Chapter 2

The needle-nosed nemesis simply drank in Mina's shock; he gave an impetuous smile as he began to pace around the tube.

"Yes, Mina." He laughed. "I suppose you weren't expecting me to capture you. Of course, everyone underestimates me, so I'm not so surprised."
"I thought you were a friend to the Freedom Fighters!"
"I am only a friend when I need to be one." Snively truly looked evil in the shadows. "And now, I don't need to be one."
"…..Then……" Mina suddenly realized. "Robotnik! What does he want with me, Snively?!"
"…Robotnik?" Snively's laugh became harsh. "Ha! The Eggman isn't a part of this; I do this on my own."
"Then why did you capture me?"

Snively turned to face Mina; his smile simply seemed more deadly by the minute.

"I need a little song bird to capture the annoying cat that keeps scrounging in my yard." Snively took several steps back. "And at the moment, you're in my cage. Let us use you to the fullest advantage, shall we?"
"I'm ready for my upgrade, Mr. Snively."

Mina turned towards her left and gasped. In another sastitube was the pile of metal parts. They glowed in the blue liquid, but yet there was no mistaking the green colors it had, nor the form it took. It was a robotic crocodile.

"Activate the machine, Snively."

There was also no mistaking the wiring, and the machinery over the tubes. Mina instantly knew what was happening as Snively grasped a lever on the wall.

"NO!!!!!!!!!!"
"Now the fun begins."

Snively turned the machine on. And watched the fun as Mina writhed in pain.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"

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"Now who's that idiot robot working for?!" Sonic paced. "First he's working with Robotnik. Then, he works alone. Then, he goes crazy, and now he's working for someone again?!"

Sally watched from her seat at the table as Snaggle visibly fretted. He was literally shaking in his seat.

"It's ok, Snaggle…."
"Well, if your description is to be believed, Sonic…" Rotor rubbed his chin. "Monkey Khan's mainframe is very easy to manipulate, and anyone can control him. He is, after all…" And at this, he gave a slight smirk. "A 'failed' experiment of Robotnik's."
"I'd be surprised that Rotor cracked a joke if the situation wasn't so serious." Sonic looked at the nearly empty table. "Bunnie's gone down to Downunda for a mission, Antoine's with his dad on vacation, and Tails is in the hospital with strep. So that leaves me, Sally, and Rotor-"
"And me!" Amy chirped in annoyingly.
"…..Right. It just leaves half of us to find out who's doing this."
"Why would Monkey Khan take Mina?" Sally looked at Snaggle. "And why didn't he take you kids?"
"I d-dunno…."
"Obviously….." Rotor rubbed his chin. "Obviously it's a trap of some sorts. But why they'd kidnap Mina is beyond me."
"A trap for me? Aww, how sweet of Robotnik!" Sonic mumbled sarcastically.
"…..I don't know if its necessarily Robotnik, given that he would have taken the kids too, knowing him."
"…..Then who was it?"

The table was silent at this for a moment. All four Freedom Fighters looked at each other uneasily.

"I've got a few possibilities on my mind…." Sally looked at Sonic. "How about you?"
"A few names cross the list with me as well." Sonic turned to Rotor. "You think you can try to get some way to home in on any robots or anything suspicious that might be coming in on Knothole?"
"I can." Rotor tipped his hat. "You can count on me to do that."
"Right!" Sonic turned back to Snaggle. "In the meantime, Snaggle, you take us back to where you last saw that monkey, right? Maybe we'll find something there."
"O…..ok…."

With a sniff and a nod, Snaggle took Sally's hand, and the group proceeded out of the room.

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"……Finally…."

The smoke cleared from the opened tube, the liquid draining out of it. Standing tall again was the silhouette that Snively had taken care of. His metallic green skin glistened in the dim light of the laboratory and he stretched himself out.

"Not quite how I had imagined….." He turned towards his right. "But for now, it will have to do."

