12 /30 /03
**FREEDOM FIGHTERS OF MOBIUS**
Sonic the Hedgehog Neo Redux
By Antipode Echidna
e-mail: SonicNeoRedux@yahoo.com
Mobian Time: Year 3237, Day 288
Episode: Vanquish
Story (c) 2003 by the author. Based on characters created by Sega, DiC Productions, and/or Archie Comics Group, used without permission, but protected by totally rad copyright laws... Woo-hoo!
Other characters:
Chip and Cruiser, Kara and Grease (c) Antipode Echidna / Adam Czech. Please ask permission before using any of my charas, thanx!
The shuttle doors opened, and Doctor Ivo Robotnik set foot on Doomsday. He took two steps into the hangar, forcing Snively to wait in the vehicle while he reveled in this moment, his moment. He took a deep breath, inhaling all the chemicals that were wafting through the air. It was truly a beautiful thing.
"Look at it, Snively," he hissed, mostly for his own benefit. "Isn't my creation marvelous?"
"Wonderful, sir," the little man replied with more than a hint of disdain in his voice. It had not escaped his notice that Robotnik had something of an ego, and he did all he could not to encourage it.
"Doomsday is nearly operational," he continued, starting down the hallway to the command center for the facility. "And then, those miserable little fur balls will be out of my hair for good."
Snively followed him silently, looking around at the disgusting waste of time and material. If the good doctor had spent half as much time actually looking for the freedom fighters as he did designing new kinds of weaponry to destroy them he would have found them long ago. Robotnik spent far too much energy on secondary activities, as far as he was concerned.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Things moved quickly at Knothole as the target date for assault on Doomsday approached. Plans and strategies were made, by Sally and the other cell leaders that came to Knothole with their assistance. The population of the camp had nearly doubled since Sally put out the call for gathering, which resulted in most of the huts being filled to capacity, with most of the new arrivals sleeping outside anyway.
Now there were several groups of Mobians that came to them daily, wishing to join in the fight. Sally's office was now something of a registration office, and she would sit and take name, rank, and serial number from those coming in. It was time-consuming and annoying, since there were other things she needed to do to prepare for the battle.
She finished up the paperwork on the current initiate, informing her to locate Bunnie in the training area. She was in charge of sizing up all the new recruits, to see what their strengths and weaknesses were so Sally, Lupe, and the other leaders could place them in teams accordingly. As she soon as she left Sally called in the next person in line.
He was a heavy-set ram in his mid- to late-thirties, clad in a smart red muscle shirt and tan pants, a large, dangerous-looking rifle strapped to his back. He entered with confidence, standing at attention before Sally's desk. "Greetings, Princess," he said, his voice low. "My name is Ari, of the Desert Station freedom fighters."
She was impressed so far. "Hello, Ari. Desert Station is far from here. What brings you to Knothole?"
"I received your communication through the network shortly before the rest of my team was killed in a SWATbot raid. I have come to offer my assistance."
She nodded solemnly, writing into a personnel form. There was a lot of that going around lately. Robotnik was increasing the frequency of his attacks on their bases, probably to label them as targets for Doomsday. "Glad to have you here, Ari. If you'll stop by the training field right outside, and go talk to Bunnie, please?"
He nodded silently, then turned and left. She finished up his file, then put it with the others. "Next, please," she called through the door. There was a long pause, and she wondered if that was all for today. "Next please," she called again, then heard whispering voices from outside.
"Why do I gotta go first?"
"Because you're in front of me, dummy. The person in front goes first."
"But I don't wanna go first!"
"Fine, we'll go together. Baby."
Sally's door creaked open and two short canine-Mobians entered. She looked them over, finding the juxtaposition truly amusing. One was dressed in camouflage pants and a white t-shirt, with a black leather jacket and a rifle slung over his shoulder; he looked around nervously as he came in, peering out from over the shades on his nose. The other, who seemed much more at ease with the situation, was in a simple t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers, and had a duffel in his hand.
The latter of the two approached her desk first, dropping his bag to the floor and flexing his shoulder. "Hi. This is where you register, right?"
"Yes it is," Sally replied, bringing down two more forms. "Names, please?"
"I'm Chip, Chip McPup. That's Cruiser over there," he gestured, and the other dog waved back.
"Which freedom fighter group are you with?"
He shook his head. "None. We're, ah, freelancers."
"Mercenaries," Cruiser corrected.
"We are *not* mercenaries, would you stop that! I told you before, mercenaries kill people for money. We don't do that, do we?"
"No," he looked down at the floor.
"There, you see?" Chip turned back to Sally. "Sorry. My buddy gets a little confused sometimes."
She smiled. "Are you two related?"
"No."
"Yes!"
Chip slapped his forehead. "Unfortunately."
Cruiser grinned stupidly. "We're cousins."
"Distant cousins," Chip added emphatically. "Several, *several* times removed."
Sally resisted the urge to laugh. "All right, you two. Please head outside and talk to Bunnie. She'll assess your combat proficiency."
"Combat?" Cruiser shouted. "Hot dang, I'm there!"
He scampered from the room, and Chip followed after letting out a heavy sigh. Sally watched them go. "Those two are freelancers?" she asked to herself. She rubbed her forehead, smiling with bemusement. It took all kinds, she supposed.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Sonic sat in a chair in Rotor's lab, idly twirling a power ring on his finger. "Hey, Rote, how long is this gonna take, huh?"
"Almost done, Sonic," he answered, making the final modifications to the device he was working on. "That should do it."
"What's this thing supposed to do, anyway?" Sonic asked, coming over to look over the techie's shoulder.
"Do you remember the fireweed plants Princess Sally found when they took the Freedom Stormer out the first time?"
"The ones that could eat through metal?" Sonic replied. "Yeah, those things were nasty."
Rotor nodded. "Well, I've managed to make an extract out of the plant oils and synthesize a bunch of it, and I used it to make this." He held up the device so Sonic could see. It was cylindrical, just large enough to hold.
Sonic grinned. "Lemme guess: a bomb?"
"You got it. I'll have to test it, of course, to make sure the potency is right, but it should easily dispatch any SWATbots or vehicles we encounter while going up against Doomsday."
Sonic took the grenade and turned it over in his hands. "Rotor, you've done it again. Sal's gonna be happy to hear about these babies."
He nodded. "I going to tell her about them later today, maybe after I test them a little."
"How many can you make?"
"I've got enough fireweed extract for about thirty. With time I can make more."
Sonic's ear twitched as he became aware of a commotion outside. "Oh, now what?" he grumbled, pushing out of the chair and crossing over to the window. There were people running around outside in a panic, shouting and pointing into the forest. "Whoa, something's goin' on..."
Sonic ran outside, trying to figure out what was happening. He saw Tails running by on his way to Sally's office. "Hey, Tails! What's goin' on?"
"It's... Egghead," the kid answered, out of breath. "His Doomsday things are out in the clearing, blowin' up everything!"
Sonic scowled. "Oh, man. Hey, Rote, gimme one of the bombs!"
Rotor complied, tossing one to him. "What are you going to do?"
He grabbed it in the air. "You said you needed these things tested," he ginned. "Guess I better go test 'em."
Sonic took off for the forest clearing, able to see the flames and smoke as soon as he left Knothole. As he was able to see through the trees he slowed, able to make out the shape of the pod. It was saucer-shaped, about six meters in diameter and bristling with weaponry. Its midsection was constantly rotating, allowing the guns mounted there to recharge as they swiveled around and retargeted. All the trees at the edge of the clearing were scorched and burning, and the pod was advancing toward Knothole.
He hid behind a stump and observed, seeing the weapon slowly hover forward, cannons razing the forest before it. With the way the guns rotated there was a constant stream of fire emerging from the pod, kicking up the earth and knocking over trees. He quickly moved from his hiding spot as the stump exploded under a volley of laser shots, hoping the pod would ignore him while he got into position.
He wound up and threw Rotor's grenade. His aim was slightly off, but accurate enough. The metal casing exploded upon impact with the craft, spraying the fireweed extract in the form of a cloud that began vaporizing the exterior hull. In mere seconds the circuitry inside was also fried, and as the noxious cloud faded the pod plummeted to the ground. It bounced slightly, kicking up more soil, then finally came to rest.
Sonic watched cautiously, finding it hard to believe that it had been that easy. He took a step forward into the clearing, looking at the hulk of metal sitting there smoking. "Sonic?" Tails asked quietly from behind him. "Is it dead?" Several Mobians had taken cover in the forest, close enough to see the engagement.
"Yeah, it's dead," Sonic frowned. "And so are we if we don't get moving *now*."
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Sally immediately called an emergency meeting of all the freedom cell heads to discuss what few strategies they had come up with. Now that they had proof that Doomsday was operational, they had to drastically step up their battle plan. They assembled in the meeting hall: Sally and Sonic, Lupe and Lobo, Ari, Dirk from the South Bend cell, and Paulo, from the East Plains group. They also extended an invitation to their independent freedom fighters, Chip and Cruiser, who gratefully accepted.
"We already know a straight assault won't work," Ari said, gesturing to the tactical map they had laid out on the table. "Robotnik's got SWATbots patrolling the perimeter, and the structure is heavily defended as well."
"Then we're going to have to go in stealthily," Chip replied, arms crossed as he sat back in his chair.
"Pff, 'stealthily...'" Cruiser cut in. "To me, that thing just looks like one big bulls-eye."
"But how many agents can you hope to 'sneak' in?" Lupe offered. "Six or seven? Hardly enough to take down the entire structure."
"It depends who we put on the team," Sally replied. "We already have some pretty complete blueprints, we know where all the vital areas are. We just need a way to get to them while the SWATbots are distracted."
"We need a diversion or somethin'," Sonic spoke up. "Somethin' to let a team get in while Robotnik's not watching. Rotor's got those fireweed bombs, we could use those."
Sally turned to the holographic schematic of Doomsday that Nicole was projecting. "The vital points are scattered throughout the base, though. We would either need a lot of time, or several teams to bring them all down."
"How many troops are there inside?" Chip asked.
"Rough estimate is a hundred-twenty, a third of which are always patrolling the grounds."
"That's not so bad. We've got like a hundred people here, right?"
Sally shook her head. "Yes, but they're not all field trained. Bunnie's still working through some of the new personnel, but so far we only have about forty, maybe fifty potential agents."
"Ouch," Chip winced. "Little outnumbered."
Sally's brow furrowed. "Sonic's right, though. We need a diversion to sneak someone in. If we need to, we'll do this one step at a time. Taking out the main launch area for the weapons pods will be priority one."
"We gotta think like Egghead," Sonic frowned. "How would he *expect* us to come get him?"
"Most of the defense guns are at ground level," Dirk observed from the holo-schematic. "An aerial attack?"
"How many vehicles do we have with flight capability?"
"The Stormer..." Sonic said slowly, thinking through all the vehicles they had gotten from other cell groups as they came in. "We've got another cargo pod that Kara's refitting, but I think that's it."
"That should be enough, for a diversion anyway," Sally replied, her mind working. "Okay, here's what I'm thinking: We take the Stormer and the pod in here," she traced her finger along a path from Knothole to Doomsday, "and drop off a stealth team about here, a kilometer or two away from the tower, out of their radar range. Then as they distract Robotnik's forces with flyovers, the team comes in to here, and gets in, and they can fly away back to Knothole. From there it's a basic squad mission to hit the launch area."
"How would the team escape?" Lupe asked.
"We could possibly hijack one of the pods. It would take time, but it's not impossible." She turned to Sonic. "How many power rings to we have left?"
