A lot of thought has gone into this operation, Sally thought. I've done as much as I can to make sure it will work. All that's left is to see how well it does work.
Sort of an empirical way to prove my skill, she thought with a smile. Science doesn't often work to describe people, but this seems like one instance. Think of it as an experiment, with the variable being tested "Sally's skill".
This is getting downright grotesque. Focus, Sally!
Nicole had broken the code to allow the door to open, but Sally had to wait for the alarms to go down. She'd entrusted that to Rotor and Antoine. Provided something hadn't gone totally wrong, something she would have heard about by now in the form of sirens and alarms, she'd have her window in fifteen seconds.
To be safe, she waited until three seconds after when they were supposed to have cut the alarms. Still stingy, but time was tight. Then she opened the hatch, went through, and closed it behind her.
Quickly she dashed through the tunnels and vents. She was on a strict timetable, and all her work would be undone if she wasn't quick about it. As she moved, she grew more and more nervous.
Now I know why my thoughts wandered so much, Sally thought. I didn't want to think about this.
Straight into Robotnik's lair. Into the throne room her father had lost all those years ago. It was a homecoming of sorts.
Yeah, right, thought Sally. If it's a homecoming, it's a nihilistic one. I always imagined that I'd come back here to restore my father's rule. Instead, I'm here just to destroy the rule of someone else. How perverse. Just another thing to put on the bill Robotnik has yet to pay.
Robotnik, you won't soon forget this day!
She checked her watch. She was ahead of schedule, but not by much. By now, assuming all was going well, Sonic was penetrating the R&D lab, Rotor and Antoine had plugged the HQ's alarms back in and were heading home, and Bunnie and Tails were rolling towards Sonic's position.
And Sally's other diversion had just made itself known.
She had planted it exactly two days ago. The Roboticiser was protected from most sabotage by a sophisticated bomb-detection suite, among other things. But this wasn't really a bomb; it was a container holding two otherwise innocuous chemicals, separated from each other by a chemical barrier with a precise, predictable lifespan. When the barrier ran out, the chemicals combined explosively, and the Roboticiser fried.
That was the plan. And according to her timetable, the barrier should have gone down precisely five minutes ago.
She was close enough now to hear their voices. "Sir, the Swatbots at the Roboticiser room report that there is no Freedom Fighter in the area."
Robotnik's voice was that of a lion that's just been poked in the eye. "What caused the damage?"
"They're investigating that, sir, but can't understand what caused it."
"This doesn't make sense, Snively. The princess isn't stupid. Why would they sabotage the Roboticiser like that? They know we have plenty of replacement parts!"
How odd to hear Robotnik compliment me, Sally thought, bemused.
"I don't know, s…"
"Snively! Run a cross-city scan. I want reports from every Swatbot, hover unit, and alarm suite. I want to know if there's anything out of the ordinary."
"Running, sir. Sir, there's something wrong with the alarms at R&D station twelve!"
"Of course!" Robotnik shouted. "Snively, deploy all reserve Swatbots from Headquarters to R&D station twelve!"
Sally's heart skipped a beat. That was fast, Robotnik! You're getting better. Luckily, we're one more step ahead.
"Sir…"
"Do it!"
"Yes, sir."
"Idiot, sabotaging the Roboticiser was a diversion to bring our attention home! The hedgehog is going to attack the R&D station!"
Snively gasped. "You were right, sir! Swatbots are reporting the hedgehog is already inside!"
Robotnik slammed his fist against his iron-clad throne. "Argh! What's he doing there?"
"Apparently… sir, he's erasing the memory of the mainframe."
"How?"
"A simple magnet, sir."
"A magnet! Oh, the impudence! Get those Swatbots there on the double! Divert normal patrols! I want that hedgehog!"
"Yes, sir."
"A magnet," Robotnik seethed. "If it's not one thing, it's another. Ooh, I hate him!"
"Your bad day is just starting, Robotnik!" Sally shouted. With that she burst from the duct and stormed towards the throne.
Robotnik was caught completely by surprise, but he wasn't unprepared. He pressed a command on his throne and it dropped him through the floor. Sally had known that something like that was going to happen, so Robotnik had never been her real target. She was headed for the control console.
Snively was trying to get a blaster, but he was too slow. Even as he turned around, Sally delivered a flying kick to the chest that flung the lackey across the room. He was out cold.
Sally didn't even wait to see if he landed. She already had out Nicole and plugged her into the control console.
Robotnik's face, super-sized, appeared on the bank of monitors above Sally. She gasped for effect, but kept working.
"Stupid princess," said Robotnik angrily. "You missed."
"Stupid Robotnik," she retorted, with a happy undertone to her voice. "I wasn't aiming for you."
Robotnik noticed she was working on the computers. "What are you doing?"
Sally summoned up a glorious, spiteful smile that illuminated the room. "I'm crashing the Robotropolis mainframe!"
With the press of a button, it was done. Robotnik's stunned image was wiped from the screen.
