The Robotnik Complex
Chapter 19
"Are you sure you have the right servo frequency?" Robotnik asked St. John. He was talking to him from his base on Angel Island. "Yes, I just have to wait until he's near a hazard, like the edge of the island or a fire, I flip a switch, and he won't know what hit him!" St. John smiled, he was going to be well rewarded for this. "Also, do you know if the brain implant worked for Snively?" St. John nodded. "He has no memories of any special projects as far as I can tell. They all think it was a mind control device." "Great!" Robotnik cakcled. "It's just the beginning of their bad luck. I'll see you on the island." St. John thought of something. "Wait!" But the screen had already went black. "Damn! I didn't tell him about that damn decoy!" St. John tried to call him back, but recieved no answer. 'I'll have to go down there myself." He strapped a parachute onto himself and opened the rear escape hatch. He programmed it to close after he left and jumped out, activating one of Robotnik's stelth modules on the way down. "We just heard from Chuck, we're 30 seconds from the island. We'll meet you on the south end, see you there! 3-2-1, Jump!" Rotor yelled. And Brian jumped. He passed under the shuttle's wing and saw it continue to fly away. He looked down to the island. "That," He said to himself. "That is a long fucking way down." He suddenly realized he was still falling. He activated his boots and began to hover in midair. "Let's make this good." He began to gather energy. "Here are the thrillseekers, corrupt and immoral." Brian said to himself and he began to glow fire red all over. He tipped forward and streaked across the sky. He pointed himself downward and started getting closer to the island surface. "Princess! Brian's making his first pass now and the shuttles are coming around to land." Sally dismissed the lookout. "Ok everyone!" She yelled above everyone in the room. "Get ready! As soon as they all touch down, we're attacking the command center!" Brian felt something snag the edge of his jacket as he turned to begin his second run, still glowing. He looked at a bullet hole in his jacket. "Oh, you fucks are dead." He spat toward the robots on the ground. "This is a $500.00 jacket! It's worth more than your entire army!" He screamed at them. "What are they doing...? Oh shit!" He began his second run, trying to dodge the hundreds of bullets flying at him. "I must be fucking insane." Brian said to himself as he was hit on his right upper arms plating, tearing another hole in his jacket. "Goddamnit!" Chuck radioed the other shuttles in the armada. "Land on south point, in sequence, every 15 seconds. After all shuttles are down, a radar and light cloke will be established around the landing zone. Any pilot not down within 15 seconds will be repremanded. Initiate landing run now." Chuck switched off the radio and started his landing. Sally was stacking the crates that held the radar equitment by the shelter elevator. She turned to the 3 people behind her that were sitting crates down. "After the first shuttle lands, we haul ass and set these up. Chucks team will set up the light clokes. We'll only have about a minute thirty to get all 4 into standby mode, so move fast." She looked at a computer terminal next to the elevator that displayed a view of the landing area. Chuck was about 30 seconds from touchdown. "Load the crates into the elevator, we have 30 seconds." Brian stopped after completing his second run. He pulled his shotgun out of his holster and disabled his special effects program. The red glow dissapeared. "Ok, you little Tom Petty wannabes. Your going down." He tilted himself downward and flew toward a cluster of robots. He sat his gum on spread fire and took a shot 50 feet away. They were all blown apart. He flew back up with a smile on his face and continued his last run. "Move it, go, go, go!" Sally shouted and they all fanned out across the opening in the forest and ran to the corners. She got to her corner and broke the crate open. She pulled out the tripod stand and sat the cloker on top of it. She pulled a key out of it's packaging and turned the radar jammer to stand-by. The indicator slid into place a second later. "Jammer one in place!" She heard someone yell out. "Jammer 2 in place!" She yelled. Three and four called in after that. She radioed Chuck. "Are the light clokers in place?" She asked. "Yes. All have landed. Activating all jamming systems now." She looked at the indicator. It slid into on-line position. "Chuck, are all systems functioning?" Chuck answered back right away. "Yes, all systems operational." She sighed. So far everything had gone to plan. "Chuck, we wait for Brian to return and then we attack head-on." It took him a second to radio back. "Ok...by the way, have you seen St. John?" Brian landed about a quarter of a mile away from the camp, on the south edge of the island. Right after he landed he saw St. John walk into the small clearing. Brian was confused. "Geoffery, what are you doing here?" St. John just smiled at him. "Did you know that I have always had an interest in nano-neurotechnology? For example, the robotisization process, or your cybernecics." Brian didn't like the feel of this. He knew something was wrong. He started walking toward St. John. "No, I didn't. I'll be happy to carry on this discusion once were back in Knothole." Geoffery got the look of someone who suddenly remembered something important. "We'll, that presents a problem." Brian nodded. "Why is that, Geoffery?" He let his hand rest on his gun. St. John pulled out his handheld computer. "Because your not going back to Knothole." He pressed a command button on the palm. Brian suddenly felt like his nervous system had fell out. He couldn't breath, and he had a feeling that his heart had stopped. 