It was a gray morning in Knothole. Everyone knew about Bunnie, and depression settled over the village like a malignant cloud. Very few citizens walked around; those that did acted as if they were waist-deep in mashed potatoes, moving about only with the greatest of difficulty.
The fact that the Freedom Fighters had eliminated their target didn't change the fact that they'd been defeated soundly.
Sonic and Tails sat silent in front of the Power Ring pool. Sonic was motionless, an absolutely bizarre condition for him, while Tails trailed a stick in the water. He wasn't controlling it well; the stick kept getting stuck in the reeds and the mud. Tails didn't know this, though. As far as he was concerned, the stick might have been a million kilometers away, controlled by someone else. He sure wasn't able to think about it.
The two of them remained there.
On any other day of the past few weeks—nay, on most days of the past year—Sonic and Tails would have been out "training". Sometimes this meant hide-and-seek or "tracking" exercises. Sometimes it meant helping in the gardens, under some pretense. The past two weeks, it had meant thinking and physical exercises and direct instruction about Robotropolis.
Always it had been fun.
Always… until yesterday, when it all became so real.
"Sonic," said Tails.
It had never truly been silent; the stream feeding the pool had bubbled, the non-sentient animals had rustled, the light wind had rustled the trees. Even so, for either Sonic or Tails to make a sound was like screaming at a library.
Sonic barely registered. "Yeah?"
"I don't wanna train today."
Sonic nodded. "I know. I wasn't plannin' anything."
"I want to…" Tails trailed off, but immediately came back again. "I want to forget about being a Freedom Fighter!"
"I know," Sonic repeated dully.
Tails hadn't expected this. He'd expected Sonic to argue against him, or at least tell him to reconsider.
This reaction was worse. Tails wasn't sure how to proceed. All the time he'd spent planning this argument had just been flushed. Sonic just sat there impassively. What was wrong with him?
"Don't you want me to be a Freedom Fighter?"
"I donno," said Sonic.
Tails began to panic. "Sonic, say something!"
"About what?"
"Being a Freedom Fighter!"
Sonic finally moved, turning his head towards Tails. "Whaddya want me to say?"
"Tell me why I should be a Freedom Fighter."
There was a long silence. "I'm not sure I can," he said at last.
"Why not?"
Tails had to know. He was really scared now.
"I'm not sure if I want you to be a Freedom Fighter."
Tails went to Sonic, and the two embraced.
"But one thing's for sure," Sonic said.
"What?"
"You can't forget it."
Tails felt the fingers on his neck again and seized up. He felt Sonic shiver with every part of his body. Sonic continued to shiver for almost three seconds.
Then they wept.
Sally stared into the wall.
Over the past three hours, she'd tried to plan a raid. No, she hadn't gotten that far. It had taken her three hours, and she hadn't even selected a target yet.
She tried again to focus her attention. Let's see, backup generators here and here, blaster manufacturing, I sure hope Bunnie's okay, what will Tails think, how could that have happened…
It had been like this the whole time.
She shouted in frustration and tossed Nicole across the room.
Instantly she followed the computer and picked it up again. "Nicole, are you alright?"
Nicole's voice and its programmed patience eased Sally a small bit. "Systems check complete. All systems functioning normally."
Sally fell back into her chair.
What else am I supposed to be doing today? I can't remember. My attention is so scattered.
Great. The only clear thoughts I can manage are the ones that make matters worse.
The sound of her door opening gave Sally a jolt. She looked up and saw Sonic letting himself in.
She slumped in her chair. "What, Sonic?"
He didn't respond. The silence became tangible, an irritant that buzzed around Sally's head and crackled in her ears.
Both she and Sonic sat there. She watched him carefully, but he made no move. If he came there for a reason, he wasn't sharing it with her.
She couldn't stand the silence any longer! There couldn't be silence between them; it was too alien to comprehend in this company.
"I've told Rotor to drop everything and devote himself full time to repairing Bunnie's leg."
