Hmmm...using that strong will and determination that I'm supposed to have *blah* I present you with chapter...erm...seven n.n. The content of this chapter has pushed the whole story's rating into the PG-13 area too. Anyway, there is something extremely wrong in this chapter, and I did it on purpose to see if anyone can catch it before I write out the end (don't worry, we're close).
-----------------------Heart to No Heart: Time is slowly running out
The flare had died down, and Julie-Su opened her eyes to see the metal canine in front of her was on its side with a large hole in its head. She brought a paw up to her chest when she rose up off the ground, and looked behind her to see Lara-Le and the Chaotix on the top of the pile. Careless! She got right up careless since she started hanging with the Chaotix, or maybe she was just dependent of that blaster. Either way she muttered a quiet "Thank you," before moving up towards them.
----Central Chamber of The Legion's HQ
Lien-Da looked down at her watch, 30 minutes left and not a sign of anyone coming at least though the front way. She flicked the cover of the watch closed and looked back down at the preparation of the warship.
"Lien-Da you shouldn't worry so much, everything's going to be fine..."
She suddenly jumped, turning around to face Knuckled with a start. She could never get used to that voice, especially with him creeping behind her like that. " ...I-I know...but something doesn't feel right."
Knuckles put his spiked claw on her shoulder and leaned over to whisper to her. There was a secret that he was keeping just between himself and her and didn't want everyone to hear. " Its okay, as soon as its over the family will be unstoppable again!" He leaned back, moving his paw to the top of her head before looking behind him. " I really think you should test the Robotnizer before the attack though..."
A Legionnaire ran up and bowed quickly in front of them before talking. " You might get that chance...we have some intruders!"
Lien-Da blinked, who would be so stupid to actually try and stop them now? " Intruders?"
The Legionnaire brought them to the control room, where there were enough monitors to rival the system over at Haven. The monitors turned on to show the perimeter outside of the Legion's headquarters. The Legionnaire brought his hand up and showed them three monitors. " Someone was spotted here...here...and here...about ten minutes ago."
"Then why are you just now getting us? " Lien-Da snapped, which made the Echidna cower a moment before he started up again.
" We had to make sure...that it was actually organic movement and not a part of security, mistress. " He moved over slightly to make sure that Lien-Da didn't hit him out of one of her fits of rage.
Lien-Da just growled, and then looked back to Knuckles who was studying the screen. She looked at him confused while he walked up and tapped two of the monitors, then said. " Send the capture squads there...you're bound to pick up something!"
The Legionnaire brought out his radio while he ran out the room. " We need Squad A and B to report to the South quadrant! Make sure they're armed! Squad C and D station yourselves outside of the Robotnizer!"
The female Echidna looked at the screens herself, wondering how Knuckles was able to pick out where they were so quickly when she seen nothing. " I'm rather impressed with you. "
He simply folded his arms along his chest before he responded. " You should be."
-----Unknown Area, Legion Scrapyard
"Okay, lets just get on with it..." Sabre looked over his shoulder at the other four members of the Brotherhood: Spectre, Thunderhawk, Sojourner, and Locke who was ironically enough inspecting the the pressure lock at the back of the building.
They managed to make their way though the scrapyard ahead of time, and now they were so close to getting into the building. Right now they were waiting patiently for Locke to hack the lock open when...
" I think its over this hill..." Lara-Le started, they didn't know it was her voice though...except for Locke who grimaced and turned his head to look back at the scrapile behind them.
" Well it better be, my feet hurt..."
" You're in no position to complain! This is all your fault! " That was definitely Julie-Su, she was the first to point the finger, especially if it wasn't at herself!
Locke rolled his eyes and yelled over the pile. " Lara! What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were going home!"
There was a silence over the Pile before Mighty and Espio made their way slowly up the pile, and then they pulled Julie-Su and Lara-Le up. Lara-Le stumbled a little, but quickly made her way down to pile to stand in front of the Brotherhood.
She pocketed her little blaster though, she didn't want any of them to see she had one. " I am going home, but I'm taking a detour to check on Knuckles! Isn't that why you came down here Locke? "
Locke flushed at the mention of their son, she wouldn't let it rest wouldn't she? He turned away from her and started work on the door again. " Well...maybe, but mainly we have to stop the Legion from attacking the island!"
Lara-Le walked over and knelt down, looking at the lock of the door before looking back at Mighty. " Wouldn't it make more sense for Mighty to just knock it down?"
" We don't want to draw any attention to ourselves! " Locke snapped.
Spectre looked down at them before looking up at the sky above them, there was a low rumbling which caught the attention of everyone except for Locke and Lara-Le who were arguing over how to break the door down. It was coming from right above them, where three rather small airships came down and came in front of them.
Lara-Le looked back at the Airships, which where the capture Units that were dispatched earlier to pick up anyone sneaking around obviously. She looked back towards Locke and screamed. " We have to get out of here!"
Locke looked down at his fake spiked claws and then tried to concentrate some energy though them. He looked back towards the small gathering and then motioned for them to head off towards the right...there had to be more then one way in. " Go on ahead, I'll be fine here..."