He shrugged. "Two or three, maybe. Not enough to arm everybody."
Sally nodded. "Oh. Well, still we have those. We can decide somehow how they're given out."
"The best suggestion I've heard so far," Ari spoke gruffly, nodding. "Sounds good to me."
"But shouldn't we have more teams?" Paulo spread his hands. "One strike team doesn't seem enough to me."
"We could use two," Sally replied, "one from each craft. Or even three or four, if we time it right, and everyone's ready."
She straightened. "Which just leaves us to assigning teams. Let's get going, we need to be out of here within the next three hours."
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
The quiet hum of the Freedom Stormer's engine rumbled through the cockpit, the only sound to break the monotony of the flight. The passengers sat in silence, in grim reverence to the task that lay ahead. In the front Kara busied herself with looking over the flight gauges, while Grease Monkey glanced out the window nervously. On the couch in the back Cruiser was rummaging through his pockets, silently counting the ammunition clips he had.
"So, what is that?" Ari asked from beside him, gesturing to the weapon. "Auto 58?"
"56," Cruiser replied. "It's an older one, gets jammed sometimes. What've you got? Looks like a... 20-J, 30?"
"Good eye, but it's a 35, self-upgraded," he held it up the best he could in the cramped cockpit so he could see. "I also put in a selector so it can hold two clips at a time."
Cruiser nodded. "Nice, nice."
Ari glanced over at Chip, who had since changed out of his casual attire and into a sleek black latex stealth suit. "What's he packing? Does he even use guns?"
"He does, sometimes. He prefers not to, though. They 'make too much noise' or some silly thing."
"Yeah, but what's he got?"
Chip was quite tired of being referred to in the third person. "It's an AmroTek HP80 semi-automatic 7-millimeter with silenced stock. Now will you two shut up? I'm trying to plan."
"Geez..." Cruiser growled. "Grouch."
Chip sighed. "We're going into battle against a weapon that could wipe out all life on this hemisphere. I'd like to think through some of the specifics instead of winging it... like you always do."
"You're takin' this too seriously, skippy," Cruiser replied. "You're not doing this alone, there are two other teams, too, ya know."
"I know. Still, I'd like to be prepared."
A short distance away from the Stormer, the cargo pod floated along the same course, the eight personnel in the back strapped down uncomfortably on makeshift seats. Sonic squirmed, trying futilely to find a position that agreed with him. "Uh... How much farther, Sal?"
"Stop whining, Sonic. We're seven kilometers from the first jump point, then another one to ours. Just be patient."
"Patience was never one of my strong points," the hedgehog grumbled, tapping his foot against the floor.
"Simmer down, sugar-hog," Bunnie sighed from beside him on the bench. "Yer makin' *me* nervous."
"Sorry," Sonic stopped his foot, then his knee started bouncing.
There was a long period of silence, in which each of the occupants of the vehicle thought ahead to the coming attack. Each of them felt a little unease at the thought of going up against Robotnik's station, even Lupe with all of her combat experience. After what seemed like an eternity their pilot, Chase, called back from the cockpit. "Team Two, this is your stop! Go ahead when you're ready!"
Lupe and her team checked the straps on their parachute packs, then slowly made their way to the door at the midsection of the craft. She slapped the control and the hatch slid open, a mighty rush of air from outside drowning out all sound. One by one they jumped out: Lupe, her partner Lobo, Derst, and Brainerd. Sally came behind them to shut the door, and there was suddenly silence.
She looked across the room to see Sonic, anxiously glancing from side to side, his face slightly pale. She came over to him, sitting back beside him. "Nervous?"
He swallowed, managing a smile. "Kinda. Never done anything like this before, ya know?"
"Don't worry," she replied and patted his leg, an action he found intriguing. "It's just like any other mission: we get in, do our thing, and get out."
"Yeah..." he replied slowly, still looking down to the place where she had touched him. "Right."
"Team One!" Chase called to them again. "You're on!"
Sally and Sonic exchanged glances once more, then Sally got up and poised herself beside the hatch controls. "Let's go."
Sonic looked over at Antoine, seeing that he was just as apprehensive about this as he was. Bunnie pushed past between their gaze, heading for the door. "C'mon, boys! We ain't got all day!"
Sally opened the hatch, and the air once again rushed out of the pod. Bunnie pushed herself out, with Antoine behind her. Sonic approached, glancing at Sally before jumping out himself.
The hedgehog had no fear of falling -- certainly he had jumped from enough high places to know how to land properly -- but leaping from a moving aircraft was a new experience for him. He pulled the ripcord after he was sure he had cleared the pod, his 'chute opening and carrying him gently to the ground. He kept his knees bent as he hit the dirt, staggering slightly from the added weight of the pack.
Sonic reached around in the dark to detach the parachute, feeling the catches snap off and his burden lighten. He looked forward and was able to see the black silhouette of Sally as she floated to the ground. He started toward her slowly, Bunnie and Antoine joining him from behind.
The princess was removing her 'chute pack as they arrived. She started with the plan, and reached for her radio. "Radio test, report in all teams."
Lupe's voice came through. "Team Two, all go."
Chip called in for the other team. "Team Three, we're good."
"Proceed with the mission plan. Observe communications silence unless it's an emergency or you reach a checkpoint."
"Acknowledged."
"Right."
She put the radio away, replacing it with the pistol on her hip. "Everyone ready?"
Soon as they were all armed -- Sonic and Antoine with their own firearms, and Bunnie with a specialized weapon Rotor had built for her earlier. Sonic nodded. "Let's do it, to it."
Lupe and her Wolfpack clansmen hustled across the field from their landing site toward the tower, seeing the distant flashes from the structure's defense guns as they opened fire on the incoming aircraft. She whispered a silent prayer for the safety of the pilots, and the other freedom fighters in the assault.
They rounded another hill, from the top of which she could see the SWATbots on the perimeter, most with upturned eyes to see the enemy in the air. Some who were close enough were shooting, though their probability of hitting the flying machines were slim. None seemed to be noticing them, however, which was what the diversion was designed for.
Lupe triggered her radio. "Team Two, in position."
Chip McPup stooped low to the ground, placing his weight on his haunches and setting his rifle in his lap. "Team Three, in position," he spoke into his radio after seeing Ari and Cruiser safely behind him.
Cruiser looked up at the massive tower. "Sure is a big sucker."
"Shh," Chip whispered.
"Geez, what's got your stealth suit in a twist?"
"We're in enemy territory, you idiot!" he hissed. "Now is the time for you to shut your pie hole!"
Cruiser grumbled.
"It'll be a miracle if the SWATbots don't find us because of your silly jibber-jabber."
Sally's voice came from the speaker. "Team One, in position. All teams, checkpoint go."
"Here we go," Chip pushed off on the balls of his feet, into a commando-style hustle forward. They were approaching from the west side of Doomsday, where there was a chance the armor around the building would be weak enough to blast through with Rotor's fireweed bombs.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
"Sir, the SWATbots have detected multiple contacts en route to the machine," Snively reported in his nasal tone.
"Excellent," Robotnik hissed. "Have they been engaged?"
"As we speak, sir. There is a group approaching from the south currently under fire."
"Have the side turrets begin sweeping the grounds. Destroy the SWATbots themselves if they get in the way! Show them the power of my station!"
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Lupe slapped another clip into her combat rifle, locking it into place and leveling it for another shot at the oncoming combat bots. The rapid-fire projectiles tore through the SWATbot in the lead, ripping it to metallic shreds and dropping it to the ground. She got up from her crouch to lithely hustle to a new vantage point, forcing the robots targeting her to move as well.
She struggled to keep the robots at bay while computing the current positions of the rest of her team. She spotted Lobo behind a hill to her right, on his belly and firing into the cloud of bots, sometimes blindly. Lupe sprinted over to him, diving into a somersault and coming up beside him. "Are you still okay?" she asked, positioning her rifle for a shot.
"Yeah," he muttered gruffly. "Could be worse: we could be surrounded."
"Concentrate on your shooting," she commanded. "Where are Brainerd and Derst?"
"Don't know," he replied, snapping off another volley. "Haven't seen 'em since we split up."
Lupe fired two quick bursts. "Keep an eye out."
Chip saw the Wolfpack team in the midst of the firefight, and decided to quicken his pace. He was halfway from the checkpoint to the tower when the SWATbots detected him and opened fire. They missed, but he was forced into evasive action while he sought cover.
Cruiser covered his back, firing his rifle into the crowd and hitting two of the bots in the chest. He continued firing as Chip doubled back to a decent cover behind the hills, then dove down beside him. "Smooth sneaking, buddy!"
"Would you SHUT UP!" Chip screamed at him as he readied his rifle.
Lupe was able to find Derst and Brainerd a short ways away, hiding well in the field. She stayed only long enough to give them short combat orders, then returned to her own firing position and continued fighting. Two more SWATbots fell to her aim before she was forced to move once more.
She dropped to her knees to reload her weapon again, fully aware of the fact that their current passive tactics weren't working. She locked the clip into place and stood, shouting loud enough for the other three to hear, "Everyone, aggressive fighting, now!"
She leapt up to the top of the hill, bringing her rifle to bear on a small cluster of four SWATbots off to her left. A short spray of fire reduced them all to nothing but scrap metal. From their cover came Brainerd and Derst, picking out their targets and snapping off quick bursts that ripped the bots to pieces.
An explosion to Lupe's right caused her to look up, seeing that one of the giant cannon turrets on the wall of the building had come to life, spraying a deadly stream of laser fire in an arc across the battlefield. She shouted out and dove to the ground as the shots headed her way, tearing up the ground and slicing through the hills.
Lobo saw it coming and was able to avoid it, but the other two couldn't hear her over the sounds of the battle. The turret passed over them effortlessly, cutting Brainerd down at the ankles and straight through Derst's chest, picking the wolf into the air and throwing him to the ground in a spray of blood.
The SWATbots began to surround Brainerd's fallen form, and Lupe ran to where Lobo was crouching, picking off the troopers he could see. "We can't win this!" he screamed. "There's too many of them!"
"Fall back!" she shouted, continuing to shoot. "We'll join with the Princess and her team. Move!"
Lupe got to her feet, now seeing that the turret had already swiveled around and was retargeting. Lobo saw it, too, and scrambled to get up. The hill in front of them exploded as the blasts passed through it, spraying rock and shrapnel into Lupe's face and throwing her backwards.
Ari was the first to fall from Team Three. He was much taller than the two canines, and so was the easiest target. Chip and Cruiser continued fighting, but there were too many of them to handle. The SWATbots advanced, laying down a barrage of fire that forced the two to constantly seek new positions of cover. It was while sprinting to a new hill that Cruiser was hit in the shoulder, which forced the rifle from his grip and spun him to the ground.
Chip gunned down two more bots, then ran over and fell to his knees beside him. "Buddy, you okay?"
"Heh, I'm good," Cruiser winced through his obvious pain. "Ya know, we always did suck at this 'saving the world' stuff..."
Chip looked up as the SWATbots moved in, leveling their rifles at him as he was surrounded. He dropped his own weapon, raising his hands as he slowly stood.
Sonic and the rest of his team ran like mad toward the structure, choosing to dodge the enemy fire instead of returning it. He looked up just as the Freedom Stormer passed overhead, falling under the crosshairs of a turret gunner and catching fire. It wobbled slightly in the air before falling to the ground and exploding. He realized that this battle wasn't going the way it was meant to.
They rushed around the corner of the Doomsday tower, out of the range of the SWATbots, at least for now. "Sonic, the bomb!" Sally shouted.
