"Has the operation started yet?"

"Yes."

"And the female agent?"

"On her way."

"Excellent. Keep me updated."

"Understood."

CHAPTER 2

INDUSTRIAL SECTOR, 00:35 AM

It started raining in Robotropolis. Corrosion and acid splashed against weakened cement walls and rusty metal. Badniks were aligned in rows, marching towards a factory. Guardianbots were positioned on each side of the giant door that was open for the robotic mechanoids.

The first row entered trough the guarded door, walking in a monotonous pace. Inside the factory, badniks worked on parts for a new line of Swatbots. The Wacky Workbench factory was what it was named, since Robotnik created many odd mechanic menaces in here, ranging from a swarm of giant robotic wasps to a giant octopus-like crab with sawblades sticking out its ends to cut down trees in the great forest.

Even after Doctor Robotnik's fall, the production line in here kept working, managed by security bots with production instructions and restless routine until new orders were received from their mad creator.

On one corner of the factory stood a badnik vixen, supervising the work left behind by previous workers. She inspected a large torso-like structure (which was hanging from the ceiling by chains over a metallic table), moving it around with her metallic claws. Her red eyes where much different from other badniks, they looked over the structure with both intelligence and self-awareness.

Her eyes blinked once as she touched the upper side of the torso, then removed a plate from it. A complex bundle of cables were inside, each with a different color. The robovixen sled her claws inside of it, moving around the cables carefully. Her mouth opened a bit as she found what she was looking for and started to pull her claws from the torso. She held a rectangular shaped microchip above her head, examining its lines of circuitry. A robotic slavemaster hovered behind her, observing her with a telescopic eye. The vixen put the microchip down beside the torso and once again replaced her claws inside the open compartment, moving cables and other circuitry around. The slavemaster resumed its surveillance, leaving her alone.

She stopped abruptly as she heard a metallic tapping below her. The vixen looked under the mechanic torso, at a drainage entrance blocked by a barred door. Her red eyes dilated fully as she noticed Hershey's face, flashing a grin inside the drain.

The vixen nodded once and straightened her pose, looking around for any more slavemasters or swatbots wandering about. She looked up at a camera turning her way and resumed her work, placing a foot above the trapdoor below. The camera stood a few seconds observing her, and then it began moving away slowly. The vixen opened the hatch below her and slid inside quickly, not wanting to be caught by anything. She closed the hatch by the time the camera rotated back towards her location.

***

SEWAGE UNDERGROUND, 01:45 AM

"Geez, you sure pick the weirdest places to meet, Medusa." Hershey said, following her badnik comrade trough a series of pipes under the busy factory. Medusa was the codename given to the vixen before she was transformed during a mission sent by the underground resistance. Her codename was about the only thing she kept intact from her past life as a Mobian.

Medusa shrugged, "Hey, I am not the one crazy enough to come here by myself without any help of any sort. But enough of the small talk, tell me what's up this time. I have not heard from any of you guys from months. I was beginning to think that you have forgotten me."

"Oh my, perish the thought!" Hershey said in a made-up accent, "I would not do never do a thing to such an elegant (and shiny) robo-vixen as yourself. Next time I'll bring a can of oil and a free tune-up ticket at Robotnik's."

"Keep it up, smart ass. I'll wear those whiskers of yours as a luck charm."

Hershey smirked and kept following Medusa along the way. The labyrinth-like pipelines where used mainly for transporting waste liquid materials to the rivers of Robotropilis. This particular viaduct was seldom used, since repairs on it was done recently. Anyone venturing here would be lost forever, or lead into the wrong way to other viaducts filled with poisonous gases and toxic rivers. Medusa knew the structure of it by memory, after downloading data from the Wacky Workbench's main computer. That was one of Hershey's most valuable opportunities at the moment, since she was able to have a copy of the sewer maps in hand when she contacted Medusa earlier on.

While they were avoiding traps and security cameras underground, Hershey told Medusa of the current situation. The whole explanation ended as they reached their destination. They settled inside a lone concrete room with a steel table and a couple of chairs, far away from the industrial area and even further below Robotropolis. The walls were adorned with maps of the ancient Mobiopolis, while on another wall there was a hand-drawn map of Robotropolis. On the wall nearest the table hung a vast writing board, with crayons hanging from its side. There was some smudged writing on it; Hershey could not make out what it read.