Sojourner shook his head to that. " We should all go in together..."
Julie-Su ran up and pulled the complaining old Echidna along. " This is no time for Team Spirit, Sojourner! We're running out of time!"
----Control Room: Dark Legion
" DON'T just stand there looking at them! " Lien-Da screamed before slamming her fist down into the control panel, starting a few sparks. She was giving direct commands to the capture group. " Get them! All of them!" She growled, her teeth becoming bared for a moment, but her growl was silenced when Knuckles put his paw on her shoulder.
" Shhh...they have it under control..." He whispered to them, trying to calm down her rage. " Anyway, don't we have something more pressing to do at the moment?" He reminded her of their prisoner still in the Robotnizer.
Lien-Da repeated that last statement for a moment lost, and then looked back up at him. " Oh, yes...lets get it over with then. "
----South Quad Outside Legion HQ
One of the Legionaries started off the attack, a higher rank then the ones manning the controls around them (Bah, I have no clue how ranks are achieved in the Legion). " Fire! "
The ships shot out something green from the underside of their ships, towards the left and right of the ground while they tried to get away. Mighty stumbled forward and landed in the green muck on the ground, and instantly tried to get up which just got him tangled up in it. " Arrrgh! " He had only seen this stuff on Mobius when he was hanging with Sonic! Robotnik tried to use it to trap Sonic a couple of times, but how did the Legion get some?
Espio jumped up on the wall and turned to face Mighty, shooting his tongue out for Mighty to try and grab onto (ew). Mighty tried to grab for it, but he couldn't quite her his arm around there. " Keep tryin' Mighty!" Espio tried to say, though it was kinda hard with his tongue extended.
" Okay, we got them! Fire two! " The Legionnaire called out to the workers.
Locke was ready for the second strike, and everyone was behind him since he instructed them to get back a while ago. The second strike was a series of nets which had large magnetic weights along the ends. The first one was shot at Espio who was still clinging onto the wall trying to help Mighty. The net caught him, since he wasn't paying attention to the others at the time, and because of the magnetic weights at the end it clung to the wall. Not only that, but it released an electrical charge which cause him off guard.
The second net was shot at the gathered group, Locke just breathed in deeply before he shot his right hand out in front of him. It was charged with green energy which formed into a green lighting bolt charged with Power that he was storing. The lighting bolt shot though the first net and stuck the closest Airship in front of them, causing it to float backwards uncertain.
Julie-Su caught onto Lara-Le's hands and pulled her around the group towards the pile where they came from. Lara-Le tried to ask where they were going, but couldn't get a response over all the noise around them. " Give me your Blaster! " Julie-Su screamed above the noise, one of the airships caught onto their motions and followed them up the large metal pile.
Locke felt that last strike against the net, it was burning his hand! He had to remove his glove and check his hand. The burning feeling was around his knuckles, which where blackened and sizzling. " The hell? " He muttered while rubbing the area with his still gloved hand, which was hurting too.
Thunderhawk looked up at the Airship that was left which was closing in on them. " Locke, whatever's wrong..."
" Shut up! My hand's on fire here and you're complaining!" Locke snarled, that hand eventually fell numb and he held it out at his side before looking up at the ship. There wasn't anything they could do now, without the Master Emerald's Power they couldn't use their powers. There wasn't much choice that they had right now. " We have to give up...there's nothing we can do!"
The four other Echidna passed looks between each other, and then over towards Mighty and Espio who were trapped. There really wasn't much they could do right now, at least they thought that Lara-Le and Julie-Su made it away. They raised their hands in the air to show that they surrendered...
Julie-Su jumped over the other side of the Pile, not having the time to run down the other side of the pile. Lara-Le feel down the other side and landed painfully on her stomach, wincing a little, but could hear the sound of Julie-Su powering up that blaster. Luckily it took less time to charge up then her standard blaster or they would've been done!
The airship came over the other side and circled around so they were in front of them on the other side. Since Julie-Su was on her feet they aimed the net at her first, their cannon lowering and pointing right at the pink Echidna before firing a small net towards her.
Julie-Su was ready though, many years of evasive training followed by some real action on the battlefield seemed to have prepped her for this moment. She lowered down onto her knees and did a rolling dodge, stopping on one knee towards the right with that barrel fully charged and aiming towards the hull of the ship. A single shot was all she needed, the beam coming out and cutting though the metal of the hull.
Inside the ship the Echidnas where diving out the way to avoid the solid beam which ran though the metal of the hull like Robotnik's acid rain though the forestry! The Echidna giving the commands wasn't so lucky though, he didn't have the time to get out of the way from where he was standing. He never seen it coming...
Julie-Su watched the airship go down before she started to charge for the next shot. She passed a nervous look over towards Lara-Le who was just now recovering. " Are you okay? " It was more of a question that she felt she was required to say then something she actually meant.
She looked up at Julie-Su and then muttered. " I'm worried about Locke..." She had to admit that much, he was in so much pain after attacking that airship.
The final airship, which has taken the time to round up everyone on the other side flew over their heads in an attempt to scout of the area for them. Julie-Su knelt back down with her blaster raised eye level to her. She was positive she could get a clear shot of it and shoot it down without anyone getting hurt this time around...