He took one of the fireweed grenades out of his pocket and hurled it at the wall. It exploded nicely, vaporizing a large section of the metal hull in a green cloud. They quickly ran in, finding themselves on a metal catwalk that ran the perimeter around the inside of the building. They jumped down, to what they hoped was a safe place to catch their breath.
A door at the end of the room opened and one of Doomsday's weapons pods slowly rolled out on a conveyor. They all watched it warily, realizing that it was launching out through the bay, not coming to attack them. "This must be one of the deployment bays," Sally observed, watching as it passed. "We're in the production area."
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
"Sir, sir!" Snively called out frantically from the monitors. "They're inside the machine!"
"What!" Robotnik growled. "How could they have gotten through your defenses, Snively?"
He swallowed. "I don't know, sir. The SWATbots have killed or taken into custody all the freedom fighters they've seen."
"Well, you *obviously* missed something, *didn't you*!"
"Should I alert the internal forces to intercept?"
"What do you think!" he shouted.
Snively reached for the appropriate communication control, scowling when he was positive Robotnik couldn't see him. "Must I do everything around here," he grumbled, "you oversized boil?"
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Lupe slowly opened her eyes, her entire being aware of the intense pain she was in. She groaned and tried to lift her head, which only made her hurt more. She had been thrown a long ways, she concluded, and her rifle lay several yards from her reach. Lobo lay close beside her, but it was obvious from his visible wounds that he was either unconscious or dead.
The SWATbots must have considered her not a threat, as well, because they weren't coming to capture her, yet. Fear drove her to act, not for her own life, but for those of her comrades. With great strain she dragged herself to Lobo's fallen form, grinding her teeth against the pain of every movement. She gripped his wrist, searching for a pulse but not knowing what difference finding one would make. She found none.
Lupe hung her head, but now was not the time for tears. With great effort she propped herself up on an elbow, her other hand reaching for Lobo's neck, and the pendant held there. She lifted it over his head, taking the stone in her fist, feeling its engraving on her palm. The power stone was undamaged, and now it was also safe.
She passed out and slumped to the ground.
"Team Two, report!" Sally was speaking urgently into her radio. "Team Three, please come in!" She exchanged glances with her teammates, fear and worry in her eyes. She repeated her hails, then slowly lowered her hand.
"They're gone?" Bunnie asked, her face echoing Sally's emotions.
"It looks that way..." Sally replied slowly.
"So what're we gonna do, Sal?" Sonic asked.
"We continue with the plan," she said resolutely, placing the radio in his pocket and rearming her pistol. "Nothing's changed."
"But Sally, the plan's blown!" Sonic's hands clenched into fists. "Did you see that hell outside? I saw Kara get shot down as we were comin' in, and everyone else is gone! This is crazy!"
"We can't stop now," she replied. "We've come too far to just turn back."
"We cannot do this alone," Antoine said solemnly.
"Okay..." Sally spoke after a moment of thought. "Let's just concentrate on shutting down this deployment area." She took Nicole and began scanning the machinery around the room. With a rumble a door at the far end opened and another of the weapons pods slid down the conveyor. Sally checked her watch. "About seven minutes since the last one," she mused, calculating in her head. "If this conveyor is connected straight to Robotnik's production center, he can make new pods every seven minutes."
"That's pretty fast," Sonic stated. "Too fast. How're we gonna shut it down, Sal?"
"Shutting it down is easy -- a fireweed bomb in the mechanics will put it out of commission for a while. But getting out once we're done will be the trick."
"We talked about gettin' out one of the pods. Could we still do that?"
"Yes, but we'd need to be quick to grab the last pod after destroying the equipment, or we'll be stuck here. There is another possibility, though: someone could stay behind to disable the machinery, after everyone else gets out."
"That sounds good to me," Sonic replied and crossed his arms. "See you guys back at Knothole."
Sally sighed. "Now wait a minute. How do you think you're going to get out of here, Sonic?"
"I dunno, probably just beat feet. I'm faster than any of those SWATbutts out there, no prob."
She thought. "Are you sure, Sonic? You don't have to do this alone."
"Listen, I've made up my mind. You guys get lost, I'll handle this."
The main doors to the bay slid open and nearly a dozen SWATbots marched in, scanning the room for the freedom fighters. At the other end of the room the production doors opened and another pod came in. "Look, there's your ride," Sonic pointed. "Now take off, I can do this."
Almost imperceptibly Sally's lip quivered. "All right, Sonic. Good luck, and be careful." She then joined Bunnie and Antoine in a flight to the weapons pod.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
"The SWATbots have breached the deployment bay doors, sir," Snively reported, reading the messages as the troopers reported in.
"Excellent. Bring up a visual."
The giant screen before Robotnik's control chair flickered to life, displaying a live feed from the SWATbot in command of the unit. It slowly swiveled from left to right, showing a nearly empty room and a pod rolling down the conveyor toward the doors. "Where are they all, Snively? I don't see any of them."
"Um, switching to thermal view..." The screen flashed, the image's colors being replaced by almost solid red, with a bright mass where the pod was, and another small heat source near the center.
"What is that, Snively? Magnify!"
He silently complied, and the center expanded to cover the viewing area. Robotnik's eyes narrowed. "It's that hedgehog, Snively. The one who took those relics from me. Oh, I'll make him pay," he clenched his fist and switched on his own transmitter. "All SWATbots, open fire on the hedgehog! I want him killed immediately!"
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
The SWATbot in the lead brought its weapon to bear, and Sonic was on the move a moment before he pulled the trigger. The last time he was cornered alone by Robotnik's troopers was when he was getting the Chaos Emeralds back, but then he wasn't armed. Sonic did his best to aim his pistol while evading the enemy shots, soon developing a tactic of stopping to snap off a quick shot before taking off again.
He took down a large number of the bots in that way, but whittled them down to about four before they advanced to a higher level of strategy. Sonic continued his run-and-gun against the SWATbots, finding it less and less effective as they adapted to his movements, seeking cover and firing at him when he stopped to aim.
When Sonic heard another weapon being fired from a far corner of the deployment bay, he turned his head to look, but couldn't recognize them from that distance, and while running like mad. Their aim was superb, however, and soon the remaining four SWATbots fell to the ground. The hedgehog ran over to greet his assistant, but he skidded to a stop when he saw who it was. "Sally?"
She put her gun back in her hip holster. "Sonic, I couldn't leave. I want to help. I don't want you to do this alone."
He crossed his arms and scowled. "Sal, things are gonna get pretty sticky around here in a sec, and I don't think this is the place for a princess."
She returned his gaze steadily. "I'm not a princess. Today, I'm Sally Acorn of the Knothole freedom fighters, and I'm going to help disable Robotnik's Doomsday machine."
Despite himself, Sonic smiled. "All right, but let's make this quick." He turned and headed for the huge double doors that all the weapons pods had been coming from for the past half hour.
Beyond was a large dark corridor, with a conveyor that ran the length of it. Sonic and Sally started through it, having to duck at one point as another pod passed by. Each pod they saw could easily level any of the cell bases, and several had been sent out even during their mission. Every moment wasted was another chance for more of their comrades to fall.
The hallway led to an expansive factory, with dozens of pieces of machinery linked together to create the massive weapons pods. Sonic couldn't help but stare, and marvel at the outright precision of such a device, built to create objects of destruction. Sally's voice broke into his concentration, "How many of the bombs do you have left, Sonic?"
"Oh, um..." he went through his pockets, then the flaps on his knapsack. "Three. How about you?"
"I only have two. We're going to have to pick some vital parts of this device, and hit them quickly."
Sonic looked down as the arm of a suspended crane reached to clamp onto one of the finished pods, bringing it up and around to set it on the conveyor, and taken on to the deployment bay. "That looks like a pretty good target. Without that crane, the pods will start piling up."
"I saw a good one over there, too," Sally gestured. "Let's split up. Just hit anything that looks important."
Sonic nodded, then started down a catwalk that appeared to wind around all the construction machinery in the room. He quickly picked out three targets and let the grenades fly, destroying large sections of the assembly line and causing emergency lights to start flashing. When the crane was hit by the bomb, several of the tether cables were burned through, and the entire structure broke free and fell toward the ground.
It headed almost straight for the catwalk that Sonic was standing on. He watched it for a second, realizing what was happening, then started to run away. He heard the metallic screech of the impact, then lost his footing as the walkway was torn away from the wall. His head hit something, and he blacked out.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
"What's that rock? If you don't mind me asking."
Lupe held it out so Sonic could see it. It was a small stone, carved with strange etchings that reminded him of the artifacts from Emerald Hill. "This is a deep power stone," she replied slowly. "My father gave me this, long ago."
"What's it for?"
"The power stones are artifacts of the Ancient Peoples. In times of great need, the deep power stones can be used to unlock forces beyond any the world has known."
Sonic's eyes widened. "Wow, that's really something. You're gonna use these suckers against Robotnik?"
Lupe nodded. "They can be used only once, so we're waiting for the right moment. Should the need arise, use the stones and unlock the power within."
He looked into her sparkling eyes. "When will the right moment be?"
She smiled, almost mischievously. "You will know."
"Sonic! Sonic, can you hear me?"
"Sally?"
"Please wake up, Sonic! Wake up!"
The hedgehog's eyes snapped open, and he looked to see Sally standing over him. "Whoa. What happened?"
She helped him up. "You took a tumble when that crane fell. Are you all right?"
"I think so," he groaned, aware of blood coming from his forehead.
"Come here," she stooped down to open her pack. "I can clean that up."
"No, no time, Sal," he said quickly. "I know how we can take this place out!"
"What?" she asked. "How?"
"Lupe's got these stone thingies, deep power stones. If I understand her right, if we use those we could blow this whole place to kingdom come, probably."
"Lupe told me about those, too," she concentrated. "But she has them, and we don't know what happened to her."
"Well, she wasn't answering the radio. She's been killed or captured, and either way the SWATbots have her now, right?"
She nodded. "Right. So we have to find out where they are now." She flipped Nicole open. "Nicole, please bring up the Doomsday schematic."
|Opening, Sally...|
A holographic map wavered to life, and Sonic moved closer to her to look at it. "We have no idea where they would take captives. Our recon was never that complete."
"Well, we have to figure it out, before Egghead ships 'em out to get roboticized..."
"Nicole, can you hack through to Robotnik's spy satellites?"
|Attempting security hack, Sally...| It was several moments before the computer emitted a positive tone. |Hack successful.|
"Switch to thermal view and scan Doomsday for heat signals."
|Scanning...|
Amid the clouds of machinery the building possessed, four red dots appeared on the map, in a room on the south edge of the tower. "That's a storage area, I think."
"Only four left?" Sonic said slowly. "Four out of eleven."
"Let's make sure it stays four," Sally put Nicole away. "Let's go."
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Robotnik gave a growling sigh, rubbing his forehead with his mechanical hand. "You lost them again, didn't you, Snively?"
"S-sir, I can explain! The SWATbots-"
"Spare me your excuses!" he bellowed. "I'll deal with the accursed little beasts myself!" he lifted himself from his chair and started for the door. "Where are they?"
Snively stammered. "Apparently heading for the prisoner holding area, sir. And, sir, there is another freedom fighters with the hedgehog."
"So there's two of them. I can handle two little rodents, Snively." Without waiting for a reply he exited, the doors sliding shut behind him.
The little man scowled. "Of course you can, sir."
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Six. He counted again. Still six.
Chip sighed and let his head drop against the wall. If he had his gun he may be able to take six SWATbots, but unarmed there was no chance. He looked around, seeing that apparently he was the only conscious one in the room. Cruiser was off to his left, and Lupe and Brainerd had been dragged quite unceremoniously and left in a corner. Their fallen comrades were on the opposite side of the room, thrown into a pile with all of their weaponry.
