The Robotnik Complex
Chapter 20
Brian turned off the last terminal. He checked and saw he was about to pass the cloud cover. He didn't have much time. "There's only one thing I can still try..." Brian said to himself as he walked over to the main terminal. He began to type. 'SYS RESTART: ALL NEURO-PATHWAYS' The computer processed for a moment than prompt him. 'ARE YOU SURE?' He typed. 'YES.' He pressed enter and everything went black. When he woke up, he found he had full usage of his body...and that he was 50 feet from the desert ground. He quickly righted himself and activated his boots. He barely missed the ground, quickly changing direction, still carrying all his momentum from the fall. A second later, he slammed into the side of a sand dune. He lay there for a moment before rolling over and coughing up sand out of his mouth. A small amount of blood came up with it. He saw before he passed out was a small car, driving over the hill towards him. 'I must be halucinating...' He thought to himself. Then he lost his hold on reality and passed out. "I'm telling you, he left us high and dry. I don't know what his motivation was, but he is a traitor to the crown!" St. John shouted over the whine of the twin turbine engines on the transport to Robotropolis. Sally, sitting on the other side of the cramped compartment, next to Sonic, shook her head and yelled back at him. "I trusted him. I know he didn't betray us. Something else had to of happened! What if he was killed?" Tails looked up from holding Amy, who was crying silently. "Yeah? And what if Robotnik was never born? Robotnik's alive and Brian's gone. That is the situation we have to deal with. I really don't think we can afford any 'what-ifs' right now, Sally." Antoine looked up from where he was sitting. Bunnie had been assigned another transport. "What does it matter! Once we get to the city he's just going to do one of three things! 1, torture us, 2, robotisize us, 3, a combination of the two! Princess," He turned toward Sally. "I, and every other freedom fighter has sworn to you to fight to the end. but when the cards are down, what else can we do? That fat bastard has a Full House, and looks like he's collecting all the chips." Sally shook her head. "No, Antoine, no matter what, there has to be a way at least some of us can escape. I mean," Sally looked around to all her comrads faces. "There is no possisable way he can robotisize all of us at once!" Ian jumped to his feet, pale white. "My God!" He gasped, a look of horror on his face. Sally looked at him in shock. "What, What is it, Ian?" Ian slid along the wall until he was again sitting. He began speaking in a low voice, the others strained to hear him. "When we were first being captured, I..had a feeling...that there was something I was forgeting. I kept asking my self, why was he capturing us alive? He has portable robotisizers, he could have used those. Why was he bringing us to the city en masse? I was confused until just now. I have trouble remembering things, I think it was a side-effect of that chip, and it wasn't until just now I remembered a project called Proteus..." No one even saw St. John move. A second later, a crossbow bolt was through Ian's right shoulder. "Shut your cakehole you bleeding idiot or I'll shut it for ya!" Snively didn't even say anything, he just stared at the bolt. Geoffery heard a click behind him. "No, you won't..." He turned and looked down the barrel of Tail's handgun, the only weapon besides St. John's that had not been confiscated by accident. St. John's mouth dropped open. He was losing control of the situation. "Tails, he was making things up to dissuade us from our mission..." St. John tripped over his own words. Tails' aim was steady and his demeanor was calm and cool. "A lot of us may be blind St. John, but me, my eyes are wide fuckin' open. The only traitor here is you." St. John tried his best to look shocked. "Tails," Sally said lightly. "That is a very serious charge. What proof do you have?" Tails kept his gun trained on Geoffery. "Two things. One, He shot Ian as he was trying to reveil something important to us. You might want to get him a blanket and remove the arrow, he's going into shock." Amy got up and went over to assist Ian, who was curled up in a corner. "Two, what does it smell like in here? Everybody started smelling. "Sulfur. That's what your getting at, right? Sulfur!" Sonic was the first to answer. Tails nodded his head. "Exactly. Brian's boots were modified with a nuclear-electric engine. That engine is very efficient, but it still has one by-product." Tails looked at Geoffery. "A form of Sulfur. You smell like sulfur, so it is reasonable to believe that you were the last one near Brian, since Sulfur Dioxide breaks down in about an hour." St. John just stared at Tails for a moment. "Alright, fine, I betrayed you. So what? What can you do about it now? Nothing! It's moot!" Antoine walked up to him. "Not quite." Antoine kicked St. John very hard in the groin. St. John dropped to the floor. "I owed you one..." Antoine said as he leaned down to disarm him. He tossed the crossbow into the corner of the transport. He pulled out a set of handcuffs from his pocket and handcuffed St. John's hands behing his back. "By the power vested in me by the House of Acorn, I hearby place you under arrest under the charge of treason." Antoine dragged the skunk into another corner of the transport and left him there. He walked back to where he was sitting and sat. "So," He asked calmly. "What is our situarion, Ian?" Everyone just stared at him. "Ant, did you just arrest St. John?" Sonic asked. "I used reasonable force." Sonic just shook his head. 'Man, and all the times I thought he was a joke, he subdued St. John...Damn.' Sonic thought to himself. His thoughts were interupted by a wail of pain. Amy came over from the corner. "He lost a lot of blood. He needs medical attention in a real hospital. I can do nothing more for him here." Sally nodded. "Thank you Amy." They all moved over to the corner where Ian sat, wrapped in Amy's jacket. Sally leaned toward Ian. "Ian, I need to know what the Proteus is..." And he told them.