" There ya'll guys are!"
The voice came from behind Julie-Su and caused her to jump, which unfortunately for someone with a gun was a bad thing. The airship turned at the same time as Julie-Su fired, which caused the shot to bounce off the bulletproof glass hovering at the front of the ship. The airship stumbled back though, the force of the blow was enough to stun it for a moment.
"What the hell was that?" The commander of this ship just came into the control room to check on the status to feel the tremble. He checked back on the prisoners and then gave out the order. " Return to the base, we'll deal with them later!"
The ship pulled back and flew back towards the top of the building. Julie-Su on the other hand turned her blaster around, charging again with her eyes narrowed. " Come out from under there you green bastard! I'm going to blow your head off!" She shouted into the rubble, she can't believe he made her mess up that shot.
Vector slipped out from under a shell of an older airship and looked at Julie-Su surprised. He moved his hands up to either side and tried to explain. " I've been tryin' to catch up with ya'll, but you ran off!"
Julie-Su rose the blaster up between Vector's eyes (don't ask, I know --) and Lara-Le quickly grasped Julie-Su's hands and took the blaster away. " That's enough! We don't have the time for this!" She stated before putting the blaster away.
Julie-Su shot a glare at Vector before looking back to Lara-Le, who looked really hurt by what she was doing actually. The pink Echidna sighed and then nodded off to her. " Fine...do you have another way to get in? The door idea is pretty much shot." She motioned off to the door, which was still locked on the other side of the pile.
Lara-Le nodded and then took a few well placed steps forward before grabbing a large metal pipe to her side. She tapped along the side of the pile, checking here and there until she struck something hollow. " Right here..." She moved back and swiftly kicked the metal away from an opening to what looked like a tunnel which lead underground. " This should take us inside."
Vector looked over, and then back to Lara-Le. " You sure 'bout that?"
She nodded and then started down into the ditch, which was pretty well lit and was probably there before the Dark Legion set up their base there. When she got down in the hole she looked back up to them and motioned for them to come along before ducking down into the hole.
Julie-Su was about to go down into the hole when her arm was tugged by Vector, she looked back at him as if to say 'what?' with her eyes narrowed.
"I guess this means you don't like me anymore, huh?" He smirked a little, showing off his two rows of fangs that Julie-Su would've more then gladly kicked in at that moment.
Her response was just to whip the arm that he had forward so he flew past her and onto the ground in the hole. She smirked a little and jumped down, landing on his back before stepping off smoothly.
" Ow...'kay, I got ya point..."
---Robotization Chambers, Legion Headquarters
"I really think you should test the Robotnizer before you start turning the resistance into Robots, Lien-Da. We don't want to have the most valuable workers for the Legion to be malfunctioning. " Knuckles looked back towards Charmy who was still in the glass. The bee had long ago stopped ramming the glass and was sitting down at the back of the tube Indian style.
Lien-Da looked down at Charmy, she thought he was a good enough test subject for now. A Legionnaire came into the room, bowed for a moment before turning to Lien-Da. " Did you capture them? " She was going to be blunt with the man, since there was only 10 minutes before the airships were set to go out.
The man stuttered a little, he seemed to be new, or just nervous around the high ranked Echidna " We captured the Brotherhood, and some of the Chaotix...b-b-but..."
" But? What is it? " She thrashed out at him, grabbing him by his collar and bringing him in close.
" Two of them got away...and one of them were unaccounted for. " He stuttered, and tried to turn his head away from her.
She would help him with that, her free hand coming across his cheek and whipping it in the opposite direction. " Which two got away?" Her tone turned dark, and it showed though her eyes.
" Julie-Su and another female Echidna...I-I don't know who she was..."
Knuckles moved back a little, he had too since Lien-Da was moving past them towards the Robotnizer. One of the worker Echidnas opened the glass and another one grabbed Charmy, holding his wings so he couldn't get away. Anyone, anyone at all but Julie-Su's name could've been said there. She threw him in the Robotnizer and told the worker to close the tube over him before he recovered. The Echidna stood up and looked helplessly out from where he was behind the glass, and then back at Lien-Da begging to be let back out.
Lien-Da just took a few short steps backwards before explaining his situation ahead of time. " You're unfortunately the bringer of bad news..." She looked back towards the worker behind the Robotnizer's panel and motioned for her to turn it on.
Unfortunately the Robotnizer that they had was a lot older then the one that Robotnik was using back in Robotropolis right now (hell, he was robotizing people with his touch and breath back on the surface e_e). This was probably one of the first models, since the light which started the beam up started from the bottom of the tube and not the top. The Echidna inside clawed at the virtually unbreakable glass when the beam touched his legs. Luckily his screaming was blocked out by the thickness of the glass.
Everyone but Lien-Da turned their heads away from that sight. This Echidna would be the first mobian to be fully robotized on the island in this way, and they weren't as well adjusted to it as most mobians were. Eventually the screaming stopped, a cloud of smoke filled the bottom of the room while the tube was being lifted. Inside now was a fully Robotized Echidna with glowing red eyes which stepped down from the raised platform.
