The Robotnik Complex
Chapter 16
Location: Knothole War Room
Brian slipped into a chair as the rest of the senior freedom fighters entered the room. Sally went to the head of the table and sat down. She started speaking almost right away. "Let me be blunt: Robotnik is currently occuping the surface of Angel Island and Knuckles and the Chaotixs are locked into a emergency evacuation point under the island. If they launch in a glider, Robotnik will destroy it. They have called and asked for our help, and, with the War Counsel's permission, I have every intention of giving it to them. Any questions before final voting?" Tails spoke. "I believe that it would be in our best interest if Brian helped us with this mission, that is why I asked him to attend this emergency session, to obtain permission from the war counsel to ask for his assistance." Sally looked toward Brian with a look of question. "How much longer do you think it would take you to get the Robotisizer working?" Brian leaned forward. "If I had the help I did yesterday, 7 hours to have the machine complete and put together. That is including a 2-hour static test, of course." Sally nodded. "Get to work now. Do you all agree that armed action is necessary?" All members of the table nodded their heads. "Good. The first assult wave will lift off in 1-hour and will consist of hut groups A through D, the second wave will lift off in 13 hours and consists of hut groups E through I. You all have until the separate launch times to prepair your troops. Go, now." Everyone at the table stood and walked out of the room.
Brian walked quickly around the lab making sure that everything was operating. It had been 6 hours since the emergency meeting and he, Chuck, Tails, Amy, Bunnie, Rotor, and Antoine were checking and rechecking every component. The good news was that the static test was almost complete. A computer in the corner of the lab beeped and ALERT flashed across the screen. "Um, Brian? I am thinking this is not good." Antoine said from a place by the lower robotisizer platform, checking connections. Brian walked over to the console and typed in a review command. Several rows of computer language scrolled down the screen until he hit break and highlighted a line that said IF CHECKSUM 435741 THEN OUTPUT CONSOLE 2 PRINT "ALERT". Brian pulled up a command window and typed IDENTIFY "CHECKSUM 435741". The computer responded CHECKSUM 435741=END PROGRAM "STATICTEST1". Brian commanded VERIFY CHECKSUM 435741. Another alert flashed on the screen and the computer stated CHECKSUM VERIFIED. "The static test is complete." Brian said to everyone in the room. "We can proceed." Rotor pushed a button on the console he was operating. The glass tube slide up and locked into position above the lower platform. Brian walked over to the main console. He took a disk marked "Brian Upgrade 1" and inserted it into the computer. He typed "ACCESS A DRIVE; PASSWORD PROTEUS". The computer processed for a moment and read the commands on the disk. "Attention," a female voice called out from a corner console. "Guardian Brian Floyd Repair and Upgrade Mode 1 will initiate in 1 minute. Tube will lock in 50 seconds. Mark". The timers appeared on the main console for 50 seconds and one minute and activated. Tails, Antoine, Bunnie, and Rotor took their places at the four monitoring consoles while Uncle Chuck went to the main console and waited. Amy stood nervously off to one side. "Brian, you know what to do. It's in the computers hands now. Good luck." Chuck said and continued to read the magnetic energy readouts from the main wave generator in the upper robotisizer. Brian pulled off his shirt and his pants quickly. He pulled off his socks and his boxers and entered the Robotisizer, standing there completely naked, except for the WatchCom on his right wrist. "30 seconds" the computer's voice read off.
Sally was sitting in a hypersonic shuttle with thirty other people, en route to the floating island. The ship she sat in was one of the 10 that had been sent with her to the floating island, some carrying weapons, some carrying supplies, some carrying people. She plugged Nicole into a Dataport and hit the Recieve key. All the data from the Robotisizer computer was in front her on the seat screen, along with a live camera feed of the robotisizer tube. Chuck promised her that he would beep her when the time had come. She wanted to know if anything went wrong. Sonic was sitting next to her watching eagerly. He was just as nervous as her. "Princess!" the pilot called back on the private channel. "We have Angel Island in sight! We are slowing to sub sonic and actiating radar cloak. ETA: 20 minutes.