*****
Brian slowly opened his eyes to reveil he was inside a room. He layed in a very comfortable bed under a white cotton sheet. Besides his boxers and socks, all his clothing were missing. He sat up and... "Ohhh!" He grabbed his ribs. They were very painful to him, but they felt fine to his touch. Then the pain just dropped away. "What the hell?" He looked around him. Next to his bed lay his clothing, so he got up to get dressed. He put his pants on and stopped to inspect his arms. Besides minor scuffs, it was flawless. "Great. At least I don't have to worry about that...now I just need to find where the hell I am..." As he was putting his shirt on, he heard the door on the other side of the room open. He turned to find... "My god, you're human..." She came over, handed him his gun that she carried in, and looked at him quizically. "Hu-man, I don't know of that word." She was about 5' 7" with curly red hair that fell down to her shoulders. She was pale with a very soft looking cream colored skin. "Oh, yes, your a terran..." He said softly. She laughed. "Of coarse I am, so are you, except it looks that you have wandered too far south. You were captured by him, weren't you?" He looked down. 'She's talking about your arm, Dumbass!' He screamed at himself. "Oh, no, I did this myself." She suddenly looked horrorfied. "Why would you do such a thing to yourself?!" He smiled at her. "I lost one of my arms, and I needed both to fight the war." She looked at him darkly. "You fight with the Mobians?" He nodded. "I must go report to my commander." She turned to leave and he noticed for the first time she was wearing a uniform. "Wait, before you go, tell me where I am!" She turned toward him and smiled. "Your in Skyline City, look out your window." She walked out the door, closing it behind her. He walked over to the window and gasped. It was dark out and the building he was in looked to he the tallest. The city was huge. Cars and trucks on highways, helecopters in the sky, and directly in front of him was a giant cliff looking out toward the ocean, and the sky, and off in the distance, he saw where the two met and smiled.
Brian turned off the last terminal. He checked and saw he was about to pass the cloud cover. He didn't have much time. "There's only one thing I can still try..." Brian said to himself as he walked over to the main terminal. He began to type. 'SYS RESTART: ALL NEURO-PATHWAYS' The computer processed for a moment than prompt him. 'ARE YOU SURE?' He typed. 'YES.' He pressed enter and everything went black. When he woke up, he found he had full usage of his body...and that he was 50 feet from the desert ground. He quickly righted himself and activated his boots. He barely missed the ground, quickly changing direction, still carrying all his momentum from the fall. A second later, he slammed into the side of a sand dune. He lay there for a moment before rolling over and coughing up sand out of his mouth. A small amount of blood came up with it. He saw before he passed out was a small car, driving over the hill towards him. 'I must be halucinating...' He thought to himself. Then he lost his hold on reality and passed out. "I'm telling you, he left us high and dry. I don't know what his motivation was, but he is a traitor to the crown!" St. John shouted over the whine of the twin turbine engines on the transport to Robotropolis. Sally, sitting on the other side of the cramped compartment, next to Sonic, shook her head and yelled back at him. "I trusted him. I know he didn't betray us. Something else had to of happened! What if he was killed?" Tails looked up from holding Amy, who was crying silently. "Yeah? And what if Robotnik was never born? Robotnik's alive and Brian's gone. That is the situation we have to deal with. I really don't think we can afford any 'what-ifs' right now, Sally." Antoine looked up from where he was sitting. Bunnie had been assigned another transport. "What does it matter! Once we get to the city he's just going to do one of three things! 1, torture us, 2, robotisize us, 3, a combination of the two! Princess," He turned toward Sally. "I, and every other freedom fighter has sworn to you to fight to the end. but when the cards are down, what else can we do? That fat bastard has a Full House, and looks like he's collecting all the chips." Sally shook her head. "No, Antoine, no matter what, there has to be a way at least some of us can escape. I mean," Sally looked around to all her comrads faces. "There is no possisable way he can robotisize all of us at once!" Ian jumped to his feet, pale white. "My God!" He gasped, a look of horror on his face. Sally looked at him in shock. "What, What is it, Ian?" Ian slid along the wall until he was again sitting. He began speaking in a low voice, the others strained to hear him. "When we were first being captured, I..had a feeling...that there was something I was forgeting. I kept asking my self, why was he capturing us alive? He has portable robotisizers, he could have used those. Why was he bringing us to the city en masse? I was confused until just now. I have trouble remembering things, I think it was a side-effect of that chip, and it wasn't until just now I