Lien-Da was still looking at the female worker behind the control panel. " Check his vitals, and be quick about it! "
" He's 100% robotized, Mistress. He's working at about 75% efficiency and slowly rising, systems seem to be normal.." She trailed off into a more detailed report which wasn't that important to her actually.
Lien-Da looked back at Knuckles. " It works..." She said that flatly, since it was apparent that it worked.
Knuckles nodded and walked over to the door in the back, sticking his head out he called out to someone outside. " Okay, you can bring them in now!" He called out to the guards at the door.
One by one, linked together at the wrists by a metal band that was magnetized at the wrist locks so they would bond together. At the head of the line was Locke who was looking down at his wrist which were slowly starting to heal. There were two small bumps forming around his knuckle area that were probably welts, but he couldn't tell for sure unless he took off his other glove. The Brotherhood, Mighty, and Espio where brought in and stood at the back of the room at gunpoint (well...lazerpoint).
Locke looked up for a moment, but only to look over towards Knuckles confused. He stared for a moment before leaning over to Sabre who was right next to him. " Somethin's extremely wrong here...I can feel it..."
" I know...I know..." Sabre responded a little worried himself.
---Under Dark Legion's Headquarters
"We're almost there, how much time to we have left? " Lara-Le was leading the way, while Julie-Su and Vector exchanged glances behind her. She got worried because she got no response at first, and then whipped her head around to look back at them. " Excuse me!"
The two were locked in a starring contest, something to keep their minds off the long stretch of tunnel in front of them. They both jumped at the same time, not before Vector claimed that he won though. The pink Echidna looked down at her watch and then looked back up at Lara-Le. " Five minutes, we'll never make it!"
Lara-Le looked above them and suddenly stopped, pointing up a what looked like a trapdoor up above them. " Its right up there!"
" Where's it gunna lead us to? " Vector stopped right under the trapdoor and looked up himself before looking back down at the two females.
Lara-Le thought for a moment before walking over to join them. " It should lead to the airstrip inside...."
Julie-Su thought about they, looks like they'll have to stop the attack against the Island first before they saved anybody. " Best bet is to each go our own way..."
" Hold on a second!" Vector suddenly cut into that Julie-Su was about to say. " There is no way that we're going to get split up again! We have to go after them together!"
" I'd have to agree with that Julie-Su...we'll have no chance against them on our own. " Lara-Le motioned for Vector to get down before looking back to Julie-Su. " There has to be enough time to save everyone...there has to be..." There was a hint of worry in her voice, they could tell she was extremely worried over Locke and Knuckles in there.
Julie-Su moved up and sat on Vector's shoulders, they would have to make a ladder chain to get up there. She grabbed onto Lara-Le's wrists and hoisted her onto her shoulders. Vector then stood up, a little wobbly, but he could hold those two right under the trap door. " Goddess, ya'll are heavy! " Vector grumbled, and luckily Julie-Su couldn't smack Vector from where she was sitting.
Lara-Le grabbed onto the round bronze ring handle on the trapdoor and started to push up. " I got it!" and she started to push.
---Robotization Chambers
Lien-Da wasn't pressed for time, things were going smoothly without any other signs of resistance. Right now her mood was swinging around to a better mood, and she looked over to Knuckles with a smirk. " You choose who goes first..." And she was in a very gracious mood as well it seemed!
The male Echidna nodded and looked down the row, Espio would've shouted something at Knuckles if his tongue wasn't still coated with the muck used to trap Mighty. Knuckles' violet eyes rested on Locke on the front of the row and then motioned off to him before responding to Lien-Da. " Don't see the harm in Robotizing them in order, we'll start with him. "
Locke looked up again from inspecting his paws to find the guards already on him, releasing his bounds and dragging him over to the Robotnizer. His eyes were widened a little in shock, mainly to the shock of what Knuckles said, he never called him anything but 'Dad' since he knew Locke was his dad! He thought it was a little off, like the rest of his behavior.
At first he made no resistance against the guards, but then realizing that his restraints were off he quickly turned his head and yelled back at Knuckles. " Who the hell are you? " He yelled, and then started to struggle against the guards, knocking one away and then the other. " I have no idea who the hell you think you are, but you're not my son !"
He got free from the other guard and balled that badly burnt fist up before charging at who he thought was an impostor. He found himself grounded again a few feet away from him, five guards on his back and pulling him back to his feet. He was dragged back towards the Robotnizer, this time he wasn't able to get away before they stood him on the Robotizer's platform. Locke still struggled, which caused the guards to pull up some short chains from some panels inside of the steel panel of the Robotnizer to go around his neck, wrists, and ankles.
Charmy, who was still being held down the line by a guard due to the lack of restraints in the bee's size nodded off to Locke. He agreed with him, though in a few moments it would seem not to matter since the former Guardian would be nothing more then a drone for the Dark Legion.
The glass tube was lowered down over Locke's head, and he, still trying to work his way out of the chains, but only succeeding in cutting into his skin with them was glaring at 'the impostor' while the shield was being lowered.
