportunity, thought Sophia.
They arrived on the scene at the same time as a few more Swatbots. Sonic and Boro were already fighting a group, and the Swatbots' reinforcements collided with Sally and Sophia.
Instinctively, Sophia lashed out, igniting her torch. She burned into the chest of one Swatbot, slagging its power supply, before slashing at the "throat" of another. She buried the torch in the head of a third and turned to find the rest of the Swatbots in pieces. She was impressed—Sally had destroyed as many with just her body. She mentally upgraded her opinion of Sally's abilities, if not her opinion of her brains.
Inspiration struck her at that moment. She turned to one of the fallen Swatbots and made some quick marks with her torch.
The sound of an explosion made her jump up. The remains of a Stealth Orb clunked to the ground. Oh, spraint, if that thing saw me…
"Let's get out of here!" said Boro, who'd fried the orb with a blaster.
"Sophia!" shouted Sally.
Sophia finished her work and followed the others. "We've gotta hurry. Sonic! Take Boro and get out of here! We'll follow on Dulcy."
"Gotcha. Boro, grab my shoulders. We're gonna juice it loose!"
Sophia was surprised. For all the tension between Sally and Sonic, when there was a crisis the tension vanished. For a moment Sophia wavered, but she knew her duty.
"What were you doing?"
Question from Sally. Problem. Stall for time.
"When?"
"When we were fighting. What took you so long?"
Need an answer. Here's one. Sounds plausible. Use it.
"On the Southern continent we like to mark our enemies so they know who they're dealing with."
"That's stupid."
She didn't buy it much. Damn. Well, there's nothing I can do about that.
The sirens, Sophia noticed, were constantly getting closer and farther away. So Sonic isn't just evacuating, he's running interference. Clever.
Sophia's opinion of the Freedom Fighters rose a little more, but she knew it was too late. She had a job to do, and she would do it.
"Robotnik, the Stealth Orb's memory tapes have been recovered."
"Excellent, Snively. Bring them up on the monitor."
The image came up. There she was, some female rodent—with a welding torch in her hand. "Snively?"
"Cross-checking that image—yes, it's the same one that's been destroying our units."
"Then we have the image of our mysterious visitor. Send this image to all Swatbots in Robotropolis with a priority one-capture tag."
"A priority one tag, sir, but that puts her on par with the hedgehog…"
"Of course it does. I think this individual has much to tell us, and she'll be far easier to catch. Yes. She will prove useful yet. Anything else?"
"One of the Swatbots has unusual damage markings, sir."
"Show me." Two arrows pointed towards the west. Robotnik smiled. "Enough of this dance. Snively, deploy most of my reserve to the sector two west of this one, and recharge my reserve Stealth Orbs so they'll be ready tonight as well."
"Yes, sir."
Robotnik tapped his fingers together. "Come to me, my friend. Come to me."
Morning dawned, and it came upon a most unhappy Knothole.
Sophia wanted to sleep, she really did. But she could not afford to sleep through the night, and if she slept now, she couldn't be sure she'd be able to wake up. So, with no other option, she stayed awake.
Sonic ran off early in the morning, then returned and spent some time talking to Sophia.
For the third morning in a row, Sally found herself picking pointlessly at her breakfast.
Boro was trying to entertain the breakfast crowd with his knife tricks, but this morning they were more somber. They'd heard how disastrously the last raid had ended, and they saw Sally sitting in the corner. They took their cues and kept fairly quiet.
I don't need your pity, Sally thought scornfully. All you're doing is reminding me of my failure. Fine, go ahead, you don't know what you're doing. Sally was contemplating drowning herself in her morning coffee when she heard a scream.
Boro's paw was covered in blood, but he was curled about his foot. Sally hopped the tables between her and Boro and saw the knife buried in his foot. It was easy to see what had happened—Boro had caught the knife wrong and dropped it on his foot.
"Bunnie," Sally barked, "the first aid kit. Quickly!" She grabbed at rags to stuff the blood flow, thinking to herself, just what we needed this morning.
Bunnie knocked on Rotor's door. "Come in," she heard.
"Rotor, honey, put that all down. I need to talk to you."
"Sonic was in here just a moment ago, doing just that."
"Really? Where'd he go?"
"To talk to Sophia, I think."
"Listen, Ah think the four of us need to have a lil' ol' chat and straighten a few things out."
"I agree. Just the four of us?"
"Yep. That'll do."
"I'm all for it."
"One more thing."
"Ask away."
"What did Sonic say 'bout Sally-girl?"
"How'd you know he said anything?"
"What else would he talk 'bout? These days, I mean."
"I'm not sure about that. But anyway, I can't tell you. That's too much like gossip."
"Ah don't think so, an' Ah'll tell you why. Right now, you an' Ah need to know what they think 'bout each other. That way we can help both get over it."
"I disagree."
"Oh, fine, spoilsport, but right now our job is to make sure they're ready for tonight."
"Understood."
"Y'all get Sonic. Ah'll get Sally-girl."
"Meet in Sally's room."
"Let's do it."
Sonic and Rotor arrived at Sally's hut. Rotor entered first. Sonic breathed deeply a few times before following. Sally and Bunnie, of course, were already inside.
"Time out," Sonic said. "Before we do anything else, I wanna clear something up. Do you have any real accusations against Sophie? Evidence? Anything?"
Sally was as unmoving and cold as a stone, but Rotor's face showed confusion. "Sophia?" he said.
"Yeah."
"Well… I didn't want to tell anyone, but… I did see her…"
"Rote! Sorry, dude, but I'm talkin' to Sal."
Sally sat passively for a few more moments, then bowed her head and shook it. "Nothing solid. I have nothing."
"Then lay off, 'kay?"
"Okay, Sonic. I will." Her head snapped up. "But I have to clear something up, too. At this point, we have a job to do. Whatever's between us… or not between us… it really doesn't matter inside Robotropolis. What does matter is whether or not I can count on you to trust me."
She raised her paw, extending it to Sonic. "I'm willing to put my trust in you, regardless of our relationship. But I've got to know now: will you trust me? If worst comes to worst, can we count on each other to do what's best?"
Sonic took the offered paw and shook. "Always, Sal. When it's crunch time, you can count on me."
Rotor and Bunnie looked at each other. They hadn't done anything, but Sonic and Sally had patched things up anyway. Rotor shrugged, but Bunnie smiled. After all, she thought, that was the point, and it doesn't matter how they got there.
Sonic and Sally finally released each other's paws, and within moments, they had developed plans to attack Robotropolis.