Normally it was impossible to even access the Robotropolis mainframe. It was protected by an incredibly complex encryption suite, and only Snively and Robotnik had the access keys to get in. But Snively had been working at the control console in the throne room.
And Sally had given him no chance to log out.
Sally was jubilant. According to her timetable, Bunnie and Tails were distracting the Swatbots enough for Sonic to escape with them. Rotor and Antoine were clear of any immediate danger. And she had a clear shot out of the HQ, into the sewer, and clear home to Knothole.
It was glorious.
It was brutal.
The final body count was twenty wounded, four dead, and one heartbroken.
Gaunt was dismayed. Where once had been close to five working combat teams, there were now two; two more were entirely made up of wounded animals, and the last was gone completely.
Now, even if he tried to rearrange things to close up the holes, he had, where once had been twelve, seven working combat teams and three 'reserves' made up of the wounded.
His information pointed to things getting worse, not better. His sources inside Metronome indicated that Robotropolis was sending perhaps another two thousand Swatbots to the Southern Continent. This Hive had fought and destroyed almost 300, and reports from other Hives indicated that they'd encountered very high numbers as well. All of their defenses, they reported, were being strained to their maximums. If those reinforcements came through, they had the potential to smash through several Hives before being stopped. At that point, though, it would be close to over for any Hive still standing.
He shook his head. "I have to have Jan working again. How can I restore her functionality before we're swamped?"
"Functionality? You think of her like she was a Swatbot!"
Gaunt turned in surprise. "Tosul? I thought you…"
Tosul moved faster than Gaunt had ever seen. In a moment the rat held Gaunt against the wall by Gaunt's throat. Gaunt struggled to breathe.
Tosul cracked a vicious smile. "Can't tell me to take a nap when you can't breathe. You're figuring that out, aren't you, Gaunt?"
Gaunt certainly was. He indicated so.
"Good. Let me tell you something, Gaunt. What you did today to Jan was flat-out evil. You were only supposed to help; you weren't supposed to strip our will. So I'll tell you now. If you ever… EVER… do something like that to her again, so help me, I will snap your scrawny neck!"
He pressed a little harder. Gaunt kicked a little; he began to black out, his consciousness wavered. Then Tosul dropped him.
Gaunt collapsed to a heap on the floor. He spent a few moments gasping for breath, not aided in the least by Tosul's friendly kicks. Tosul then turned tail and walked away.
"You…" said Gaunt, not wanting Tosul to leave yet. Tosul turned in the doorway. "You didn't stop me today. When it was… lose the Hive, or force Jan… you let me force Jan. Why?"
Gaunt had hit home. Tosul visibly winced. He took a sharp breath, then turned fully to Gaunt. "I didn't really believe what you were doing. I wasn't sure you were capable of it."
He pointed at Gaunt. "But remember what I said. I won't restrain myself next time."
Gaunt drew a cruel smile. "Tosul, go take a nap."
Tosul, after a moment's hesitation, turned and left without another word.
Talking hurt. Gaunt laughed, and that hurt, too. But in both cases it was worth it.
Never had Tails seen the faces around the campfire so bright. The citizens of Knothole were listening to the Freedom Fighters—and Tails was careful to make the distinction—tell their various stories. It was the usual patterns—Sonic all speed and attitude, kicking butt and taking names; Sally showing how everyone had caused the great victory; Antoine pompously self-important; Rotor too modest to take any credit and too shy to speak much; Bunnie full of aw-shucks modesty and how was that weather today?
Two things made it different. Today's win was much bigger than normal. As Sally had explained, the crash of the Robotropolis mainframe meant that Robotnik would have a very hard time running his city; it would take a minimum of a week for him to recuperate, and Sally was not planning on making things easy for him during that window.
The other difference was Tails himself. Someone had said, "C'mon, let Tails say what he did today!" And before he knew it, everyone was expecting him to tell about his piece of the action.
He himself was feeling sick to his stomach and didn't want to speak in front of anyone, and here half of Knothole was listening to him. "Well," he said, then coughed politely to buy some time. What can I say? He glanced around the Freedom Fighter's faces, looking for some clue from them. It almost caused him to seize up, but in the dim light, their faces looked drawn out, no longer enthusiastic but just tired. Exactly how Tails felt. They were letting their guards down now that everyone was looking away from them.
Yet another ugly part of being a Freedom Fighter, Tails decided. Acting like it's a thrill. It was a permanent semi-deception, and a necessary one—they needed everyone's support.
Tails gave the crowd a smile and settled on a middle road between Sonic's egoism and Sally's selflessness. "Well, I really owe a lot of it to Bunnie, because she was the leader. She got me everywhere we needed to go, because I was lost!"
The crowd took it as a joke. Ha ha, thought Tails. "Once we got there, though, we smashed them up!" The crowd cheered. "Bunnie and I got a Swatbot each, simple as that. Then later, when we were helping Sonic…"
"Tails, you know better than that," cried Sonic. "I needed no help!"