Lien-Da was startled by Locke's outrage, but soon recovered and motioned over to the equally startled female behind the counter. " Start it!"
--------TO BE CONTINUED
-----------------------Heart to No Heart: Time is slowly running out
The flare had died down, and Julie-Su opened her eyes to see the metal canine in front of her was on its side with a large hole in its head. She brought a paw up to her chest when she rose up off the ground, and looked behind her to see Lara-Le and the Chaotix on the top of the pile. Careless! She got right up careless since she started hanging with the Chaotix, or maybe she was just dependent of that blaster. Either way she muttered a quiet "Thank you," before moving up towards them.
----Central Chamber of The Legion's HQ
Lien-Da looked down at her watch, 30 minutes left and not a sign of anyone coming at least though the front way. She flicked the cover of the watch closed and looked back down at the preparation of the warship.
"Lien-Da you shouldn't worry so much, everything's going to be fine..."
She suddenly jumped, turning around to face Knuckled with a start. She could never get used to that voice, especially with him creeping behind her like that. " ...I-I know...but something doesn't feel right."
Knuckles put his spiked claw on her shoulder and leaned over to whisper to her. There was a secret that he was keeping just between himself and her and didn't want everyone to hear. " Its okay, as soon as its over the family will be unstoppable again!" He leaned back, moving his paw to the top of her head before looking behind him. " I really think you should test the Robotnizer before the attack though..."
A Legionnaire ran up and bowed quickly in front of them before talking. " You might get that chance...we have some intruders!"
Lien-Da blinked, who would be so stupid to actually try and stop them now? " Intruders?"
The Legionnaire brought them to the control room, where there were enough monitors to rival the system over at Haven. The monitors turned on to show the perimeter outside of the Legion's headquarters. The Legionnaire brought his hand up and showed them three monitors. " Someone was spotted here...here...and here...about ten minutes ago."
"Then why are you just now getting us? " Lien-Da snapped, which made the Echidna cower a moment before he started up again.
" We had to make sure...that it was actually organic movement and not a part of security, mistress. " He moved over slightly to make sure that Lien-Da didn't hit him out of one of her fits of rage.
Lien-Da just growled, and then looked back to Knuckles who was studying the screen. She looked at him confused while he walked up and tapped two of the monitors, then said. " Send the capture squads there...you're bound to pick up something!"
The Legionnaire brought out his radio while he ran out the room. " We need Squad A and B to report to the South quadrant! Make sure they're armed! Squad C and D station yourselves outside of the Robotnizer!"
The female Echidna looked at the screens herself, wondering how Knuckles was able to pick out where they were so quickly when she seen nothing. " I'm rather impressed with you. "
He simply folded his arms along his chest before he responded. " You should be."
-----Unknown Area, Legion Scrapyard
"Okay, lets just get on with it..." Sabre looked over his shoulder at the other four members of the Brotherhood: Spectre, Thunderhawk, Sojourner, and Locke who was ironically enough inspecting the the pressure lock at the back of the building.
They managed to make their way though the scrapyard ahead of time, and now they were so close to getting into the building. Right now they were waiting patiently for Locke to hack the lock open when...
" I think its over this hill..." Lara-Le started, they didn't know it was her voice though...except for Locke who grimaced and turned his head to look back at the scrapile behind them.
" Well it better be, my feet hurt..."
" You're in no position to complain! This is all your fault! " That was definitely Julie-Su, she was the first to point the finger, especially if it wasn't at herself!
Locke rolled his eyes and yelled over the pile. " Lara! What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were going home!"
There was a silence over the Pile before Mighty and Espio made their way slowly up the pile, and then they pulled Julie-Su and Lara-Le up. Lara-Le stumbled a little, but quickly made her way down to pile to stand in front of the Brotherhood.
She pocketed her little blaster though, she didn't want any of them to see she had one. " I am going home, but I'm taking a detour to check on Knuckles! Isn't that why you came down here Locke? "
Locke flushed at the mention of their son, she wouldn't let it rest wouldn't she? He turned away from her and started work on the door again. " Well...maybe, but mainly we have to stop the Legion from attacking the island!"
Lara-Le walked over and knelt down, looking at the lock of the door before looking back at Mighty. " Wouldn't it make more sense for Mighty to just knock it down?"
" We don't want to draw any attention to ourselves! " Locke snapped.
Spectre looked down at them before looking up at the sky above them, there was a low rumbling which caught the attention of everyone except for Locke and Lara-Le who were arguing over how to break the door down. It was coming from right above them, where three rather small airships came down and came in front of them.
Lara-Le looked back at the Airships, which where the capture Units that were dispatched earlier to pick up anyone sneaking around obviously. She looked back towards Locke and screamed. " We have to get out of here!"
Locke looked down at his fake spiked claws and then tried to concentrate some energy though them. He looked back towards the small gathering and then motioned for them to head off towards the right...there had to be more then one way in. " Go on ahead, I'll be fine here..."
Sojourner shook his head to that. " We should all go in together..."
Julie-Su ran up and pulled the complaining old Echidna along. " This is no time for Team Spirit, Sojourner! We're running out of time!"