Brian heard the the slow hum as the particle accelarator above his head came to life and began to charge. The glass tube slid shut and locked. "10 seconds." the computer stated. Brian looked above his head as small jets sprayed out a small amount of inhalable neurodepressor. It allowed the process of robotisization to be a painless one. He saw as the harmonic wave began to generate just below the emmision plate. It was a sunfire yellow mixed with a neon green. It seemed to flow around the top of the tube. "Robotisization wave at 100%. 5...4...3...2...1". Brian took a deep breath. "Active" was the last thing Brian heard before the world around him suddenly exploded. For a brief moment the wave completely surrounded him, then the computer directed the beam at his two shoulders and narrowed the beam. Brian felt a odd tingling sensation begin at the ends of his collerbones and begin to move down towards the ends of his arms. The left beam slowed down because it had to build all new components, but the right kept going at the same speed. The right beam ran into the WatchCom, destroying it and rebuilding it into the new circuitry in the left arm. The beams completed the arms and refocused on Brian's lower back. "Stage 2: Internal cybernetic repair. Active." Brian stood as still as he could, not wanting the computer to screw this part up. The beam shut off and the particle accelerator shut down. "Process complete." the female stated. The tube slid open. Fog from the change of tempature rolled out of the tube. Brian heard a voice. "Are you all right?". 'That must be Uncle Chuck..." Brian thought. " I'm fine, just a little disoriented. He bent over in the fog and picked up his boxers and put them on, then his pants. He stepped out of the fog and up to the main console. Chucked popped open a small access door on Brian's right arm with red and black plug ports inside. Chuck plugged the arm into the console and hit a few keys on the keyboard. RIGHT ARM VERIFIED AND SECURED; OPS CODE: 6549781327ABGFUJD0001.
"What's that?" Brian asked, more than a little curious on how the arm worked. Chuck unplugged the arm and walked over to the left arm where a identical access port was opened and plugged in. He repeated the process. LEFT ARM VERIFIED AND SECURED; OPS CODE: 1575954672AYDUWOC0002. "I'm checking that the circuitry of the arms was processed correctly. The code is a operational code. Without a lock on the arms, you can be operated by remote, your arms anyway. The code is never used again so it's random. If anyone ever wanted to crack the code and access the arms servo programs by remote, it would take them at least 10 years on a supercomputer." Brian nodded. He began to inspect his new arms. Since the muscles in his shoulders were replaced by motors, the arm appeared as light as the previous arm, although it was 12 times heavier. The arms were proportional to his body size. The shell of both arms was made out of an almost indestructable adimantium/titanium alloy, and were painted a metallic silver, outlined with black trim. Brian mentally commanded the arms to open it's storage area. A small piece of the outer adimantium shell popped out about an inch, controlled by a small gravity emmitter, and slid over, reveling a small storage area. "Cool!" Tails said, watching all this with a mechanical interest. "It's designed to hold a small amount of explosive." Brian said, commanding the door shut. He thought again and a small panel opened up to show a microphone and a small screen. "Onboard computer for communication and calculations." He closed the panel. "And..." Brian thought again and a small watch sized door opened up by his left wrist. "WatchCom Advanced." He closed the panel, picked up his shirt and put it on. He walked over to the corner of the lab and picked up his black leather jacket. "Let's get ready. I believe we have an appointment." Brian turned and began to walk out. "Brian, we don't lift off for another 7 hours!" Rotor called out. Brian turned around and faced Rotor. "I plan on having a shower and lunch before we leave. I also have nothing ready to take with me. I need to get my gun cleaned and loaded, along with something else I think might help us."
"What? A bomb?" Rotor asked. "No, but if i'm right, it will make Robotnik run for his life back to his little egg." Brian turned and started to walk out again. "Brian, where are you going now if I need to find you?" Chuck called after him. Brian called his response over his shoulder and kept walking.
"I'm going to go see Ian..."
****
Sally unplugged Nicole and powered her down. Sonic leaned back in his seat and released a heavy sigh. "Thank god, it worked..." Sally layed back and shut her eyes. "Yes, it did." She sat up and turned to Sonic. "Sonic, this is crazy! We are trusting one of our most valuble secrets to a guy we have known less than a week! What are we doing Sonic?" Sonic looked at her. "Maybe we've become desperate. Maybe we have been fighting the war for so long that we would do anything to change our chances of winning, for better or for worse.