remembered a project called Proteus..." No one even saw St. John move. A second later, a crossbow bolt was through Ian's right shoulder. "Shut your cakehole you bleeding idiot or I'll shut it for ya!" Snively didn't even say anything, he just stared at the bolt. Geoffery heard a click behind him. "No, you won't..." He turned and looked down the barrel of Tail's handgun, the only weapon besides St. John's that had not been confiscated by accident. St. John's mouth dropped open. He was losing control of the situation. "Tails, he was making things up to dissuade us from our mission..." St. John tripped over his own words. Tails' aim was steady and his demeanor was calm and cool. "A lot of us may be blind St. John, but me, my eyes are wide fuckin' open. The only traitor here is you." St. John tried his best to look shocked. "Tails," Sally said lightly. "That is a very serious charge. What proof do you have?" Tails kept his gun trained on Geoffery. "Two things. One, He shot Ian as he was trying to reveil something important to us. You might want to get him a blanket and remove the arrow, he's going into shock." Amy got up and went over to assist Ian, who was curled up in a corner. "Two, what does it smell like in here? Everybody started smelling. "Sulfur. That's what your getting at, right? Sulfur!" Sonic was the first to answer. Tails nodded his head. "Exactly. Brian's boots were modified with a nuclear-electric engine. That engine is very efficient, but it still has one by-product." Tails looked at Geoffery. "A form of Sulfur. You smell like sulfur, so it is reasonable to believe that you were the last one near Brian, since Sulfur Dioxide breaks down in about an hour." St. John just stared at Tails for a moment. "Alright, fine, I betrayed you. So what? What can you do about it now? Nothing! It's moot!" Antoine walked up to him. "Not quite." Antoine kicked St. John very hard in the groin. St. John dropped to the floor. "I owed you one..." Antoine said as he leaned down to disarm him. He tossed the crossbow into the corner of the transport. He pulled out a set of handcuffs from his pocket and handcuffed St. John's hands behing his back. "By the power vested in me by the House of Acorn, I hearby place you under arrest under the charge of treason." Antoine dragged the skunk into another corner of the transport and left him there. He walked back to where he was sitting and sat. "So," He asked calmly. "What is our situarion, Ian?" Everyone just stared at him. "Ant, did you just arrest St. John?" Sonic asked. "I used reasonable force." Sonic just shook his head. 'Man, and all the times I thought he was a joke, he subdued St. John...Damn.' Sonic thought to himself. His thoughts were interupted by a wail of pain. Amy came over from the corner. "He lost a lot of blood. He needs medical attention in a real hospital. I can do nothing more for him here." Sally nodded. "Thank you Amy." They all moved over to the corner where Ian sat, wrapped in Amy's jacket. Sally leaned toward Ian. "Ian, I need to know what the Proteus is..." And he told them.
*****
Brian slowly opened his eyes to reveil he was inside a room. He layed in a very comfortable bed under a white cotton sheet. Besides his boxers and socks, all his clothing were missing. He sat up and... "Ohhh!" He grabbed his ribs. They were very painful to him, but they felt fine to his touch. Then the pain just dropped away. "What the hell?" He looked around him. Next to his bed lay his clothing, so he got up to get dressed. He put his pants on and stopped to inspect his arms. Besides minor scuffs, it was flawless. "Great. At least I don't have to worry about that...now I just need to find where the hell I am..." As he was putting his shirt on, he heard the door on the other side of the room open. He turned to find... "My god, you're human..." She came over, handed him his gun that she carried in, and looked at him quizically. "Hu-man, I don't know of that word." She was about 5' 7" with curly red hair that fell down to her shoulders. She was pale with a very soft looking cream colored skin. "Oh, yes, your a terran..." He said softly. She laughed. "Of coarse I am, so are you, except it looks that you have wandered too far south. You were captured by him, weren't you?" He looked down. 'She's talking about your arm, Dumbass!' He screamed at himself. "Oh, no, I did this myself." She suddenly looked horrorfied. "Why would you do such a thing to yourself?!" He smiled at her. "I lost one of my arms, and I needed both to fight the war." She looked at him darkly. "You fight with the Mobians?" He nodded. "I must go report to my commander." She turned to leave and he noticed for the first time she was wearing a uniform. "Wait, before you go, tell me where I am!" She turned toward him and smiled. "Your in Skyline City, look out your window." She walked out the door, closing it behind her. He walked over to the window and gasped. It was dark out and the building he was in looked to he the tallest. The city was huge. Cars and trucks on highways, helecopters in the sky, and directly in front of him was a giant cliff looking out toward the ocean, and the sky, and off in the distance, he saw where the two met and smiled.