----Control Room: Dark Legion
" DON'T just stand there looking at them! " Lien-Da screamed before slamming her fist down into the control panel, starting a few sparks. She was giving direct commands to the capture group. " Get them! All of them!" She growled, her teeth becoming bared for a moment, but her growl was silenced when Knuckles put his paw on her shoulder.
" Shhh...they have it under control..." He whispered to them, trying to calm down her rage. " Anyway, don't we have something more pressing to do at the moment?" He reminded her of their prisoner still in the Robotnizer.
Lien-Da repeated that last statement for a moment lost, and then looked back up at him. " Oh, yes...lets get it over with then. "
----South Quad Outside Legion HQ
One of the Legionaries started off the attack, a higher rank then the ones manning the controls around them (Bah, I have no clue how ranks are achieved in the Legion). " Fire! "
The ships shot out something green from the underside of their ships, towards the left and right of the ground while they tried to get away. Mighty stumbled forward and landed in the green muck on the ground, and instantly tried to get up which just got him tangled up in it. " Arrrgh! " He had only seen this stuff on Mobius when he was hanging with Sonic! Robotnik tried to use it to trap Sonic a couple of times, but how did the Legion get some?
Espio jumped up on the wall and turned to face Mighty, shooting his tongue out for Mighty to try and grab onto (ew). Mighty tried to grab for it, but he couldn't quite her his arm around there. " Keep tryin' Mighty!" Espio tried to say, though it was kinda hard with his tongue extended.
" Okay, we got them! Fire two! " The Legionnaire called out to the workers.
Locke was ready for the second strike, and everyone was behind him since he instructed them to get back a while ago. The second strike was a series of nets which had large magnetic weights along the ends. The first one was shot at Espio who was still clinging onto the wall trying to help Mighty. The net caught him, since he wasn't paying attention to the others at the time, and because of the magnetic weights at the end it clung to the wall. Not only that, but it released an electrical charge which cause him off guard.
The second net was shot at the gathered group, Locke just breathed in deeply before he shot his right hand out in front of him. It was charged with green energy which formed into a green lighting bolt charged with Power that he was storing. The lighting bolt shot though the first net and stuck the closest Airship in front of them, causing it to float backwards uncertain.
Julie-Su caught onto Lara-Le's hands and pulled her around the group towards the pile where they came from. Lara-Le tried to ask where they were going, but couldn't get a response over all the noise around them. " Give me your Blaster! " Julie-Su screamed above the noise, one of the airships caught onto their motions and followed them up the large metal pile.
Locke felt that last strike against the net, it was burning his hand! He had to remove his glove and check his hand. The burning feeling was around his knuckles, which where blackened and sizzling. " The hell? " He muttered while rubbing the area with his still gloved hand, which was hurting too.
Thunderhawk looked up at the Airship that was left which was closing in on them. " Locke, whatever's wrong..."
" Shut up! My hand's on fire here and you're complaining!" Locke snarled, that hand eventually fell numb and he held it out at his side before looking up at the ship. There wasn't anything they could do now, without the Master Emerald's Power they couldn't use their powers. There wasn't much choice that they had right now. " We have to give up...there's nothing we can do!"
The four other Echidna passed looks between each other, and then over towards Mighty and Espio who were trapped. There really wasn't much they could do right now, at least they thought that Lara-Le and Julie-Su made it away. They raised their hands in the air to show that they surrendered...
Julie-Su jumped over the other side of the Pile, not having the time to run down the other side of the pile. Lara-Le feel down the other side and landed painfully on her stomach, wincing a little, but could hear the sound of Julie-Su powering up that blaster. Luckily it took less time to charge up then her standard blaster or they would've been done!
The airship came over the other side and circled around so they were in front of them on the other side. Since Julie-Su was on her feet they aimed the net at her first, their cannon lowering and pointing right at the pink Echidna before firing a small net towards her.
Julie-Su was ready though, many years of evasive training followed by some real action on the battlefield seemed to have prepped her for this moment. She lowered down onto her knees and did a rolling dodge, stopping on one knee towards the right with that barrel fully charged and aiming towards the hull of the ship. A single shot was all she needed, the beam coming out and cutting though the metal of the hull.
Inside the ship the Echidnas where diving out the way to avoid the solid beam which ran though the metal of the hull like Robotnik's acid rain though the forestry! The Echidna giving the commands wasn't so lucky though, he didn't have the time to get out of the way from where he was standing. He never seen it coming...
Julie-Su watched the airship go down before she started to charge for the next shot. She passed a nervous look over towards Lara-Le who was just now recovering. " Are you okay? " It was more of a question that she felt she was required to say then something she actually meant.
She looked up at Julie-Su and then muttered. " I'm worried about Locke..." She had to admit that much, he was in so much pain after attacking that airship.
The final airship, which has taken the time to round up everyone on the other side flew over their heads in an attempt to scout of the area for them. Julie-Su knelt back down with her blaster raised eye level to her. She was positive she could get a clear shot of it and shoot it down without anyone getting hurt this time around...
" There ya'll guys are!"