*So what now?* he wondered to himself, already knowing the answer before he finished the thought. They would all be taken away to the roboticizor, and made into mindless drones for Robotnik. But what was the hold up? He had been in here for a good hour or two -- they took his watch, so he couldn't be exactly sure -- and still nothing. Maybe Team One was still posing a threat?
That made him smile, despite it all. *At least some of us can still put up a fight.*
A glint of light in the darkened corners of the room attracted his attention, then one of the SWATbots' heads exploded. Another shot, another hit, and another robot hit the ground. The other four swiveled their heads, scanning the room to find the source of the trouble, but in a matter of seconds they were out of commission as well.
Chip's danger sense was on full alert, until he saw Sonic and Princess Sally running over to the prisoners. "Man, I'm glad to see you," he said as Sally set to undoing his binders. "What's going on out there?"
"It's not good," Sally replied. "We sent the rest of our team home. We're taking Doomsday down ourselves."
"Huh?" he raised his eyebrows. "How?"
Sonic crouched down beside Lupe, gently shaking her shoulder. "Lupe? Lupe..."
She groaned and her eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at him. "Sonic?"
"It's time."
She nodded understandingly, then reached into her jacket to bring out the two deep power stones. She gave them to Sonic, pressing them into his hand. "Be careful... Sonic," she managed before dropping from consciousness again.
"Chip, you need to get everyone out of here and back to Knothole."
He had already crossed the room and retrieved his rifle from the pile. "Okay, how?"
Sally looked around, barely noticing an old cargo hauler in a dark corner of the bay. "Can you hot-wire that?"
He shrugged. "Sure, probably."
It didn't take the three of them long to finish bringing bodies to the truck, both the dead and the barely living. They turned their attention to the matter at hand, knowing it wouldn't be long before the Robotnik realized his prisoners were missing. "So how do these things work, Sal?"
"I'm not sure," she answered, running her thumb along the carved grooves in one side. "They fit together, I know, but which way?"
"Well, let's just try something. What's the worst that could happen?"
"If released inappropriately, the power could create an explosion that could wipe out more than just Doomsday."
"Like what?"
"The planet."
"Oh."
Sally brought out her computer. "Nicole, analyze."
|Scanning, Sally... The carvings on the face of the stone are part of an ancient language used by the old inhabitants of Mobius. Energy detected is similar to that of the Chaos Emeralds, but magnified approximately sixty times.|
"A language?" Sonic echoed. "What's it say, Nicole?"
|Attempting to translate... Language is written only, and cannot be spoken. Display translation.|
Sally looked over the screen. "This looks pretty cryptic, but I think I know-"
It was then that they heard a familiar voice bellowing through the darkness. "Well, well, hedgehog. We meet again."
He rolled his eyes. "How ya doin', Ro-buttnik?"
"I demand you show me the respect I deserve, hedgehog!" the man clenched his fist. "It's the least you could do, since soon you will be dead, and I will wipe out your pathetic rebellion."
Sonic feigned a yawn. "Yeah, okay. Look, Ro-buttnik, we're kinda busy right now. Could ya come back later?"
Robotnik gave an almost feral growl. "SWATbots, kill them both! I want them dead now!"
The robots quickly moved closer into a firing position, rifles ready. Sonic looked at Sally. "Ready?"
She smiled. "Let's do it, to it."
Their hands met, and the power stones clicked together. An incredible energy flooded over them both, and Sally closed her eyes, gasping. It was like the New Years' glow, only much stronger, almost intoxicatingly pleasing. She felt like she was floating, and slowly opened her eyes to find that she was indeed two meters off the ground, hovering in a cloud of pure energy.
"Wow..." she breathed. "That was amazing."
Sonic slowly opened his eyes as well, slightly disoriented from being in the air. "This is different."
Sally now turned her head to look at him, and laughed out loud. "Your hair!" she pointed. "It's bright gold!"
"My hair?" Sonic replied. "Yours is the same way!"
She reached up to feel her head, and felt her hair slowly waving back and forth, like she was underwater. Even her body fur had slightly changed, to shine with the energy now in her.
Almost suddenly, they remembered that they were surrounded by SWATbots. But there was no danger now. They looked at one of the bots, and the small projectile coming out of his rifle, advancing toward them at a rate of only two meters a minute. Sally looked at it quizzically, with a child-like curiosity, stepping out of its path and circling around, monitoring it from all directions.
"Come on, Sally," Sonic shouted. "We've got work to do, remember?"
"Right," she answered, distractedly. This was sure something she had never experienced before.
"Okay, which way do we GOOO!" Sonic started running, and found himself abruptly on the opposite side of the room. He skidded to a sharp halt, then caught his breath. "That was awesome!"
"Whatever these power stones do," Sally observed. "It seems to reduce the effects of gravity and friction of your body."
"So I can run even faster? Sweet!"
"I'm not sure how long the effects will last, though, so we should get moving. I think I remember where all of the vital areas of the building are, follow me."
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Chip looked out his rearview mirror as the explosions started ripping through the Doomsday tower. He smiled, not knowing what the heck they did, but glad to have it done. He continued driving toward Knothole, his primary concern now was to get the rest of his friends to safety.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
"Where did they go!" Robotnik screamed.
He had ordered his SWATbots to open fire, then there was a flash of light and they had both vanished. He growled as he turned back to the corridor, stepping over the ruined husk of three SWATbots that had been destroyed by the furry little terrorists.
Another explosion sounded from the levels above him, and he knew that his wonderful machine was being destroyed. He started running faster. Time was of the essence now. He had to get to his escape vehicle before the structure came down around him.
He reached the shuttle and keyed in his access code. The hatch slid open, and he stepped one foot into the pod.
"Sir! Sir!" Snively came running up to him from the hallway. "They've taken the control room. Wait for me!"
"Sorry, Snively," Robotnik calmly replied as he shoved the smaller man to the ground with his metallic hand. "Only room for one on this flight."
The small man looked up in time to see the shuttle starting its engines. He backed away, anger and hatred rising in his heart. "You don't give me enough credit... Julian."
He had virtually created this super weapon by himself. Robotnik may have drawn up the plans, but once he had them, they were his to carry out, even after modification. He had his own escape plan laid out, in the very possible event that Robotnik would double-cross him.
Snively went back to the hallway, turning back to see another explosion tear through the floor of the docking bay, buckling under the weight of the craft and dragging it down through the building. He smiled sadistically. "Now you get what you deserve," he whispered to Robotnik as his shuttle disappeared into the maw.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Sonic and Sally flew through the hallways of the doomed Doomsday station, watching with euphoric glee as piece after wretched piece of machinery was destroyed. Sally couldn't help but laugh as they ran around. She felt invincible as the whole building crumbled around them, and finally understood how Sonic felt so many times, like there was nothing in the world that could harm her.
"That should do it!" she called out to Sonic, who was still slightly faster than she was. "Let's go!"
They had triggered the power core for a complete meltdown, and the timer gave them twenty seconds to get out. After calculating the time difference because of the power stones, however, Sally figured they had substantially longer than that. They continued smashing every computer and power panel they saw, unable to use their pistols, but feeling no pain as they punched their fists through glass screens and metal casings. Now it was more for fun than anything else; Sally wished she could have this feeling of power forever.
And then, almost too quickly, it began to fade. She found herself dragging lower to the ground, and gradually slowing. Her feet touched the ground, and she looked around anxiously, feeling naked with the energy no longer coursing through her. Sonic slowed to a stop as well, his hair settling back to his everyday spikes and reverting to its blue color.
"Oh, well," he sighed. "Easy come, easy go."
Another explosion sounded, and Sally was stricken with fear. "Sonic, the reactor!"
An explosion split through the wall right beside her, and she ran forward, finding her original speed uncomfortably slow. They were surrounded by fire on all sides, inside a machine that would soon collapse. Sally held Sonic close. "I'm sorry," she whispered into his ear. "I'm sorry for bringing you here to die."
"Hey," he looked into her eyes, which still seemed to sparkle. "We took Robotnik down. That counts for something, doesn't it?"
"I love you, Sonic."
He blinked. "I... love you, too. Sally."
A final ball of fire, and all means of possible escape were cut off. They stood there, in each other's arms, awaiting the inevitable. There was a tiny amount of fear in Sonic's heart, but there was joy, too. Now their friends wouldn't have to worry about Robotnik anymore, and could finally be free. He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling tears beneath the lids. He hugged Sally tighter, trying to drown out the sounds of explosions and chaos around him.
When he felt a hand on his shoulder, it took him a moment to realize that it wasn't Sally's. His eyes slowly opened, and he was face to face with someone who looked like a dark reflection of himself. An obsidian hedgehog with red piercing eyes smiled at him. "Don't fear, Sonic. You helped me, now it's my turn to help you."
The shadow took a step back, his hand reaching out toward Sonic and Sally, still held in embrace. A glow emanated from his palm, as his eyes rolled up in their sockets in concentration. Sonic felt like he was being ripped apart from the inside, and almost screamed against the pain.
When he opened his eyes he was lying on the ground, on a hill several kilometers away from Doomsday. He reached over to nudge Sally, who had apparently fallen beside him. "Sonic?" she spoke quietly. "What happened?"
With a flash that lit up the sky, Doomsday exploded in a brilliant ball of fire. Sonic and Sally watched it with widened eyes, as if it was their own private fireworks show. When the fire at last dissipated, no sign was left of the super weapon, or of Doctor Ivo Robotnik.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
The chant rang out from Knothole, from all the freedom fighters who had witnessed the massive explosion in the sky. "Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!"
Robotnik was gone, and with him all the oppression the Mobians had suffered over the past decade. "Freedom!"
Now they could return to their lives, out from under the thumb of a vile dictator. "Freedom!"
Those who survived the assault were commended for their bravery by Princess Sally, at an impromptu celebration that night. Everyone was overjoyed that the war was finally over, and it showed on everyone's faces as they talked and laughed with everyone they saw.
"It's too bad Robotnik's gone," Sonic said to Sally as soon as they found each other in the crowd.
"Too bad?" she replied incredulously. "Why is it too bad?"
"Well, it kinda puts the freedom fighters out of a job. What are heroes supposed to do without a villain around?"
Her hand found his and she smiled. "You'll always be my hero, Sonic."
He returned the smile, then slowly leaned closer to kiss her full on the lips. She wrapped her arms around him, both of them aware and uncaring of all the stares from the people around them. For the first time they could remember, both of them were truly happy.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
The sadistic cackle echoed through the tunnels as the little man crawled his way to freedom. "That stupid fool!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "That big round idiot finally let himself be destroyed! Haa ha ha!!"
He swung the access hatch aside and climbed out, finding himself kilometers away from the ruins of the Doomsday tower. "Now it's my turn for a little fun, and I'm not going to screw it up like that pompous moron! Oh, yes. Things are going to be different from here... on... out."
**END OF CHAPTER**
MESSAGE FROM THE MAN: Special Holiday Special... kinda.
This chapter is late. This chapter is also twice the normal length. I hope the latter makes up for the former, and no one will be made. Thank you.
Also, I expect a lot of feedback from this one, for obvious reasons. Send it in, and let me know what you think of these... new developments, hee.
Merry (delayed) Christmas and a Happy New Year!