*****
Brian walked down the hall of the closed hospital. Everyone but one nurse had gone with the first wave for medical assistance, and Brian had already told her he might stop by. He walked by her desk, nodding at her. She waved at him and smiled. He turned into a dark hall and stopped at the last door in the hall. He stepped in and Ian was reading a book the nurse had provided. "Hello Brian," Ian said. "Let's cut to the chase. Do you want to redeem yourself in the eyes of Knothole, Sally, Sonic, and all the others you have had a part in harming for all those years, without your will? Do you want to lay back and die or do you want to go out swinging at the motherfucker that caused all this pain?" Ian looked at Brian dumbfounded. "How can I help you? Does it have to do with Angel Island?" Brian nodded. "I think I thought of a way to destroy the Robotnik occupation of Angel Island, destroy a lot of his forces, and preety much make him shit himself and panic." Ian smiled. "All at once? Impossisable!" Brian shook his head. "No, what's imposisable is me following you unintentionally across the galaxy. This is simple, something he will never have thought of if he never developed and nucular weapons. He never did, did he?" Ian shook his head. "He tried, but without success. What, are you going to nuke Angel Island? That's no good." Brian smiled. "Nope, I'm going to cause a very severe thunderstorm."
"5 minutes until landing, princess!" The pilot caled back. "I'm going to set the armada down in a small clearing with no present activity and activate a radar screen around us. Then we can unload." Sally pushed a small button on the console by her arm. "Very well."
"What?" Ian said, sitting up in the bed, staring at Brian with wide, confused eyes. Brian smiled. "In 2027, when the International Tactical Nuclear Weapon Ban was put into effect, the most critical scientific papers involving Nuclear Weapons, testing, and their side effects were locked up. Since Robotnik had no access to those files, it it likely that he dosen't know about the EMP wave." Ian shook his head and narrowed his eyes in confusion. "EMP?" Brian spun and faced Ian. "Electro-Magnetic Pulse. A pulse of energy is generated by a Nuke when it is detonated in low-orbit around a planet. Everything hit by this wave that was electrical would short out and overload. The same affect can be found by shorting out two power cells, only smaller." Ian smiled. "So what, we do this on the Island?" Brian shook his head. "No, the affect wouldn't be big enough since there is so little power. But if you detonated a particle accelarator at full power-" Ian caught on. "The produced wave would short out all of the Swat-Bots and any other equitment." Ian looked up at Brian. "What about our stuff?" Brian smiled. "This is where I need your help. Do you remember the frequency that his equitment operates on? If I have that frequency, I can set the particle accelerator for that frequency." Ian leaned back in his bed and closed his eyes. Brian waited nervously. Finally, after about a minute, Ian set up and spoke. "All war staff and supplies operate at 1.2464354871087 Gigahertz. Now, I have one request. Take me with you. I can fight as well as you can." Brian almost opened his mouth and said no, but at the last second Brian saw a slight pleading look in Ian's eyes that said 'Please, let me do this. Let me try to be the good man I wanted to be.' So Brian granted him his request.
Brian opened his safe and pulled some stuff aside. Brian pulled out a uzi, a 15-round handgun, and a magnum .357 revolver. He pulled out one of his old kevlar training vest and loaded it with the guns and the ammo. He handed it to Ian who put it on and tightened the straps so it fit his frame snugly. They had just spent the last 3 hours getting Sally permission for Ian to come with them and loading the shuttles. Brian and Chuck would be flying their shuttle, and Ian would be in the back with the others. Tails and Bunnie would be back there, and they promised to keep an eye on Ian. Brian finished zipping his boots and put his shotgun in his holster. He put his leather jacket on. He mentally activated the WatchCom and charged his reserve cells. He attenuated his nervous system for fastest reaction and locked his systems in place. He was ready for battle. He looked over at Ian. "Ready?" Brian asked, his natural deep blue eye color and the neon green energy of the WatchCom mixing, causing his eyes to twinkle. Snively finished loading the revolver and holstered it. "As ready as I'll ever be..." Rotor knocked at their door. "C'mon guys! Were leaving early! The princess' camp is under attack!"