'What did that bastard do to me!' Brian screamed inside his own head, begining to panic. St. John walked over and dragged him to the edge. He knelt down and whispered into Brian's ear. "Don't worry though, I'll make sure that each of your friends has a turn at your marvelous machine. Thanks for building it, I could have never done it that fast." St. John stood up and kicked Brian over the edge. He leaned over slightly and watched his body head toward the cloud clover. St. John stood straight and smiled. "How sad, he was such a young idiot." He laughed and turned, heading back toward the camp, activating his radar beacon on the way. "Robotnik, I better get a very big reward for all this..." Brian knew his body was dying. 'There's only one chance, I have to go into my mind and repair whatever St. John did to me... I have minute's, if that.' He closed his eyes and began to relax himself. He opened his eyes and he was inside his mind. He reached around and began turning all the terminals on. He stopped at one and typed a few commands. "That's not it!" Brian said and turned the terminal off. He went to the next one and repeated the process. "Nope." He shut it off. '2 down, 16 to go.' He thought as he went to the next terminal. St. John stepped into the clearing that was the base camp and stepped beyond the cloke. As soon as he appeared Sally ran up to him. "St. John, where have you been?" St. John cleared his throat. "Robotnik's troops have moved. I was scouting their new location." Sally nodded. "Have you seen Brian?" St. John shook his head. 'It's just so easy!' He thought. "No," he told Sally. "I havn't seen him, but I'm sure he's bound to show up." Robotnik turned to Metal. "Have you got a fix on their posision? Metal turned away from his station. "Yes, Doctor." Robotnik grinned. "Begin the attack, live capture. Send the Swat-Bots to Knothole, tell them to trash the place and bring anyone there to the Proteus holding cells, alive." Robotnik stood and walked toward the door leading to the outside launchpad. "I'm going back to Robotropolis to power up the Proteus. I am leaving you in charge." Metal nodded. "Yes, Doctor." Robotnik walked out the door, stopping the door from closing before he left. He had malice in his voice. "Don't screw up." He let the door close.
"Are you sure you have the right servo frequency?" Robotnik asked St. John. He was talking to him from his base on Angel Island. "Yes, I just have to wait until he's near a hazard, like the edge of the island or a fire, I flip a switch, and he won't know what hit him!" St. John smiled, he was going to be well rewarded for this. "Also, do you know if the brain implant worked for Snively?" St. John nodded. "He has no memories of any special projects as far as I can tell. They all think it was a mind control device." "Great!" Robotnik cakcled. "It's just the beginning of their bad luck. I'll see you on the island." St. John thought of something. "Wait!" But the screen had already went black. "Damn! I didn't tell him about that damn decoy!" St. John tried to call him back, but recieved no answer. 'I'll have to go down there myself." He strapped a parachute onto himself and opened the rear escape hatch. He programmed it to close after he left and jumped out, activating one of Robotnik's stelth modules on the way down. "We just heard from Chuck, we're 30 seconds from the island. We'll meet you on the south end, see you there! 3-2-1, Jump!" Rotor yelled. And Brian jumped. He passed under the shuttle's wing and saw it continue to fly away. He looked down to the island. "That," He said to himself. "That is a long fucking way down." He suddenly realized he was still falling. He activated his boots and began to hover in midair. "Let's make this good." He began to gather energy. "Here are the thrillseekers, corrupt and immoral." Brian said to himself and he began to glow fire red all over. He tipped forward and streaked across the sky. He pointed himself downward and started getting closer to the island surface. "Princess! Brian's making his first pass now and the shuttles are coming around to land." Sally dismissed the lookout. "Ok everyone!" She yelled above everyone in the room. "Get ready! As soon as they all touch down, we're attacking the command center!" Brian felt something snag the edge of his jacket as he turned to begin his second run, still glowing. He looked at a bullet hole in his jacket. "Oh, you fucks are dead." He spat toward the robots on the ground. "This is a $500.00 jacket! It's worth more than your entire army!" He screamed at them. "What are they doing...? Oh shit!" He began his second run, trying to dodge the hundreds of bullets flying at him. "I must be fucking insane." Brian said to himself as he was hit on his right upper arms plating, tearing another hole in his jacket. "Goddamnit!" Chuck radioed the other shuttles in the armada. "Land on south point, in sequence, every 15 seconds. After all shuttles are down, a radar and light