-AE
(Oh, something else! I'll be putting FFoM concept art on my DeviantArt account, so if you have stuff on there, give me some feedback on that, too! //LuxInvictus.DeviantArt.com//)
**FREEDOM FIGHTERS OF MOBIUS**
Sonic the Hedgehog Neo Redux
By Antipode Echidna
e-mail: SonicNeoRedux@yahoo.com
Mobian Time: Year 3237, Day 288
Episode: Vanquish
Story (c) 2003 by the author. Based on characters created by Sega, DiC Productions, and/or Archie Comics Group, used without permission, but protected by totally rad copyright laws... Woo-hoo!
Other characters:
Chip and Cruiser, Kara and Grease (c) Antipode Echidna / Adam Czech. Please ask permission before using any of my charas, thanx!
The shuttle doors opened, and Doctor Ivo Robotnik set foot on Doomsday. He took two steps into the hangar, forcing Snively to wait in the vehicle while he reveled in this moment, his moment. He took a deep breath, inhaling all the chemicals that were wafting through the air. It was truly a beautiful thing.
"Look at it, Snively," he hissed, mostly for his own benefit. "Isn't my creation marvelous?"
"Wonderful, sir," the little man replied with more than a hint of disdain in his voice. It had not escaped his notice that Robotnik had something of an ego, and he did all he could not to encourage it.
"Doomsday is nearly operational," he continued, starting down the hallway to the command center for the facility. "And then, those miserable little fur balls will be out of my hair for good."
Snively followed him silently, looking around at the disgusting waste of time and material. If the good doctor had spent half as much time actually looking for the freedom fighters as he did designing new kinds of weaponry to destroy them he would have found them long ago. Robotnik spent far too much energy on secondary activities, as far as he was concerned.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Things moved quickly at Knothole as the target date for assault on Doomsday approached. Plans and strategies were made, by Sally and the other cell leaders that came to Knothole with their assistance. The population of the camp had nearly doubled since Sally put out the call for gathering, which resulted in most of the huts being filled to capacity, with most of the new arrivals sleeping outside anyway.
Now there were several groups of Mobians that came to them daily, wishing to join in the fight. Sally's office was now something of a registration office, and she would sit and take name, rank, and serial number from those coming in. It was time-consuming and annoying, since there were other things she needed to do to prepare for the battle.
She finished up the paperwork on the current initiate, informing her to locate Bunnie in the training area. She was in charge of sizing up all the new recruits, to see what their strengths and weaknesses were so Sally, Lupe, and the other leaders could place them in teams accordingly. As she soon as she left Sally called in the next person in line.
He was a heavy-set ram in his mid- to late-thirties, clad in a smart red muscle shirt and tan pants, a large, dangerous-looking rifle strapped to his back. He entered with confidence, standing at attention before Sally's desk. "Greetings, Princess," he said, his voice low. "My name is Ari, of the Desert Station freedom fighters."
She was impressed so far. "Hello, Ari. Desert Station is far from here. What brings you to Knothole?"
"I received your communication through the network shortly before the rest of my team was killed in a SWATbot raid. I have come to offer my assistance."
She nodded solemnly, writing into a personnel form. There was a lot of that going around lately. Robotnik was increasing the frequency of his attacks on their bases, probably to label them as targets for Doomsday. "Glad to have you here, Ari. If you'll stop by the training field right outside, and go talk to Bunnie, please?"
He nodded silently, then turned and left. She finished up his file, then put it with the others. "Next, please," she called through the door. There was a long pause, and she wondered if that was all for today. "Next please," she called again, then heard whispering voices from outside.
"Why do I gotta go first?"
"Because you're in front of me, dummy. The person in front goes first."
"But I don't wanna go first!"
"Fine, we'll go together. Baby."
Sally's door creaked open and two short canine-Mobians entered. She looked them over, finding the juxtaposition truly amusing. One was dressed in camouflage pants and a white t-shirt, with a black leather jacket and a rifle slung over his shoulder; he looked around nervously as he came in, peering out from over the shades on his nose. The other, who seemed much more at ease with the situation, was in a simple t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers, and had a duffel in his hand.
The latter of the two approached her desk first, dropping his bag to the floor and flexing his shoulder. "Hi. This is where you register, right?"
"Yes it is," Sally replied, bringing down two more forms. "Names, please?"
"I'm Chip, Chip McPup. That's Cruiser over there," he gestured, and the other dog waved back.
"Which freedom fighter group are you with?"
He shook his head. "None. We're, ah, freelancers."
"Mercenaries," Cruiser corrected.
"We are *not* mercenaries, would you stop that! I told you before, mercenaries kill people for money. We don't do that, do we?"
"No," he looked down at the floor.
"There, you see?" Chip turned back to Sally. "Sorry. My buddy gets a little confused sometimes."
She smiled. "Are you two related?"
"No."
"Yes!"
Chip slapped his forehead. "Unfortunately."
Cruiser grinned stupidly. "We're cousins."
"Distant cousins," Chip added emphatically. "Several, *several* times removed."
Sally resisted the urge to laugh. "All right, you two. Please head outside and talk to Bunnie. She'll assess your combat proficiency."
"Combat?" Cruiser shouted. "Hot dang, I'm there!"
He scampered from the room, and Chip followed after letting out a heavy sigh. Sally watched them go. "Those two are freelancers?" she asked to herself. She rubbed her forehead, smiling with bemusement. It took all kinds, she supposed.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Sonic sat in a chair in Rotor's lab, idly twirling a power ring on his finger. "Hey, Rote, how long is this gonna take, huh?"
"Almost done, Sonic," he answered, making the final modifications to the device he was working on. "That should do it."
"What's this thing supposed to do, anyway?" Sonic asked, coming over to look over the techie's shoulder.
"Do you remember the fireweed plants Princess Sally found when they took the Freedom Stormer out the first time?"
"The ones that could eat through metal?" Sonic replied. "Yeah, those things were nasty."
Rotor nodded. "Well, I've managed to make an extract out of the plant oils and synthesize a bunch of it, and I used it to make this." He held up the device so Sonic could see. It was cylindrical, just large enough to hold.
Sonic grinned. "Lemme guess: a bomb?"
"You got it. I'll have to test it, of course, to make sure the potency is right, but it should easily dispatch any SWATbots or vehicles we encounter while going up against Doomsday."
Sonic took the grenade and turned it over in his hands. "Rotor, you've done it again. Sal's gonna be happy to hear about these babies."
He nodded. "I going to tell her about them later today, maybe after I test them a little."
"How many can you make?"
"I've got enough fireweed extract for about thirty. With time I can make more."
Sonic's ear twitched as he became aware of a commotion outside. "Oh, now what?" he grumbled, pushing out of the chair and crossing over to the window. There were people running around outside in a panic, shouting and pointing into the forest. "Whoa, something's goin' on..."
Sonic ran outside, trying to figure out what was happening. He saw Tails running by on his way to Sally's office. "Hey, Tails! What's goin' on?"
"It's... Egghead," the kid answered, out of breath. "His Doomsday things are out in the clearing, blowin' up everything!"
Sonic scowled. "Oh, man. Hey, Rote, gimme one of the bombs!"
Rotor complied, tossing one to him. "What are you going to do?"
He grabbed it in the air. "You said you needed these things tested," he ginned. "Guess I better go test 'em."
Sonic took off for the forest clearing, able to see the flames and smoke as soon as he left Knothole. As he was able to see through the trees he slowed, able to make out the shape of the pod. It was saucer-shaped, about six meters in diameter and bristling with weaponry. Its midsection was constantly rotating, allowing the guns mounted there to recharge as they swiveled around and retargeted. All the trees at the edge of the clearing were scorched and burning, and the pod was advancing toward Knothole.
He hid behind a stump and observed, seeing the weapon slowly hover forward, cannons razing the forest before it. With the way the guns rotated there was a constant stream of fire emerging from the pod, kicking up the earth and knocking over trees. He quickly moved from his hiding spot as the stump exploded under a volley of laser shots, hoping the pod would ignore him while he got into position.
He wound up and threw Rotor's grenade. His aim was slightly off, but accurate enough. The metal casing exploded upon impact with the craft, spraying the fireweed extract in the form of a cloud that began vaporizing the exterior hull. In mere seconds the circuitry inside was also fried, and as the noxious cloud faded the pod plummeted to the ground. It bounced slightly, kicking up more soil, then finally came to rest.
Sonic watched cautiously, finding it hard to believe that it had been that easy. He took a step forward into the clearing, looking at the hulk of metal sitting there smoking. "Sonic?" Tails asked quietly from behind him. "Is it dead?" Several Mobians had taken cover in the forest, close enough to see the engagement.
"Yeah, it's dead," Sonic frowned. "And so are we if we don't get moving *now*."
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Sally immediately called an emergency meeting of all the freedom cell heads to discuss what few strategies they had come up with. Now that they had proof that Doomsday was operational, they had to drastically step up their battle plan. They assembled in the meeting hall: Sally and Sonic, Lupe and Lobo, Ari, Dirk from the South Bend cell, and Paulo, from the East Plains group. They also extended an invitation to their independent freedom fighters, Chip and Cruiser, who gratefully accepted.
"We already know a straight assault won't work," Ari said, gesturing to the tactical map they had laid out on the table. "Robotnik's got SWATbots patrolling the perimeter, and the structure is heavily defended as well."
"Then we're going to have to go in stealthily," Chip replied, arms crossed as he sat back in his chair.
"Pff, 'stealthily...'" Cruiser cut in. "To me, that thing just looks like one big bulls-eye."
"But how many agents can you hope to 'sneak' in?" Lupe offered. "Six or seven? Hardly enough to take down the entire structure."
"It depends who we put on the team," Sally replied. "We already have some pretty complete blueprints, we know where all the vital areas are. We just need a way to get to them while the SWATbots are distracted."
"We need a diversion or somethin'," Sonic spoke up. "Somethin' to let a team get in while Robotnik's not watching. Rotor's got those fireweed bombs, we could use those."
Sally turned to the holographic schematic of Doomsday that Nicole was projecting. "The vital points are scattered throughout the base, though. We would either need a lot of time, or several teams to bring them all down."
"How many troops are there inside?" Chip asked.
"Rough estimate is a hundred-twenty, a third of which are always patrolling the grounds."
"That's not so bad. We've got like a hundred people here, right?"
Sally shook her head. "Yes, but they're not all field trained. Bunnie's still working through some of the new personnel, but so far we only have about forty, maybe fifty potential agents."
"Ouch," Chip winced. "Little outnumbered."
Sally's brow furrowed. "Sonic's right, though. We need a diversion to sneak someone in. If we need to, we'll do this one step at a time. Taking out the main launch area for the weapons pods will be priority one."
"We gotta think like Egghead," Sonic frowned. "How would he *expect* us to come get him?"
"Most of the defense guns are at ground level," Dirk observed from the holo-schematic. "An aerial attack?"
"How many vehicles do we have with flight capability?"
"The Stormer..." Sonic said slowly, thinking through all the vehicles they had gotten from other cell groups as they came in. "We've got another cargo pod that Kara's refitting, but I think that's it."
"That should be enough, for a diversion anyway," Sally replied, her mind working. "Okay, here's what I'm thinking: We take the Stormer and the pod in here," she traced her finger along a path from Knothole to Doomsday, "and drop off a stealth team about here, a kilometer or two away from the tower, out of their radar range. Then as they distract Robotnik's forces with flyovers, the team comes in to here, and gets in, and they can fly away back to Knothole. From there it's a basic squad mission to hit the launch area."
"How would the team escape?" Lupe asked.
"We could possibly hijack one of the pods. It would take time, but it's not impossible." She turned to Sonic. "How many power rings to we have left?"