Chapter 16
Location: Knothole War Room
Brian slipped into a chair as the rest of the senior freedom fighters entered the room. Sally went to the head of the table and sat down. She started speaking almost right away. "Let me be blunt: Robotnik is currently occuping the surface of Angel Island and Knuckles and the Chaotixs are locked into a emergency evacuation point under the island. If they launch in a glider, Robotnik will destroy it. They have called and asked for our help, and, with the War Counsel's permission, I have every intention of giving it to them. Any questions before final voting?" Tails spoke. "I believe that it would be in our best interest if Brian helped us with this mission, that is why I asked him to attend this emergency session, to obtain permission from the war counsel to ask for his assistance." Sally looked toward Brian with a look of question. "How much longer do you think it would take you to get the Robotisizer working?" Brian leaned forward. "If I had the help I did yesterday, 7 hours to have the machine complete and put together. That is including a 2-hour static test, of course." Sally nodded. "Get to work now. Do you all agree that armed action is necessary?" All members of the table nodded their heads. "Good. The first assult wave will lift off in 1-hour and will consist of hut groups A through D, the second wave will lift off in 13 hours and consists of hut groups E through I. You all have until the separate launch times to prepair your troops. Go, now." Everyone at the table stood and walked out of the room.
Brian walked quickly around the lab making sure that everything was operating. It had been 6 hours since the emergency meeting and he, Chuck, Tails, Amy, Bunnie, Rotor, and Antoine were checking and rechecking every component. The good news was that the static test was almost complete. A computer in the corner of the lab beeped and ALERT flashed across the screen. "Um, Brian? I am thinking this is not good." Antoine said from a place by the lower robotisizer platform, checking connections. Brian walked over to the console and typed in a review command. Several rows of computer language scrolled down the screen until he hit break and highlighted a line that said IF CHECKSUM 435741 THEN OUTPUT CONSOLE 2 PRINT "ALERT". Brian pulled up a command window and typed IDENTIFY "CHECKSUM 435741". The computer responded CHECKSUM 435741=END PROGRAM "STATICTEST1". Brian commanded VERIFY CHECKSUM 435741. Another alert flashed on the screen and the computer stated CHECKSUM VERIFIED. "The static test is complete." Brian said to everyone in the room. "We can proceed." Rotor pushed a button on the console he was operating. The glass tube slide up and locked into position above the lower platform. Brian walked over to the main console. He took a disk marked "Brian Upgrade 1" and inserted it into the computer. He typed "ACCESS A DRIVE; PASSWORD PROTEUS". The computer processed for a moment and read the commands on the disk. "Attention," a female voice called out from a corner console. "Guardian Brian Floyd Repair and Upgrade Mode 1 will initiate in 1 minute. Tube will lock in 50 seconds. Mark". The timers appeared on the main console for 50 seconds and one minute and activated. Tails, Antoine, Bunnie, and Rotor took their places at the four monitoring consoles while Uncle Chuck went to the main console and waited. Amy stood nervously off to one side. "Brian, you know what to do. It's in the computers hands now. Good luck." Chuck said and continued to read the magnetic energy readouts from the main wave generator in the upper robotisizer. Brian pulled off his shirt and his pants quickly. He pulled off his socks and his boxers and entered the Robotisizer, standing there completely naked, except for the WatchCom on his right wrist. "30 seconds" the computer's voice read off.
Sally was sitting in a hypersonic shuttle with thirty other people, en route to the floating island. The ship she sat in was one of the 10 that had been sent with her to the floating island, some carrying weapons, some carrying supplies, some carrying people. She plugged Nicole into a Dataport and hit the Recieve key. All the data from the Robotisizer computer was in front her on the seat screen, along with a live camera feed of the robotisizer tube. Chuck promised her that he would beep her when the time had come. She wanted to know if anything went wrong. Sonic was sitting next to her watching eagerly. He was just as nervous as her. "Princess!" the pilot called back on the private channel. "We have Angel Island in sight! We are slowing to sub sonic and actiating radar cloak. ETA: 20 minutes.