The voice came from behind Julie-Su and caused her to jump, which unfortunately for someone with a gun was a bad thing. The airship turned at the same time as Julie-Su fired, which caused the shot to bounce off the bulletproof glass hovering at the front of the ship. The airship stumbled back though, the force of the blow was enough to stun it for a moment.
"What the hell was that?" The commander of this ship just came into the control room to check on the status to feel the tremble. He checked back on the prisoners and then gave out the order. " Return to the base, we'll deal with them later!"
The ship pulled back and flew back towards the top of the building. Julie-Su on the other hand turned her blaster around, charging again with her eyes narrowed. " Come out from under there you green bastard! I'm going to blow your head off!" She shouted into the rubble, she can't believe he made her mess up that shot.
Vector slipped out from under a shell of an older airship and looked at Julie-Su surprised. He moved his hands up to either side and tried to explain. " I've been tryin' to catch up with ya'll, but you ran off!"
Julie-Su rose the blaster up between Vector's eyes (don't ask, I know --) and Lara-Le quickly grasped Julie-Su's hands and took the blaster away. " That's enough! We don't have the time for this!" She stated before putting the blaster away.
Julie-Su shot a glare at Vector before looking back to Lara-Le, who looked really hurt by what she was doing actually. The pink Echidna sighed and then nodded off to her. " Fine...do you have another way to get in? The door idea is pretty much shot." She motioned off to the door, which was still locked on the other side of the pile.
Lara-Le nodded and then took a few well placed steps forward before grabbing a large metal pipe to her side. She tapped along the side of the pile, checking here and there until she struck something hollow. " Right here..." She moved back and swiftly kicked the metal away from an opening to what looked like a tunnel which lead underground. " This should take us inside."
Vector looked over, and then back to Lara-Le. " You sure 'bout that?"
She nodded and then started down into the ditch, which was pretty well lit and was probably there before the Dark Legion set up their base there. When she got down in the hole she looked back up to them and motioned for them to come along before ducking down into the hole.
Julie-Su was about to go down into the hole when her arm was tugged by Vector, she looked back at him as if to say 'what?' with her eyes narrowed.
"I guess this means you don't like me anymore, huh?" He smirked a little, showing off his two rows of fangs that Julie-Su would've more then gladly kicked in at that moment.
Her response was just to whip the arm that he had forward so he flew past her and onto the ground in the hole. She smirked a little and jumped down, landing on his back before stepping off smoothly.
" Ow...'kay, I got ya point..."
---Robotization Chambers, Legion Headquarters
"I really think you should test the Robotnizer before you start turning the resistance into Robots, Lien-Da. We don't want to have the most valuable workers for the Legion to be malfunctioning. " Knuckles looked back towards Charmy who was still in the glass. The bee had long ago stopped ramming the glass and was sitting down at the back of the tube Indian style.
Lien-Da looked down at Charmy, she thought he was a good enough test subject for now. A Legionnaire came into the room, bowed for a moment before turning to Lien-Da. " Did you capture them? " She was going to be blunt with the man, since there was only 10 minutes before the airships were set to go out.
The man stuttered a little, he seemed to be new, or just nervous around the high ranked Echidna " We captured the Brotherhood, and some of the Chaotix...b-b-but..."
" But? What is it? " She thrashed out at him, grabbing him by his collar and bringing him in close.
" Two of them got away...and one of them were unaccounted for. " He stuttered, and tried to turn his head away from her.
She would help him with that, her free hand coming across his cheek and whipping it in the opposite direction. " Which two got away?" Her tone turned dark, and it showed though her eyes.
" Julie-Su and another female Echidna...I-I don't know who she was..."
Knuckles moved back a little, he had too since Lien-Da was moving past them towards the Robotnizer. One of the worker Echidnas opened the glass and another one grabbed Charmy, holding his wings so he couldn't get away. Anyone, anyone at all but Julie-Su's name could've been said there. She threw him in the Robotnizer and told the worker to close the tube over him before he recovered. The Echidna stood up and looked helplessly out from where he was behind the glass, and then back at Lien-Da begging to be let back out.
Lien-Da just took a few short steps backwards before explaining his situation ahead of time. " You're unfortunately the bringer of bad news..." She looked back towards the worker behind the Robotnizer's panel and motioned for her to turn it on.
Unfortunately the Robotnizer that they had was a lot older then the one that Robotnik was using back in Robotropolis right now (hell, he was robotizing people with his touch and breath back on the surface e_e). This was probably one of the first models, since the light which started the beam up started from the bottom of the tube and not the top. The Echidna inside clawed at the virtually unbreakable glass when the beam touched his legs. Luckily his screaming was blocked out by the thickness of the glass.
Everyone but Lien-Da turned their heads away from that sight. This Echidna would be the first mobian to be fully robotized on the island in this way, and they weren't as well adjusted to it as most mobians were. Eventually the screaming stopped, a cloud of smoke filled the bottom of the room while the tube was being lifted. Inside now was a fully Robotized Echidna with glowing red eyes which stepped down from the raised platform.