He shrugged. "Two or three, maybe. Not enough to arm everybody."
Sally nodded. "Oh. Well, still we have those. We can decide somehow how they're given out."
"The best suggestion I've heard so far," Ari spoke gruffly, nodding. "Sounds good to me."
"But shouldn't we have more teams?" Paulo spread his hands. "One strike team doesn't seem enough to me."
"We could use two," Sally replied, "one from each craft. Or even three or four, if we time it right, and everyone's ready."
She straightened. "Which just leaves us to assigning teams. Let's get going, we need to be out of here within the next three hours."
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
The quiet hum of the Freedom Stormer's engine rumbled through the cockpit, the only sound to break the monotony of the flight. The passengers sat in silence, in grim reverence to the task that lay ahead. In the front Kara busied herself with looking over the flight gauges, while Grease Monkey glanced out the window nervously. On the couch in the back Cruiser was rummaging through his pockets, silently counting the ammunition clips he had.
"So, what is that?" Ari asked from beside him, gesturing to the weapon. "Auto 58?"
"56," Cruiser replied. "It's an older one, gets jammed sometimes. What've you got? Looks like a... 20-J, 30?"
"Good eye, but it's a 35, self-upgraded," he held it up the best he could in the cramped cockpit so he could see. "I also put in a selector so it can hold two clips at a time."
Cruiser nodded. "Nice, nice."
Ari glanced over at Chip, who had since changed out of his casual attire and into a sleek black latex stealth suit. "What's he packing? Does he even use guns?"
"He does, sometimes. He prefers not to, though. They 'make too much noise' or some silly thing."
"Yeah, but what's he got?"
Chip was quite tired of being referred to in the third person. "It's an AmroTek HP80 semi-automatic 7-millimeter with silenced stock. Now will you two shut up? I'm trying to plan."
"Geez..." Cruiser growled. "Grouch."
Chip sighed. "We're going into battle against a weapon that could wipe out all life on this hemisphere. I'd like to think through some of the specifics instead of winging it... like you always do."
"You're takin' this too seriously, skippy," Cruiser replied. "You're not doing this alone, there are two other teams, too, ya know."
"I know. Still, I'd like to be prepared."
A short distance away from the Stormer, the cargo pod floated along the same course, the eight personnel in the back strapped down uncomfortably on makeshift seats. Sonic squirmed, trying futilely to find a position that agreed with him. "Uh... How much farther, Sal?"
"Stop whining, Sonic. We're seven kilometers from the first jump point, then another one to ours. Just be patient."
"Patience was never one of my strong points," the hedgehog grumbled, tapping his foot against the floor.
"Simmer down, sugar-hog," Bunnie sighed from beside him on the bench. "Yer makin' *me* nervous."
"Sorry," Sonic stopped his foot, then his knee started bouncing.
There was a long period of silence, in which each of the occupants of the vehicle thought ahead to the coming attack. Each of them felt a little unease at the thought of going up against Robotnik's station, even Lupe with all of her combat experience. After what seemed like an eternity their pilot, Chase, called back from the cockpit. "Team Two, this is your stop! Go ahead when you're ready!"
Lupe and her team checked the straps on their parachute packs, then slowly made their way to the door at the midsection of the craft. She slapped the control and the hatch slid open, a mighty rush of air from outside drowning out all sound. One by one they jumped out: Lupe, her partner Lobo, Derst, and Brainerd. Sally came behind them to shut the door, and there was suddenly silence.
She looked across the room to see Sonic, anxiously glancing from side to side, his face slightly pale. She came over to him, sitting back beside him. "Nervous?"
He swallowed, managing a smile. "Kinda. Never done anything like this before, ya know?"
"Don't worry," she replied and patted his leg, an action he found intriguing. "It's just like any other mission: we get in, do our thing, and get out."
"Yeah..." he replied slowly, still looking down to the place where she had touched him. "Right."
"Team One!" Chase called to them again. "You're on!"
Sally and Sonic exchanged glances once more, then Sally got up and poised herself beside the hatch controls. "Let's go."
Sonic looked over at Antoine, seeing that he was just as apprehensive about this as he was. Bunnie pushed past between their gaze, heading for the door. "C'mon, boys! We ain't got all day!"
Sally opened the hatch, and the air once again rushed out of the pod. Bunnie pushed herself out, with Antoine behind her. Sonic approached, glancing at Sally before jumping out himself.
The hedgehog had no fear of falling -- certainly he had jumped from enough high places to know how to land properly -- but leaping from a moving aircraft was a new experience for him. He pulled the ripcord after he was sure he had cleared the pod, his 'chute opening and carrying him gently to the ground. He kept his knees bent as he hit the dirt, staggering slightly from the added weight of the pack.
Sonic reached around in the dark to detach the parachute, feeling the catches snap off and his burden lighten. He looked forward and was able to see the black silhouette of Sally as she floated to the ground. He started toward her slowly, Bunnie and Antoine joining him from behind.
The princess was removing her 'chute pack as they arrived. She started with the plan, and reached for her radio. "Radio test, report in all teams."
Lupe's voice came through. "Team Two, all go."
Chip called in for the other team. "Team Three, we're good."
"Proceed with the mission plan. Observe communications silence unless it's an emergency or you reach a checkpoint."
"Acknowledged."
"Right."
She put the radio away, replacing it with the pistol on her hip. "Everyone ready?"
Soon as they were all armed -- Sonic and Antoine with their own firearms, and Bunnie with a specialized weapon Rotor had built for her earlier. Sonic nodded. "Let's do it, to it."
Lupe and her Wolfpack clansmen hustled across the field from their landing site toward the tower, seeing the distant flashes from the structure's defense guns as they opened fire on the incoming aircraft. She whispered a silent prayer for the safety of the pilots, and the other freedom fighters in the assault.
They rounded another hill, from the top of which she could see the SWATbots on the perimeter, most with upturned eyes to see the enemy in the air. Some who were close enough were shooting, though their probability of hitting the flying machines were slim. None seemed to be noticing them, however, which was what the diversion was designed for.
Lupe triggered her radio. "Team Two, in position."
Chip McPup stooped low to the ground, placing his weight on his haunches and setting his rifle in his lap. "Team Three, in position," he spoke into his radio after seeing Ari and Cruiser safely behind him.
Cruiser looked up at the massive tower. "Sure is a big sucker."
"Shh," Chip whispered.
"Geez, what's got your stealth suit in a twist?"
"We're in enemy territory, you idiot!" he hissed. "Now is the time for you to shut your pie hole!"
Cruiser grumbled.
"It'll be a miracle if the SWATbots don't find us because of your silly jibber-jabber."
Sally's voice came from the speaker. "Team One, in position. All teams, checkpoint go."
"Here we go," Chip pushed off on the balls of his feet, into a commando-style hustle forward. They were approaching from the west side of Doomsday, where there was a chance the armor around the building would be weak enough to blast through with Rotor's fireweed bombs.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
"Sir, the SWATbots have detected multiple contacts en route to the machine," Snively reported in his nasal tone.
"Excellent," Robotnik hissed. "Have they been engaged?"
"As we speak, sir. There is a group approaching from the south currently under fire."
"Have the side turrets begin sweeping the grounds. Destroy the SWATbots themselves if they get in the way! Show them the power of my station!"
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Lupe slapped another clip into her combat rifle, locking it into place and leveling it for another shot at the oncoming combat bots. The rapid-fire projectiles tore through the SWATbot in the lead, ripping it to metallic shreds and dropping it to the ground. She got up from her crouch to lithely hustle to a new vantage point, forcing the robots targeting her to move as well.
She struggled to keep the robots at bay while computing the current positions of the rest of her team. She spotted Lobo behind a hill to her right, on his belly and firing into the cloud of bots, sometimes blindly. Lupe sprinted over to him, diving into a somersault and coming up beside him. "Are you still okay?" she asked, positioning her rifle for a shot.
"Yeah," he muttered gruffly. "Could be worse: we could be surrounded."
"Concentrate on your shooting," she commanded. "Where are Brainerd and Derst?"
"Don't know," he replied, snapping off another volley. "Haven't seen 'em since we split up."
Lupe fired two quick bursts. "Keep an eye out."
Chip saw the Wolfpack team in the midst of the firefight, and decided to quicken his pace. He was halfway from the checkpoint to the tower when the SWATbots detected him and opened fire. They missed, but he was forced into evasive action while he sought cover.
Cruiser covered his back, firing his rifle into the crowd and hitting two of the bots in the chest. He continued firing as Chip doubled back to a decent cover behind the hills, then dove down beside him. "Smooth sneaking, buddy!"
"Would you SHUT UP!" Chip screamed at him as he readied his rifle.
Lupe was able to find Derst and Brainerd a short ways away, hiding well in the field. She stayed only long enough to give them short combat orders, then returned to her own firing position and continued fighting. Two more SWATbots fell to her aim before she was forced to move once more.
She dropped to her knees to reload her weapon again, fully aware of the fact that their current passive tactics weren't working. She locked the clip into place and stood, shouting loud enough for the other three to hear, "Everyone, aggressive fighting, now!"
She leapt up to the top of the hill, bringing her rifle to bear on a small cluster of four SWATbots off to her left. A short spray of fire reduced them all to nothing but scrap metal. From their cover came Brainerd and Derst, picking out their targets and snapping off quick bursts that ripped the bots to pieces.
An explosion to Lupe's right caused her to look up, seeing that one of the giant cannon turrets on the wall of the building had come to life, spraying a deadly stream of laser fire in an arc across the battlefield. She shouted out and dove to the ground as the shots headed her way, tearing up the ground and slicing through the hills.
Lobo saw it coming and was able to avoid it, but the other two couldn't hear her over the sounds of the battle. The turret passed over them effortlessly, cutting Brainerd down at the ankles and straight through Derst's chest, picking the wolf into the air and throwing him to the ground in a spray of blood.
The SWATbots began to surround Brainerd's fallen form, and Lupe ran to where Lobo was crouching, picking off the troopers he could see. "We can't win this!" he screamed. "There's too many of them!"
"Fall back!" she shouted, continuing to shoot. "We'll join with the Princess and her team. Move!"
Lupe got to her feet, now seeing that the turret had already swiveled around and was retargeting. Lobo saw it, too, and scrambled to get up. The hill in front of them exploded as the blasts passed through it, spraying rock and shrapnel into Lupe's face and throwing her backwards.
Ari was the first to fall from Team Three. He was much taller than the two canines, and so was the easiest target. Chip and Cruiser continued fighting, but there were too many of them to handle. The SWATbots advanced, laying down a barrage of fire that forced the two to constantly seek new positions of cover. It was while sprinting to a new hill that Cruiser was hit in the shoulder, which forced the rifle from his grip and spun him to the ground.
Chip gunned down two more bots, then ran over and fell to his knees beside him. "Buddy, you okay?"
"Heh, I'm good," Cruiser winced through his obvious pain. "Ya know, we always did suck at this 'saving the world' stuff..."
Chip looked up as the SWATbots moved in, leveling their rifles at him as he was surrounded. He dropped his own weapon, raising his hands as he slowly stood.
Sonic and the rest of his team ran like mad toward the structure, choosing to dodge the enemy fire instead of returning it. He looked up just as the Freedom Stormer passed overhead, falling under the crosshairs of a turret gunner and catching fire. It wobbled slightly in the air before falling to the ground and exploding. He realized that this battle wasn't going the way it was meant to.
They rushed around the corner of the Doomsday tower, out of the range of the SWATbots, at least for now. "Sonic, the bomb!" Sally shouted.