cloke will be established around the landing zone. Any pilot not down within 15 seconds will be repremanded. Initiate landing run now." Chuck switched off the radio and started his landing. Sally was stacking the crates that held the radar equitment by the shelter elevator. She turned to the 3 people behind her that were sitting crates down. "After the first shuttle lands, we haul ass and set these up. Chucks team will set up the light clokes. We'll only have about a minute thirty to get all 4 into standby mode, so move fast." She looked at a computer terminal next to the elevator that displayed a view of the landing area. Chuck was about 30 seconds from touchdown. "Load the crates into the elevator, we have 30 seconds." Brian stopped after completing his second run. He pulled his shotgun out of his holster and disabled his special effects program. The red glow dissapeared. "Ok, you little Tom Petty wannabes. Your going down." He tilted himself downward and flew toward a cluster of robots. He sat his gum on spread fire and took a shot 50 feet away. They were all blown apart. He flew back up with a smile on his face and continued his last run. "Move it, go, go, go!" Sally shouted and they all fanned out across the opening in the forest and ran to the corners. She got to her corner and broke the crate open. She pulled out the tripod stand and sat the cloker on top of it. She pulled a key out of it's packaging and turned the radar jammer to stand-by. The indicator slid into place a second later. "Jammer one in place!" She heard someone yell out. "Jammer 2 in place!" She yelled. Three and four called in after that. She radioed Chuck. "Are the light clokers in place?" She asked. "Yes. All have landed. Activating all jamming systems now." She looked at the indicator. It slid into on-line position. "Chuck, are all systems functioning?" Chuck answered back right away. "Yes, all systems operational." She sighed. So far everything had gone to plan. "Chuck, we wait for Brian to return and then we attack head-on." It took him a second to radio back. "Ok...by the way, have you seen St. John?" Brian landed about a quarter of a mile away from the camp, on the south edge of the island. Right after he landed he saw St. John walk into the small clearing. Brian was confused. "Geoffery, what are you doing here?" St. John just smiled at him. "Did you know that I have always had an interest in nano-neurotechnology? For example, the robotisization process, or your cybernecics." Brian didn't like the feel of this. He knew something was wrong. He started walking toward St. John. "No, I didn't. I'll be happy to carry on this discusion once were back in Knothole." Geoffery got the look of someone who suddenly remembered something important. "We'll, that presents a problem." Brian nodded. "Why is that, Geoffery?" He let his hand rest on his gun. St. John pulled out his handheld computer. "Because your not going back to Knothole." He pressed a command button on the palm. Brian suddenly felt like his nervous system had fell out. He couldn't breath, and he had a feeling that his heart had stopped. 'What did that bastard do to me!' Brian screamed inside his own head, begining to panic. St. John walked over and dragged him to the edge. He knelt down and whispered into Brian's ear. "Don't worry though, I'll make sure that each of your friends has a turn at your marvelous machine. Thanks for building it, I could have never done it that fast." St. John stood up and kicked Brian over the edge. He leaned over slightly and watched his body head toward the cloud clover. St. John stood straight and smiled. "How sad, he was such a young idiot." He laughed and turned, heading back toward the camp, activating his radar beacon on the way. "Robotnik, I better get a very big reward for all this..." Brian knew his body was dying. 'There's only one chance, I have to go into my mind and repair whatever St. John did to me... I have minute's, if that.' He closed his eyes and began to relax himself. He opened his eyes and he was inside his mind. He reached around and began turning all the terminals on. He stopped at one and typed a few commands. "That's not it!" Brian said and turned the terminal off. He went to the next one and repeated the process. "Nope." He shut it off. '2 down, 16 to go.' He thought as he went to the next terminal. St. John stepped into the clearing that was the base camp and stepped beyond the cloke. As soon as he appeared Sally ran up to him. "St. John, where have you been?" St. John cleared his throat. "Robotnik's troops have moved. I was scouting their new location." Sally nodded. "Have you seen Brian?" St. John shook his head. 'It's just so easy!' He thought. "No," he told Sally. "I havn't seen him, but I'm sure he's bound to show up." Robotnik turned to Metal. "Have you got a fix on their posision? Metal turned away from his station. "Yes, Doctor." Robotnik grinned. "Begin the attack, live capture. Send the Swat-Bots to Knothole, tell them to trash the place and bring anyone there to the Proteus holding cells, alive." Robotnik stood and walked toward the door leading to the outside launchpad. "I'm going back to Robotropolis to power up the Proteus. I am leaving you in charge." Metal nodded. "Yes, Doctor." Robotnik walked out the door, stopping the door from closing before he left. He had malice in his voice. "Don't screw up." He let the door close.