Sonic nodded slowly. "That's cool. Sooner she's healed, the better."
Healed. The right word. She was a living creature, not a robot, after all.
"Rotor says that, even working full time, it'll take him at least two weeks to do it if he can get all the parts he needs."
There was no joke from Sonic, no crack about how could Rotor be missing something if the storage shed was so full, no nothing. He simply nodded sagely and said, "Yeah, that's good."
Sally worried about the decision. She had no doubt it was the right one—though hearing that from Sonic certainly helped. No, it worried her because it weakened the Freedom Fighters still further. Any devices or explosives they needed—not to mention any possible work on their fledgling de-Roboticiser—would have to wait until Rotor could get back to them. And that could be quite a while, if what Rotor had told her was true.
The blast had done severe damage to the leg. In an animal's body, it would have vaporized a good chunk of bone, leaving almost no chance of recovery. Ever. In a robot, the damage was easier to repair, but there was a complication.
"She's a Roboticised animal," Rotor had said. "Some of the components are just ruined. I'd have to replace them if I wanted to repair the leg. But…" he'd trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.
"But that wouldn't be Bunnie?"
"No."
"Would it be indistinguishable? I mean, if we ever de-Roboticise her, would it be… her?"
"That's the problem," Rotor had said, grimacing. "I don't know."
Those words echoed in Sally's ears—and she dared not repeat them to Sonic. More depression was not what he needed if she was any judge of hedgehogs, and she was.
"No training Tails today?"
She'd just been searching for something to say, but by the look on Sonic's face, she'd hit him in a soft spot. "I couldn't do it, Sal," he said. "I can't bring myself to do anything with Tails right now."
"Because of what happened to Bunnie?"
"Kinda. It's not just 'cause I'm afraid of that happenin' to Tails. I hate that he was put in that situation. An' I hate that there was nothin' I could do about it." He shrugged. "The only thing I can think is that I've messed up."
Sally laughed bitterly. "No, not you, Sonic. If anyone, it's me. You didn't put them in that situation; I did by making a faulty plan. I led them right into trouble. I was too ambitious and pushed too hard."
"C'mon, Sal, you know better than that."
"What do I know?"
"That it wasn't your fault!"
"Then how is it yours?"
"'Cause I didn't pull 'em out!"
"Isn't that my fault, too? I made you come with me to try and complete the mission anyway, and it ended like this."
"Sal, I'm not gonna let you think this was your fault. You always say it's your fault, and it's not."
"You seem only too willing to take the blame on yourself, even though you have more tenuous claims to it than me."
Sonic laid his paw on hers, making her jump a little in surprise at the contact. "Sal, let's be miserable together."
"Why?"
"'Cause it beats bein' miserable alone."
To this she could only nod, and firmly grasp him back with her paw.
He was right. It was better.
They sat for a few moments. "How's Tails taking it?" she asked.
"Better than I am," said Sonic. "I think he'll be alright."
"I'm just scared about how close a call that was. You know Tails almost got strangled."
Sonic nodded.
"But… perversely…" Sally trailed off. "It turns out that some of the things we saw in Tails, we were right about. There is an advantage to training him. We'd been using Bunnie to bring him along, and he ended up saving her life."
"Finally!" said Sonic.
"What?"
"I knew there had to be somethin' good that happened. That was it. Tails saw Bunnie get mangled, but trashed those bots an' got her out, and that's way past cool. So somethin' good DID happen!"
Sally tried to smile. "That's all you need?"
"Sal, you can't keep a good 'hog down. I don't wanna be depressed. Sure, I wanna not make the same stupid mistake, but I don't plan on mopin' around forever. So if somethin' cool happened, I wanna make a big deal out of it. I wanna be happy about that. You got me?"
Sally smiled, this time genuinely. "I'm glad to know you, Sonic Hedgehog."
Sonic shrugged and smiled. "I try."
The plan was blown already.