He took one of the fireweed grenades out of his pocket and hurled it at the wall. It exploded nicely, vaporizing a large section of the metal hull in a green cloud. They quickly ran in, finding themselves on a metal catwalk that ran the perimeter around the inside of the building. They jumped down, to what they hoped was a safe place to catch their breath.
A door at the end of the room opened and one of Doomsday's weapons pods slowly rolled out on a conveyor. They all watched it warily, realizing that it was launching out through the bay, not coming to attack them. "This must be one of the deployment bays," Sally observed, watching as it passed. "We're in the production area."
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
"Sir, sir!" Snively called out frantically from the monitors. "They're inside the machine!"
"What!" Robotnik growled. "How could they have gotten through your defenses, Snively?"
He swallowed. "I don't know, sir. The SWATbots have killed or taken into custody all the freedom fighters they've seen."
"Well, you *obviously* missed something, *didn't you*!"
"Should I alert the internal forces to intercept?"
"What do you think!" he shouted.
Snively reached for the appropriate communication control, scowling when he was positive Robotnik couldn't see him. "Must I do everything around here," he grumbled, "you oversized boil?"
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Lupe slowly opened her eyes, her entire being aware of the intense pain she was in. She groaned and tried to lift her head, which only made her hurt more. She had been thrown a long ways, she concluded, and her rifle lay several yards from her reach. Lobo lay close beside her, but it was obvious from his visible wounds that he was either unconscious or dead.
The SWATbots must have considered her not a threat, as well, because they weren't coming to capture her, yet. Fear drove her to act, not for her own life, but for those of her comrades. With great strain she dragged herself to Lobo's fallen form, grinding her teeth against the pain of every movement. She gripped his wrist, searching for a pulse but not knowing what difference finding one would make. She found none.
Lupe hung her head, but now was not the time for tears. With great effort she propped herself up on an elbow, her other hand reaching for Lobo's neck, and the pendant held there. She lifted it over his head, taking the stone in her fist, feeling its engraving on her palm. The power stone was undamaged, and now it was also safe.
She passed out and slumped to the ground.
"Team Two, report!" Sally was speaking urgently into her radio. "Team Three, please come in!" She exchanged glances with her teammates, fear and worry in her eyes. She repeated her hails, then slowly lowered her hand.
"They're gone?" Bunnie asked, her face echoing Sally's emotions.
"It looks that way..." Sally replied slowly.
"So what're we gonna do, Sal?" Sonic asked.
"We continue with the plan," she said resolutely, placing the radio in his pocket and rearming her pistol. "Nothing's changed."
"But Sally, the plan's blown!" Sonic's hands clenched into fists. "Did you see that hell outside? I saw Kara get shot down as we were comin' in, and everyone else is gone! This is crazy!"
"We can't stop now," she replied. "We've come too far to just turn back."
"We cannot do this alone," Antoine said solemnly.
"Okay..." Sally spoke after a moment of thought. "Let's just concentrate on shutting down this deployment area." She took Nicole and began scanning the machinery around the room. With a rumble a door at the far end opened and another of the weapons pods slid down the conveyor. Sally checked her watch. "About seven minutes since the last one," she mused, calculating in her head. "If this conveyor is connected straight to Robotnik's production center, he can make new pods every seven minutes."
"That's pretty fast," Sonic stated. "Too fast. How're we gonna shut it down, Sal?"
"Shutting it down is easy -- a fireweed bomb in the mechanics will put it out of commission for a while. But getting out once we're done will be the trick."
"We talked about gettin' out one of the pods. Could we still do that?"
"Yes, but we'd need to be quick to grab the last pod after destroying the equipment, or we'll be stuck here. There is another possibility, though: someone could stay behind to disable the machinery, after everyone else gets out."
"That sounds good to me," Sonic replied and crossed his arms. "See you guys back at Knothole."
Sally sighed. "Now wait a minute. How do you think you're going to get out of here, Sonic?"
"I dunno, probably just beat feet. I'm faster than any of those SWATbutts out there, no prob."
She thought. "Are you sure, Sonic? You don't have to do this alone."
"Listen, I've made up my mind. You guys get lost, I'll handle this."
The main doors to the bay slid open and nearly a dozen SWATbots marched in, scanning the room for the freedom fighters. At the other end of the room the production doors opened and another pod came in. "Look, there's your ride," Sonic pointed. "Now take off, I can do this."
Almost imperceptibly Sally's lip quivered. "All right, Sonic. Good luck, and be careful." She then joined Bunnie and Antoine in a flight to the weapons pod.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
"The SWATbots have breached the deployment bay doors, sir," Snively reported, reading the messages as the troopers reported in.
"Excellent. Bring up a visual."
The giant screen before Robotnik's control chair flickered to life, displaying a live feed from the SWATbot in command of the unit. It slowly swiveled from left to right, showing a nearly empty room and a pod rolling down the conveyor toward the doors. "Where are they all, Snively? I don't see any of them."
"Um, switching to thermal view..." The screen flashed, the image's colors being replaced by almost solid red, with a bright mass where the pod was, and another small heat source near the center.
"What is that, Snively? Magnify!"
He silently complied, and the center expanded to cover the viewing area. Robotnik's eyes narrowed. "It's that hedgehog, Snively. The one who took those relics from me. Oh, I'll make him pay," he clenched his fist and switched on his own transmitter. "All SWATbots, open fire on the hedgehog! I want him killed immediately!"
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
The SWATbot in the lead brought its weapon to bear, and Sonic was on the move a moment before he pulled the trigger. The last time he was cornered alone by Robotnik's troopers was when he was getting the Chaos Emeralds back, but then he wasn't armed. Sonic did his best to aim his pistol while evading the enemy shots, soon developing a tactic of stopping to snap off a quick shot before taking off again.
He took down a large number of the bots in that way, but whittled them down to about four before they advanced to a higher level of strategy. Sonic continued his run-and-gun against the SWATbots, finding it less and less effective as they adapted to his movements, seeking cover and firing at him when he stopped to aim.
When Sonic heard another weapon being fired from a far corner of the deployment bay, he turned his head to look, but couldn't recognize them from that distance, and while running like mad. Their aim was superb, however, and soon the remaining four SWATbots fell to the ground. The hedgehog ran over to greet his assistant, but he skidded to a stop when he saw who it was. "Sally?"
She put her gun back in her hip holster. "Sonic, I couldn't leave. I want to help. I don't want you to do this alone."
He crossed his arms and scowled. "Sal, things are gonna get pretty sticky around here in a sec, and I don't think this is the place for a princess."
She returned his gaze steadily. "I'm not a princess. Today, I'm Sally Acorn of the Knothole freedom fighters, and I'm going to help disable Robotnik's Doomsday machine."
Despite himself, Sonic smiled. "All right, but let's make this quick." He turned and headed for the huge double doors that all the weapons pods had been coming from for the past half hour.
Beyond was a large dark corridor, with a conveyor that ran the length of it. Sonic and Sally started through it, having to duck at one point as another pod passed by. Each pod they saw could easily level any of the cell bases, and several had been sent out even during their mission. Every moment wasted was another chance for more of their comrades to fall.
The hallway led to an expansive factory, with dozens of pieces of machinery linked together to create the massive weapons pods. Sonic couldn't help but stare, and marvel at the outright precision of such a device, built to create objects of destruction. Sally's voice broke into his concentration, "How many of the bombs do you have left, Sonic?"
"Oh, um..." he went through his pockets, then the flaps on his knapsack. "Three. How about you?"
"I only have two. We're going to have to pick some vital parts of this device, and hit them quickly."
Sonic looked down as the arm of a suspended crane reached to clamp onto one of the finished pods, bringing it up and around to set it on the conveyor, and taken on to the deployment bay. "That looks like a pretty good target. Without that crane, the pods will start piling up."
"I saw a good one over there, too," Sally gestured. "Let's split up. Just hit anything that looks important."
Sonic nodded, then started down a catwalk that appeared to wind around all the construction machinery in the room. He quickly picked out three targets and let the grenades fly, destroying large sections of the assembly line and causing emergency lights to start flashing. When the crane was hit by the bomb, several of the tether cables were burned through, and the entire structure broke free and fell toward the ground.
It headed almost straight for the catwalk that Sonic was standing on. He watched it for a second, realizing what was happening, then started to run away. He heard the metallic screech of the impact, then lost his footing as the walkway was torn away from the wall. His head hit something, and he blacked out.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
"What's that rock? If you don't mind me asking."
Lupe held it out so Sonic could see it. It was a small stone, carved with strange etchings that reminded him of the artifacts from Emerald Hill. "This is a deep power stone," she replied slowly. "My father gave me this, long ago."
"What's it for?"
"The power stones are artifacts of the Ancient Peoples. In times of great need, the deep power stones can be used to unlock forces beyond any the world has known."
Sonic's eyes widened. "Wow, that's really something. You're gonna use these suckers against Robotnik?"
Lupe nodded. "They can be used only once, so we're waiting for the right moment. Should the need arise, use the stones and unlock the power within."
He looked into her sparkling eyes. "When will the right moment be?"
She smiled, almost mischievously. "You will know."
"Sonic! Sonic, can you hear me?"
"Sally?"
"Please wake up, Sonic! Wake up!"
The hedgehog's eyes snapped open, and he looked to see Sally standing over him. "Whoa. What happened?"
She helped him up. "You took a tumble when that crane fell. Are you all right?"
"I think so," he groaned, aware of blood coming from his forehead.
"Come here," she stooped down to open her pack. "I can clean that up."
"No, no time, Sal," he said quickly. "I know how we can take this place out!"
"What?" she asked. "How?"
"Lupe's got these stone thingies, deep power stones. If I understand her right, if we use those we could blow this whole place to kingdom come, probably."
"Lupe told me about those, too," she concentrated. "But she has them, and we don't know what happened to her."
"Well, she wasn't answering the radio. She's been killed or captured, and either way the SWATbots have her now, right?"
She nodded. "Right. So we have to find out where they are now." She flipped Nicole open. "Nicole, please bring up the Doomsday schematic."
|Opening, Sally...|
A holographic map wavered to life, and Sonic moved closer to her to look at it. "We have no idea where they would take captives. Our recon was never that complete."
"Well, we have to figure it out, before Egghead ships 'em out to get roboticized..."
"Nicole, can you hack through to Robotnik's spy satellites?"
|Attempting security hack, Sally...| It was several moments before the computer emitted a positive tone. |Hack successful.|
"Switch to thermal view and scan Doomsday for heat signals."
|Scanning...|
Amid the clouds of machinery the building possessed, four red dots appeared on the map, in a room on the south edge of the tower. "That's a storage area, I think."
"Only four left?" Sonic said slowly. "Four out of eleven."
"Let's make sure it stays four," Sally put Nicole away. "Let's go."
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Robotnik gave a growling sigh, rubbing his forehead with his mechanical hand. "You lost them again, didn't you, Snively?"
"S-sir, I can explain! The SWATbots-"
"Spare me your excuses!" he bellowed. "I'll deal with the accursed little beasts myself!" he lifted himself from his chair and started for the door. "Where are they?"
Snively stammered. "Apparently heading for the prisoner holding area, sir. And, sir, there is another freedom fighters with the hedgehog."
"So there's two of them. I can handle two little rodents, Snively." Without waiting for a reply he exited, the doors sliding shut behind him.
The little man scowled. "Of course you can, sir."
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Six. He counted again. Still six.
Chip sighed and let his head drop against the wall. If he had his gun he may be able to take six SWATbots, but unarmed there was no chance. He looked around, seeing that apparently he was the only conscious one in the room. Cruiser was off to his left, and Lupe and Brainerd had been dragged quite unceremoniously and left in a corner. Their fallen comrades were on the opposite side of the room, thrown into a pile with all of their weaponry.