More laughter. The Freedom Fighter masks were back on, Tails saw. "Well, he got some help, anyway. Then Bunnie got three. I could only take down one, but that's cool."
"More than I got," said a voice in the crowd. Uproarious laughter.
"And with that," said Sally, "I'd like to conclude this meeting. Congratulations everyone! Good night, and sleep knowing we've taken Robotnik down a peg!" More cheering as the crowd dispersed. As things quieted down, Tails tried to leave, but Sonic kept him there.
"Just wait," he said. "We always meet after everyone's gone home."
Indeed, in about ten minutes, the only animals still sitting around the campfire were Sonic, Bunnie, Sally, Rotor, Antoine, and Tails. If Dulcy had been there, all of the real Freedom Fighters would be in attendance.
Sally waited to start the meeting. It gave everyone a chance to relax and clear their heads. Antoine shook. Bunnie stroked her ears. Rotor looked everywhere but at the fire.
"Tails."
It was Sally's voice. "Yes?"
"Welcome to the Freedom Fighters."
Tails scanned the faces of his friends in a new light. They all managed to smile for him and clap, but there was something hollow about it. It wasn't just like they were welcoming him; it seemed as if having him was helping them get over some kind of loneliness. But that was silly. How could a group be lonely…?
"I don't know what anyone else thinks, but this is good news. Robotnik will be on the ropes for about a week. I'm sure you all know what that means."
They nodded unenthusiastically. Sonic spoke for them. "It means get extra sleep, 'cause we're kickin' the can every night."
Sally nodded. "I know it's a lot to ask of everyone, but this is a golden opportunity to inflict some real damage on Robotnik. Anything we do to him now he can't begin to repair until he has his computers operable again."
"Sally," said Rotor, "I would think that taking down the Robotropolis mainframe would take longer than a week to fix."
"Well, it would have, if I'd told Nicole to destroy all the memory units. But the hard back-ups I left untouched."
"Why?" asked Rotor, flabbergasted. "If we destroy those, it could take a bunch of weeks for Robotnik to recover!"
"Because they're our past, too, Rotor. Robotnik didn't change the memory units. The memory units have all our records of the past, every word that a Mobian has written or said that we've kept… everything is in there. Robotnik is piling the records of his empire on top of it. It was impossible to topple one without toppling the other, so I left both."
Some of the faces around the campfire looked dubious. Tails couldn't understand—if every mission was so terrifying, how could Sally condemn herself to doing it longer?
Sally saw it all. She answered the unspoken question. "Remember, our goal isn't to destroy Robotnik. It's to restore the Kingdom of Acorn. There's a difference there we have to respect."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Destroying Robotnik at the cost of the Kingdom is no victory. Understand?"
More nods.
"Does anyone have anything they want to talk about?"
"Does it get easier?"
Tails was as surprised as everyone that he'd said it, but he realized the thought had been on his mind the whole time.
"I mean, does going on raids get easier?"
Their response was silence. "It might," said Sally finally. "It's gotten some easier for me. But it's different for everyone."
No one else spoke. "In that case," Sally said, "the meeting's over. I'll have Nicole begin setting targets for us. Sonic, talk to me afterwards. Everyone else: get some sleep!"
Bunnie stomped out the fire, and that was that.
Sally had been right about one thing. Tails did feel elated that they'd done so much damage. And in his first raid! As debuts went, that had been a doozy.
It was only as he lay in bed that night that the cold settled over him. His hands shook uncontrollably. He coughed, as if something from Robotropolis hadn't quite worked its way out of his system yet.
The shadows grew deeper, as if trying to suck Tails back to Robotropolis. Tails imagined he could see or hear the Swatbots approaching from the shadows.
He laughed nervously. Come on! he thought. I'm way too old to be afraid of the dark, let alone a memory.
A voice in his mind taunted him, "Then don't be afraid."
Tails shivered again. He rubbed the skin where the blaster had kissed him—just a touch, as if teasing him into wanting more. Tails' sensations were mixed, as the skin seemed to both burn and freeze. Burn because of the weapon's heat, as if he was still in the process of getting grazed; freeze because of the small part of him that the bolt had taken with it. Holding the spot made things worse, but Tails couldn't ignore it. It wouldn't let him.
Think if you'd been just a little slower, it suggested. If you'd skimped on your training and gone a little slower, accelerated a little later. If your instincts weren't as sharp. You would have been hit flush, in something more vital than a leg. A kidney, perhaps, or a lung. Or if you'd been faster, but just too slow; just as easily as you cut out the Swatbot's knee, it could have shot you full in the leg and crippled you instead. You would only have had to be a tiny bit slower for that outcome, but you would end up just as dead.
"Do they get like this?" Tails whispered as he stared at the ceiling. "Does Sonic get the shakes? Does Sally get the chills?"
I hope not, he thought, because it means I might grow out of it.
But he remembered the faces of the Freedom Fighters when he'd asked his question. Their faces had all said it, and their faces said it all. Sally had tried to comfort him. But their eyes had told the truth.
No, Tails. It never gets easier.
To be continued…