Rotor had reported a close call with some patrolling Swatbots. Sonic had had to smash two hover units already. Now Sally was staring down a pair of Stealth Orbs.
Given that, Sally didn't see anything wrong with using the flare gun. Normally she avoided using it if at all possible; it was too obvious to everyone, Robotnik included. However, under the circumstances, it might actually be better to use the flare; it would draw bots away from the Freedom Fighters that weren't yet in position.
She aimed the flare gun at a Stealth Orb above her. When she fired the gun, the flare caught the Stealth Orb and carried to into the night sky.
Boom!
A spectacular explosion lit up the smog over Robotropolis and scattered the Stealth Orb into uncountable fragments.
That was the signal, Sally thought. Everyone should have seen that. If they did, then as of now they know that I'm aborting the plan.
Sally leapt up and got a paw onto the other Orb. It shook wildly, trying to evade her grip. It succeeded, and she fell into the muck. Before she went, though, she'd put several fingers into the camera of the Orb. Now it was blind, a worthless hunk of scrap metal floating in the air.
Sally left it far behind her. Since I told everyone else to evacuate, she thought, it wouldn't quite be safe for me not to.
As she gradually left the combat zone, she gradually was able to think more, and gradually felt worse.
Two failed missions in a row. They were running out of time before Robotnik got the Robotropolis mainframe back online, and they weren't taking advantage of it.
She'd been wrong to push things so much. Everyone was on edge from what had happened to Bunnie. They were tired from going on three raids in a row. She'd tried too hard, asked too much.
What everyone needed was just a night off.
But if she let up, this opportunity would slip through her fingers.
She hated being in charge sometimes.
So many years of close contact with Robotnik had made Snively very adept at picking up signals from Robotnik. The little expressions or gestures Robotnik made, that he thought insignificant, gave Snively the information he needed to keep himself safe from his boss' wrath.
Snively watched Robotnik carefully. His hands were shaking a little, but now becoming still. Was that… relief?
Why would Robotnik be relieved that Sonic was getting away?
"Sir," Snively said, "the Swatbots have lost the hedgehog, and they can't seem to find the princess."
"Very good," said Robotnik.
Why? Snively decided to risk asking. "Sir, why is that good? I thought we wanted to catch the hedgehog."
Robotnik threw a sharp glance at Snively, causing him to shudder. "Snively, what I need right now is to not be distracted by those rodents. We haven't the time nor the resources to deal with those furries right now. If they just stay out of my way, I'll be thankful."
Snively tried to analyze why that might be. Robotnik spared him the trouble and spoke again.
"Even with all of our worker bots, it will take at least two more days before the mainframe is operational again. Until then, we can't coordinate a pursuit. We have a lot of difficulty protecting my city. And most importantly, we can't rebuild anything they destroy."
"But surely we can when we're done with the mainframe, sir. All these worker bots…"
"Snively, have you comprehended the communications you read to me? We brought in half of these worker bots from other cities, and now those cities are screaming for them back. This is the most important city in my empire, but I can't afford to ignore the other places. So after the immediate priority of the mainframe is solved, I have no choice but to send those bots back."
He clenched his fist. "So no, we won't have this large of a workforce to repair the damage. Losing the Stealth Bots was painful but not crippling, but losing that power plant hurts. As if I didn't have enough administration problems already!"
Your problems, Snively thought, you mean my problems. He didn't have time to relish the thought, however, as Robotnik turned to Snively again. "So, Snively, I want you to make sure that we have some freighters free to transport those worker bots back when we're done with them."
"Yes, sir." Snively looked at the computer displays on the hover unit, then looked over the smaller computers all around him. Over the past few days, Robotnik and Snively had installed several computers in this hover unit, making it the closest thing to a command point they could manage. It was still far, far inferior to the mainframe, but it was better than nothing. "Two oil tankers are coming in two days from now. They will be available after they dump their oil at the refinery complex."
"That will do," said Robotnik.