Brian heard the the slow hum as the particle accelarator above his head came to life and began to charge. The glass tube slid shut and locked. "10 seconds." the computer stated. Brian looked above his head as small jets sprayed out a small amount of inhalable neurodepressor. It allowed the process of robotisization to be a painless one. He saw as the harmonic wave began to generate just below the emmision plate. It was a sunfire yellow mixed with a neon green. It seemed to flow around the top of the tube. "Robotisization wave at 100%. 5...4...3...2...1". Brian took a deep breath. "Active" was the last thing Brian heard before the world around him suddenly exploded. For a brief moment the wave completely surrounded him, then the computer directed the beam at his two shoulders and narrowed the beam. Brian felt a odd tingling sensation begin at the ends of his collerbones and begin to move down towards the ends of his arms. The left beam slowed down because it had to build all new components, but the right kept going at the same speed. The right beam ran into the WatchCom, destroying it and rebuilding it into the new circuitry in the left arm. The beams completed the arms and refocused on Brian's lower back. "Stage 2: Internal cybernetic repair. Active." Brian stood as still as he could, not wanting the computer to screw this part up. The beam shut off and the particle accelerator shut down. "Process complete." the female stated. The tube slid open. Fog from the change of tempature rolled out of the tube. Brian heard a voice. "Are you all right?". 'That must be Uncle Chuck..." Brian thought. " I'm fine, just a little disoriented. He bent over in the fog and picked up his boxers and put them on, then his pants. He stepped out of the fog and up to the main console. Chucked popped open a small access door on Brian's right arm with red and black plug ports inside. Chuck plugged the arm into the console and hit a few keys on the keyboard. RIGHT ARM VERIFIED AND SECURED; OPS CODE: 6549781327ABGFUJD0001.
"What's that?" Brian asked, more than a little curious on how the arm worked. Chuck unplugged the arm and walked over to the left arm where a identical access port was opened and plugged in. He repeated the process. LEFT ARM VERIFIED AND SECURED; OPS CODE: 1575954672AYDUWOC0002. "I'm checking that the circuitry of the arms was processed correctly. The code is a operational code. Without a lock on the arms, you can be operated by remote, your arms anyway. The code is never used again so it's random. If anyone ever wanted to crack the code and access the arms servo programs by remote, it would take them at least 10 years on a supercomputer." Brian nodded. He began to inspect his new arms. Since the muscles in his shoulders were replaced by motors, the arm appeared as light as the previous arm, although it was 12 times heavier. The arms were proportional to his body size. The shell of both arms was made out of an almost indestructable adimantium/titanium alloy, and were painted a metallic silver, outlined with black trim. Brian mentally commanded the arms to open it's storage area. A small piece of the outer adimantium shell popped out about an inch, controlled by a small gravity emmitter, and slid over, reveling a small storage area. "Cool!" Tails said, watching all this with a mechanical interest. "It's designed to hold a small amount of explosive." Brian said, commanding the door shut. He thought again and a small panel opened up to show a microphone and a small screen. "Onboard computer for communication and calculations." He closed the panel. "And..." Brian thought again and a small watch sized door opened up by his left wrist. "WatchCom Advanced." He closed the panel, picked up his shirt and put it on. He walked over to the corner of the lab and picked up his black leather jacket. "Let's get ready. I believe we have an appointment." Brian turned and began to walk out. "Brian, we don't lift off for another 7 hours!" Rotor called out. Brian turned around and faced Rotor. "I plan on having a shower and lunch before we leave. I also have nothing ready to take with me. I need to get my gun cleaned and loaded, along with something else I think might help us."
"What? A bomb?" Rotor asked. "No, but if i'm right, it will make Robotnik run for his life back to his little egg." Brian turned and started to walk out again. "Brian, where are you going now if I need to find you?" Chuck called after him. Brian called his response over his shoulder and kept walking.
"I'm going to go see Ian..."
****
Sally unplugged Nicole and powered her down. Sonic leaned back in his seat and released a heavy sigh. "Thank god, it worked..." Sally layed back and shut her eyes. "Yes, it did." She sat up and turned to Sonic. "Sonic, this is crazy! We are trusting one of our most valuble secrets to a guy we have known less than a week! What are we doing Sonic?" Sonic looked at her. "Maybe we've become desperate. Maybe we have been fighting the war for so long that we would do anything to change our chances of winning, for better or for worse.