In the tube next to him, Mina floated almost lifelessly, the blue liquid seemingly clinging to her like a leech. Her eyes were rolled up towards the back of her head, and her mouth was partially open, almost drooling from the left corner.

"For an injured girl, she puts out a good amount." The robotic figure looked at its hands, its metallic voice rasping. "But we'll need to act quickly if we're to accomplish our goals efficiently, won't we?"
"Don't worry, sir." Snively's smile relished in a bask of evil glee. "With all of the modifications and upgrades I've implanted, Sonic and the Freedom Fighters don't stand a chance against you."
"They'd better not."
"They won't." With this, Snively placed a chip on the figure's leg. "Here. This will ensure that you won't get cut off from the energy input you need. I've also taken other special….precautions to ensure the hedgehog won't stop us so easily."
"Excellent." The figure's robotic eyes glowed red. "Now, its time to leave a little calling card for the Freedom Fighters!"

With that, the figure gave a beastly roar and leapt out of the lab like a tiger, breaking the door as he did. Despite this, Snively rubbed his hands together in pure delight.

"Go, Monkey Khan…" In the shadows of the lab, Monkey Khan floated forward. "Go and make sure that our invitation gets through."
"Yes, Snively."

With a crackle of lightning, Monkey Khan disappeared through the door as well. Snively turned back towards Mina, smirking at her obvious plight.

"Yes……everything is going according to plan!" he cackled. "Soon, I shall be supreme ruler of all Mobius!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"

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"This is the place?"
"Y-yeah……"

They were back at the field where Mina had been taken. Sonic, Sally, Rotor, Amy and Snaggle stood over the small streaks of blood that had once belonged to Mina. Rory and Sasha, also victim to Monkey Khan, had already been brought back for treatment.

"So she was right here when Monkey Khan picked her up…." Snaggle whimpered as he saw his dandelions on the ground, crushed. "He hit her in the head."
"Yeah…." Sonic looked around. "Judging by the scorched grass, Mina put up a fight."
"Which leads us again to why Mina was kidnapped. Also, who kidnapped her." Amy crossed her arms. "If I were someone after us, Mina would be the last person I'd kidnap."
"Oh?" Rotor turned to Sally. "Why's that?"
"Because she isn't a Freedom Fighter."
"But she's collateral, and that's good enough." Sally pulled her hair out of her face. "Snaggle, was there any way of telling who Monkey was working for?"
"N-no…." Snaggle was mourning his dandelions as he spoke, "He just kept sayin' 'Thunderbolt'. Though he did say he would do what his masters told him to…"
"Masters?" Sonic slapped his forehead. "Greaaat. It's not just one enemy we're dealing with; we've got an alliance!"
"And there's only one person underhanded enough to make an alliance with just about anyone." Sally looked at Sonic. "Snively."
"Well, then! Who's he making an alliance with now? Monkey Khan?!" Sonic laughed. "That's a horrible alliance if you ask me."
"Sonic!"
"Aww, come on! If he shows up, I can whup his butt!"
"But Monkey Khan said his 'masters', so he's not the only person who's working with Snively! It's not going to be that easy, Sonic."
"What the little princess said."

The new voice rumbled through their ears, and all five of them gasped at the sound of it.

"It won't be easy if I have anything to say of it!"

All five of them slowly turned around. All of them, with the exception of Snaggle, glared at what they saw.

"You, huh…."

Snaggle quivered at the sight of the silhouette. He was no longer the heaping lump of tank wreckage that he had been the last time Sonic saw him, many months ago, after the prisoner revolt at the Devil's Gulag. He was a seven foot tall behemoth, a giant, taller than he had been during his alliance with Dr. Robotnik. All of his fingers were fitted with tipped bullets; his shoulders were fitted with several hand fitting lines of ammunition for his hands. His tail, longer than before, was also fitted with bullets, as well as sharp spikes. A new plate of green armor covered his chest, his legs and his arms.

"Well, well, hedgehog…." Crocbot's voice was filled with poisonous confidence as he looked down upon his adversaries. "It looks like we meet yet again…."