The room was used to brief meetings before venturing into a mission. Strategies and equipment were all discussed in this area. Nobody outside the rebellion ever knew of this place, not even Robotnik suspected that such area even existed, meaning there were no worries about any swatbots ever raiding it.

Also, the water running beside the room seemed to be clean. This must have been one of those forgotten entrances that connected to grottos and crystal caves underground. Some of the very few which offered fresh water to organic life outside the dreaded robotic capital. Perhaps this was the last place that had such natural resources, even.

Hershey and Medusa both sat down, discussing the pros and cons of strategies discussed. The Lieutenant took off her visor and red beret, placing them aside her arm on the table. The air was musky, but not unbearable enough to complain.

"You say that you know this group?" Hershey asked, finding out that Medusa's name was screened in the laptop earlier on. "How did you got involved with such people?"

"Yeah, well..."the badnik shrugged, "I go incognito into Robotropolis' main factories and download anything that they might find useful from old servers. In return, I am kept safe and under their protection twenty-four seven. Not a bad deal if you ask me."

Hershey remained silent; she was not sure what to say to this. Before she could change the subject however, Medusa placed a minidisk in front of her, colored red with silver linings around the edges.

"What's this?" said Hershey as she picked it up, studying it carefully.

"This will give you the access codes you will need to reach Lower Mobius. Hopefully they may aid in what you are looking for. Make sure to give them my name when you find their Captain. Also, let me hand you this..."

The badnik reached for a polyester bag below the table, and then placed it on the surface. As she opened it, she reached for a gun-type weapon, placing it aside the bag along with three square-shaped cartridges. The gun was about the size of Hershey's hand, while the cartridges were smaller. Medusa placed on of them on the tip of the gun, then pushed it gently, making a clicking sound as it strapped together.

"This is an electrical disrupter taser." Medusa said, "One of my favorite guns back in the day. It can shoot as far as 30 meters to its target, and it can send out enough power to make a Guardianbot explode in seconds. It has cables attached to it so you may retrieve the cartridge after you've done frying those bastards."

Hershey could almost see her smile, with those steel fangs sticking out from the vixen's face. She rubbed her chin approvingly, nodding.

"I am sure you've got some weapons of your own, but you can never have enough in places like these. Especially when going solo." Her eyes glowed as she looked at Hershey, handing her the taser. Hershey accepted the gift, avoiding the vixen's eyes. It had a good grip, and felt comfortable against her fingertips.

"I will follow you to the entrance of the elevators, the shift is changing now." Medusa said as she got up from the chair, Hershey picked up her belongings and followed her, looking around for anything-or anyone- that might of been following them.

This time, they took the route inside the natural grotto. Hershey's feet splashed against a muddy and drastically loose ground. Hershey strapped on a night-vision device around her head after it became too difficult to see the way. She turned it on, watching as a million and one rocks and boulders of many sizes and shapes encircled her view. The green and dark colors did not prevent the majestic image that this place offered. Water streams came and go from all sides, as the natural muddy banks seemed endless. Hershey wished she could stop for a minute to contemplate it.

Each drop of water from a stalagmite made an enchanting echo that was heard for miles. The darkness around was pleasant, unlike the unnatural setting of the big city above. Medusa stopped and turned her head around, eyes gleaming red against the darkness, looking at Hershey.

"Watch your step. We're almost there."

The rough road seemed less crowded as Hershey watched out for inverted stalagmites and loose rocks on the mud. The heavy dripping of water was way behind them, and the air felt a little musky, with hints of smog and sewage waste around. On the far end of the grotto there was a tiny light source, which glittered inside Hershey's night vision equipment. She turned it off, pulling the headset above her forehead and followed Medusa until reaching an exit, which was at the far end of Robotropolis, near the junkyard.

"It'll be a bit stinky, but I think you'll manage." Medusa said, walking towards the opening.

"Whoopy." Replied Hershey sourly, following the metallic vixen outside.