Lien-Da was still looking at the female worker behind the control panel. " Check his vitals, and be quick about it! "
" He's 100% robotized, Mistress. He's working at about 75% efficiency and slowly rising, systems seem to be normal.." She trailed off into a more detailed report which wasn't that important to her actually.
Lien-Da looked back at Knuckles. " It works..." She said that flatly, since it was apparent that it worked.
Knuckles nodded and walked over to the door in the back, sticking his head out he called out to someone outside. " Okay, you can bring them in now!" He called out to the guards at the door.
One by one, linked together at the wrists by a metal band that was magnetized at the wrist locks so they would bond together. At the head of the line was Locke who was looking down at his wrist which were slowly starting to heal. There were two small bumps forming around his knuckle area that were probably welts, but he couldn't tell for sure unless he took off his other glove. The Brotherhood, Mighty, and Espio where brought in and stood at the back of the room at gunpoint (well...lazerpoint).
Locke looked up for a moment, but only to look over towards Knuckles confused. He stared for a moment before leaning over to Sabre who was right next to him. " Somethin's extremely wrong here...I can feel it..."
" I know...I know..." Sabre responded a little worried himself.
---Under Dark Legion's Headquarters
"We're almost there, how much time to we have left? " Lara-Le was leading the way, while Julie-Su and Vector exchanged glances behind her. She got worried because she got no response at first, and then whipped her head around to look back at them. " Excuse me!"
The two were locked in a starring contest, something to keep their minds off the long stretch of tunnel in front of them. They both jumped at the same time, not before Vector claimed that he won though. The pink Echidna looked down at her watch and then looked back up at Lara-Le. " Five minutes, we'll never make it!"
Lara-Le looked above them and suddenly stopped, pointing up a what looked like a trapdoor up above them. " Its right up there!"
" Where's it gunna lead us to? " Vector stopped right under the trapdoor and looked up himself before looking back down at the two females.
Lara-Le thought for a moment before walking over to join them. " It should lead to the airstrip inside...."
Julie-Su thought about they, looks like they'll have to stop the attack against the Island first before they saved anybody. " Best bet is to each go our own way..."
" Hold on a second!" Vector suddenly cut into that Julie-Su was about to say. " There is no way that we're going to get split up again! We have to go after them together!"
" I'd have to agree with that Julie-Su...we'll have no chance against them on our own. " Lara-Le motioned for Vector to get down before looking back to Julie-Su. " There has to be enough time to save everyone...there has to be..." There was a hint of worry in her voice, they could tell she was extremely worried over Locke and Knuckles in there.
Julie-Su moved up and sat on Vector's shoulders, they would have to make a ladder chain to get up there. She grabbed onto Lara-Le's wrists and hoisted her onto her shoulders. Vector then stood up, a little wobbly, but he could hold those two right under the trap door. " Goddess, ya'll are heavy! " Vector grumbled, and luckily Julie-Su couldn't smack Vector from where she was sitting.
Lara-Le grabbed onto the round bronze ring handle on the trapdoor and started to push up. " I got it!" and she started to push.
---Robotization Chambers
Lien-Da wasn't pressed for time, things were going smoothly without any other signs of resistance. Right now her mood was swinging around to a better mood, and she looked over to Knuckles with a smirk. " You choose who goes first..." And she was in a very gracious mood as well it seemed!
The male Echidna nodded and looked down the row, Espio would've shouted something at Knuckles if his tongue wasn't still coated with the muck used to trap Mighty. Knuckles' violet eyes rested on Locke on the front of the row and then motioned off to him before responding to Lien-Da. " Don't see the harm in Robotizing them in order, we'll start with him. "
Locke looked up again from inspecting his paws to find the guards already on him, releasing his bounds and dragging him over to the Robotnizer. His eyes were widened a little in shock, mainly to the shock of what Knuckles said, he never called him anything but 'Dad' since he knew Locke was his dad! He thought it was a little off, like the rest of his behavior.
At first he made no resistance against the guards, but then realizing that his restraints were off he quickly turned his head and yelled back at Knuckles. " Who the hell are you? " He yelled, and then started to struggle against the guards, knocking one away and then the other. " I have no idea who the hell you think you are, but you're not my son !"
He got free from the other guard and balled that badly burnt fist up before charging at who he thought was an impostor. He found himself grounded again a few feet away from him, five guards on his back and pulling him back to his feet. He was dragged back towards the Robotnizer, this time he wasn't able to get away before they stood him on the Robotizer's platform. Locke still struggled, which caused the guards to pull up some short chains from some panels inside of the steel panel of the Robotnizer to go around his neck, wrists, and ankles.
Charmy, who was still being held down the line by a guard due to the lack of restraints in the bee's size nodded off to Locke. He agreed with him, though in a few moments it would seem not to matter since the former Guardian would be nothing more then a drone for the Dark Legion.
The glass tube was lowered down over Locke's head, and he, still trying to work his way out of the chains, but only succeeding in cutting into his skin with them was glaring at 'the impostor' while the shield was being lowered.
Lien-Da was startled by Locke's outrage, but soon recovered and motioned over to the equally startled female behind the counter. " Start it!"
--------TO BE CONTINUED