*So what now?* he wondered to himself, already knowing the answer before he finished the thought. They would all be taken away to the roboticizor, and made into mindless drones for Robotnik. But what was the hold up? He had been in here for a good hour or two -- they took his watch, so he couldn't be exactly sure -- and still nothing. Maybe Team One was still posing a threat?
That made him smile, despite it all. *At least some of us can still put up a fight.*
A glint of light in the darkened corners of the room attracted his attention, then one of the SWATbots' heads exploded. Another shot, another hit, and another robot hit the ground. The other four swiveled their heads, scanning the room to find the source of the trouble, but in a matter of seconds they were out of commission as well.
Chip's danger sense was on full alert, until he saw Sonic and Princess Sally running over to the prisoners. "Man, I'm glad to see you," he said as Sally set to undoing his binders. "What's going on out there?"
"It's not good," Sally replied. "We sent the rest of our team home. We're taking Doomsday down ourselves."
"Huh?" he raised his eyebrows. "How?"
Sonic crouched down beside Lupe, gently shaking her shoulder. "Lupe? Lupe..."
She groaned and her eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at him. "Sonic?"
"It's time."
She nodded understandingly, then reached into her jacket to bring out the two deep power stones. She gave them to Sonic, pressing them into his hand. "Be careful... Sonic," she managed before dropping from consciousness again.
"Chip, you need to get everyone out of here and back to Knothole."
He had already crossed the room and retrieved his rifle from the pile. "Okay, how?"
Sally looked around, barely noticing an old cargo hauler in a dark corner of the bay. "Can you hot-wire that?"
He shrugged. "Sure, probably."
It didn't take the three of them long to finish bringing bodies to the truck, both the dead and the barely living. They turned their attention to the matter at hand, knowing it wouldn't be long before the Robotnik realized his prisoners were missing. "So how do these things work, Sal?"
"I'm not sure," she answered, running her thumb along the carved grooves in one side. "They fit together, I know, but which way?"
"Well, let's just try something. What's the worst that could happen?"
"If released inappropriately, the power could create an explosion that could wipe out more than just Doomsday."
"Like what?"
"The planet."
"Oh."
Sally brought out her computer. "Nicole, analyze."
|Scanning, Sally... The carvings on the face of the stone are part of an ancient language used by the old inhabitants of Mobius. Energy detected is similar to that of the Chaos Emeralds, but magnified approximately sixty times.|
"A language?" Sonic echoed. "What's it say, Nicole?"
|Attempting to translate... Language is written only, and cannot be spoken. Display translation.|
Sally looked over the screen. "This looks pretty cryptic, but I think I know-"
It was then that they heard a familiar voice bellowing through the darkness. "Well, well, hedgehog. We meet again."
He rolled his eyes. "How ya doin', Ro-buttnik?"
"I demand you show me the respect I deserve, hedgehog!" the man clenched his fist. "It's the least you could do, since soon you will be dead, and I will wipe out your pathetic rebellion."
Sonic feigned a yawn. "Yeah, okay. Look, Ro-buttnik, we're kinda busy right now. Could ya come back later?"
Robotnik gave an almost feral growl. "SWATbots, kill them both! I want them dead now!"
The robots quickly moved closer into a firing position, rifles ready. Sonic looked at Sally. "Ready?"
She smiled. "Let's do it, to it."
Their hands met, and the power stones clicked together. An incredible energy flooded over them both, and Sally closed her eyes, gasping. It was like the New Years' glow, only much stronger, almost intoxicatingly pleasing. She felt like she was floating, and slowly opened her eyes to find that she was indeed two meters off the ground, hovering in a cloud of pure energy.
"Wow..." she breathed. "That was amazing."
Sonic slowly opened his eyes as well, slightly disoriented from being in the air. "This is different."
Sally now turned her head to look at him, and laughed out loud. "Your hair!" she pointed. "It's bright gold!"
"My hair?" Sonic replied. "Yours is the same way!"
She reached up to feel her head, and felt her hair slowly waving back and forth, like she was underwater. Even her body fur had slightly changed, to shine with the energy now in her.
Almost suddenly, they remembered that they were surrounded by SWATbots. But there was no danger now. They looked at one of the bots, and the small projectile coming out of his rifle, advancing toward them at a rate of only two meters a minute. Sally looked at it quizzically, with a child-like curiosity, stepping out of its path and circling around, monitoring it from all directions.
"Come on, Sally," Sonic shouted. "We've got work to do, remember?"
"Right," she answered, distractedly. This was sure something she had never experienced before.
"Okay, which way do we GOOO!" Sonic started running, and found himself abruptly on the opposite side of the room. He skidded to a sharp halt, then caught his breath. "That was awesome!"
"Whatever these power stones do," Sally observed. "It seems to reduce the effects of gravity and friction of your body."
"So I can run even faster? Sweet!"
"I'm not sure how long the effects will last, though, so we should get moving. I think I remember where all of the vital areas of the building are, follow me."
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Chip looked out his rearview mirror as the explosions started ripping through the Doomsday tower. He smiled, not knowing what the heck they did, but glad to have it done. He continued driving toward Knothole, his primary concern now was to get the rest of his friends to safety.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
"Where did they go!" Robotnik screamed.
He had ordered his SWATbots to open fire, then there was a flash of light and they had both vanished. He growled as he turned back to the corridor, stepping over the ruined husk of three SWATbots that had been destroyed by the furry little terrorists.
Another explosion sounded from the levels above him, and he knew that his wonderful machine was being destroyed. He started running faster. Time was of the essence now. He had to get to his escape vehicle before the structure came down around him.
He reached the shuttle and keyed in his access code. The hatch slid open, and he stepped one foot into the pod.
"Sir! Sir!" Snively came running up to him from the hallway. "They've taken the control room. Wait for me!"
"Sorry, Snively," Robotnik calmly replied as he shoved the smaller man to the ground with his metallic hand. "Only room for one on this flight."
The small man looked up in time to see the shuttle starting its engines. He backed away, anger and hatred rising in his heart. "You don't give me enough credit... Julian."
He had virtually created this super weapon by himself. Robotnik may have drawn up the plans, but once he had them, they were his to carry out, even after modification. He had his own escape plan laid out, in the very possible event that Robotnik would double-cross him.
Snively went back to the hallway, turning back to see another explosion tear through the floor of the docking bay, buckling under the weight of the craft and dragging it down through the building. He smiled sadistically. "Now you get what you deserve," he whispered to Robotnik as his shuttle disappeared into the maw.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Sonic and Sally flew through the hallways of the doomed Doomsday station, watching with euphoric glee as piece after wretched piece of machinery was destroyed. Sally couldn't help but laugh as they ran around. She felt invincible as the whole building crumbled around them, and finally understood how Sonic felt so many times, like there was nothing in the world that could harm her.
"That should do it!" she called out to Sonic, who was still slightly faster than she was. "Let's go!"
They had triggered the power core for a complete meltdown, and the timer gave them twenty seconds to get out. After calculating the time difference because of the power stones, however, Sally figured they had substantially longer than that. They continued smashing every computer and power panel they saw, unable to use their pistols, but feeling no pain as they punched their fists through glass screens and metal casings. Now it was more for fun than anything else; Sally wished she could have this feeling of power forever.
And then, almost too quickly, it began to fade. She found herself dragging lower to the ground, and gradually slowing. Her feet touched the ground, and she looked around anxiously, feeling naked with the energy no longer coursing through her. Sonic slowed to a stop as well, his hair settling back to his everyday spikes and reverting to its blue color.
"Oh, well," he sighed. "Easy come, easy go."
Another explosion sounded, and Sally was stricken with fear. "Sonic, the reactor!"
An explosion split through the wall right beside her, and she ran forward, finding her original speed uncomfortably slow. They were surrounded by fire on all sides, inside a machine that would soon collapse. Sally held Sonic close. "I'm sorry," she whispered into his ear. "I'm sorry for bringing you here to die."
"Hey," he looked into her eyes, which still seemed to sparkle. "We took Robotnik down. That counts for something, doesn't it?"
"I love you, Sonic."
He blinked. "I... love you, too. Sally."
A final ball of fire, and all means of possible escape were cut off. They stood there, in each other's arms, awaiting the inevitable. There was a tiny amount of fear in Sonic's heart, but there was joy, too. Now their friends wouldn't have to worry about Robotnik anymore, and could finally be free. He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling tears beneath the lids. He hugged Sally tighter, trying to drown out the sounds of explosions and chaos around him.
When he felt a hand on his shoulder, it took him a moment to realize that it wasn't Sally's. His eyes slowly opened, and he was face to face with someone who looked like a dark reflection of himself. An obsidian hedgehog with red piercing eyes smiled at him. "Don't fear, Sonic. You helped me, now it's my turn to help you."
The shadow took a step back, his hand reaching out toward Sonic and Sally, still held in embrace. A glow emanated from his palm, as his eyes rolled up in their sockets in concentration. Sonic felt like he was being ripped apart from the inside, and almost screamed against the pain.
When he opened his eyes he was lying on the ground, on a hill several kilometers away from Doomsday. He reached over to nudge Sally, who had apparently fallen beside him. "Sonic?" she spoke quietly. "What happened?"
With a flash that lit up the sky, Doomsday exploded in a brilliant ball of fire. Sonic and Sally watched it with widened eyes, as if it was their own private fireworks show. When the fire at last dissipated, no sign was left of the super weapon, or of Doctor Ivo Robotnik.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
The chant rang out from Knothole, from all the freedom fighters who had witnessed the massive explosion in the sky. "Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!"
Robotnik was gone, and with him all the oppression the Mobians had suffered over the past decade. "Freedom!"
Now they could return to their lives, out from under the thumb of a vile dictator. "Freedom!"
Those who survived the assault were commended for their bravery by Princess Sally, at an impromptu celebration that night. Everyone was overjoyed that the war was finally over, and it showed on everyone's faces as they talked and laughed with everyone they saw.
"It's too bad Robotnik's gone," Sonic said to Sally as soon as they found each other in the crowd.
"Too bad?" she replied incredulously. "Why is it too bad?"
"Well, it kinda puts the freedom fighters out of a job. What are heroes supposed to do without a villain around?"
Her hand found his and she smiled. "You'll always be my hero, Sonic."
He returned the smile, then slowly leaned closer to kiss her full on the lips. She wrapped her arms around him, both of them aware and uncaring of all the stares from the people around them. For the first time they could remember, both of them were truly happy.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
The sadistic cackle echoed through the tunnels as the little man crawled his way to freedom. "That stupid fool!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "That big round idiot finally let himself be destroyed! Haa ha ha!!"
He swung the access hatch aside and climbed out, finding himself kilometers away from the ruins of the Doomsday tower. "Now it's my turn for a little fun, and I'm not going to screw it up like that pompous moron! Oh, yes. Things are going to be different from here... on... out."
**END OF CHAPTER**
MESSAGE FROM THE MAN: Special Holiday Special... kinda.
This chapter is late. This chapter is also twice the normal length. I hope the latter makes up for the former, and no one will be made. Thank you.
Also, I expect a lot of feedback from this one, for obvious reasons. Send it in, and let me know what you think of these... new developments, hee.
Merry (delayed) Christmas and a Happy New Year!
-AE
(Oh, something else! I'll be putting FFoM concept art on my DeviantArt account, so if you have stuff on there, give me some feedback on that, too! //LuxInvictus.DeviantArt.com//)