*****
Brian walked down the hall of the closed hospital. Everyone but one nurse had gone with the first wave for medical assistance, and Brian had already told her he might stop by. He walked by her desk, nodding at her. She waved at him and smiled. He turned into a dark hall and stopped at the last door in the hall. He stepped in and Ian was reading a book the nurse had provided. "Hello Brian," Ian said. "Let's cut to the chase. Do you want to redeem yourself in the eyes of Knothole, Sally, Sonic, and all the others you have had a part in harming for all those years, without your will? Do you want to lay back and die or do you want to go out swinging at the motherfucker that caused all this pain?" Ian looked at Brian dumbfounded. "How can I help you? Does it have to do with Angel Island?" Brian nodded. "I think I thought of a way to destroy the Robotnik occupation of Angel Island, destroy a lot of his forces, and preety much make him shit himself and panic." Ian smiled. "All at once? Impossisable!" Brian shook his head. "No, what's imposisable is me following you unintentionally across the galaxy. This is simple, something he will never have thought of if he never developed and nucular weapons. He never did, did he?" Ian shook his head. "He tried, but without success. What, are you going to nuke Angel Island? That's no good." Brian smiled. "Nope, I'm going to cause a very severe thunderstorm."
"5 minutes until landing, princess!" The pilot caled back. "I'm going to set the armada down in a small clearing with no present activity and activate a radar screen around us. Then we can unload." Sally pushed a small button on the console by her arm. "Very well."
"What?" Ian said, sitting up in the bed, staring at Brian with wide, confused eyes. Brian smiled. "In 2027, when the International Tactical Nuclear Weapon Ban was put into effect, the most critical scientific papers involving Nuclear Weapons, testing, and their side effects were locked up. Since Robotnik had no access to those files, it it likely that he dosen't know about the EMP wave." Ian shook his head and narrowed his eyes in confusion. "EMP?" Brian spun and faced Ian. "Electro-Magnetic Pulse. A pulse of energy is generated by a Nuke when it is detonated in low-orbit around a planet. Everything hit by this wave that was electrical would short out and overload. The same affect can be found by shorting out two power cells, only smaller." Ian smiled. "So what, we do this on the Island?" Brian shook his head. "No, the affect wouldn't be big enough since there is so little power. But if you detonated a particle accelarator at full power-" Ian caught on. "The produced wave would short out all of the Swat-Bots and any other equitment." Ian looked up at Brian. "What about our stuff?" Brian smiled. "This is where I need your help. Do you remember the frequency that his equitment operates on? If I have that frequency, I can set the particle accelerator for that frequency." Ian leaned back in his bed and closed his eyes. Brian waited nervously. Finally, after about a minute, Ian set up and spoke. "All war staff and supplies operate at 1.2464354871087 Gigahertz. Now, I have one request. Take me with you. I can fight as well as you can." Brian almost opened his mouth and said no, but at the last second Brian saw a slight pleading look in Ian's eyes that said 'Please, let me do this. Let me try to be the good man I wanted to be.' So Brian granted him his request.
Brian opened his safe and pulled some stuff aside. Brian pulled out a uzi, a 15-round handgun, and a magnum .357 revolver. He pulled out one of his old kevlar training vest and loaded it with the guns and the ammo. He handed it to Ian who put it on and tightened the straps so it fit his frame snugly. They had just spent the last 3 hours getting Sally permission for Ian to come with them and loading the shuttles. Brian and Chuck would be flying their shuttle, and Ian would be in the back with the others. Tails and Bunnie would be back there, and they promised to keep an eye on Ian. Brian finished zipping his boots and put his shotgun in his holster. He put his leather jacket on. He mentally activated the WatchCom and charged his reserve cells. He attenuated his nervous system for fastest reaction and locked his systems in place. He was ready for battle. He looked over at Ian. "Ready?" Brian asked, his natural deep blue eye color and the neon green energy of the WatchCom mixing, causing his eyes to twinkle. Snively finished loading the revolver and holstered it. "As ready as I'll ever be..." Rotor knocked at their door. "C'mon guys! Were leaving early! The princess' camp is under attack!"