Chapter 14: Infiltration
March 21st, 2314 – 1:15 PM – Robotnik's Base
The truck rumbled on through the darkness. The narrow corridors of the tunnel caused the noise from the machine's engine to echo off the walls, giving Sonic a supreme headache. As Sonic covered his ears to block out the noise, he really hoped they wouldn't have to ride on this thing for much longer. Fortunately, lights glared at them from on up ahead, so the tunnel seemed to be coming to an end.
As they entered the chamber with the bright lights, Sonic saw walls made of steel, in addition to a floor area full of piles of scrapped metal and other garbage. With fascination, he watched all the activity in the room as the truck trudged onward through the place. He had never seen anything like this place before in his life. Automated bulldozers with big shovels pushed junk around, forming it into piles. Loud machinery whirred and whistled all around, spewing clouds of smoke into the air. Sonic was in awe with of much activity there was in this place, and with how big it was.
The truck suddenly screeched to a halt, nearly knocking Sonic and Tails off their feet.
"Why'd it stop?" Tails asked.
Sonic was about to say 'I dunno', when he suddenly thought of the most obvious answer. The truck was stopping to collect a new load of refuse. He then noticed they had parked to the left of a tall ledge. Up at the top of that ledge was a big container full of a new load of refuse, and it looked to be designed to tip over to dump its cargo out. Even as Sonic started to move, the container began to slant over.
"Grab on Tails!" Sonic screamed.
Tails certainly didn't need to be told twice. Tails snatched Sonic's arm, while metal began raining down all around them. As the hedgehog dashed off the truck with Tails in tow, the rest of the new load of refuse crashed down in the spot where they had been standing only a second before. The noise of metal clashing against metal drowned out the small thump that the pair made as they landed on the floor.
"Phew...close one..." Sonic said, gasping for breath.
Sonic and Tails stood up and dusted themselves off.
"So…we're in the base now Sonic," Tails said. "What do we do now?"
"Erm...gee...that's a good question Tails."
When Sonic couldn't think of a good reply, he started to feel a little afraid. He realized he hadn't thought out this whole plan to kill Robotnik very well. Sonic glanced over at Tails, a worried look crossing over the hedgehog's face.
"What's wrong Sonic?"
"I screwed up...I didn't think this plan out good enough."
"What do you mean?"
"We've got no idea where Robotnik is in this base, or even what the layout of it is. Even if his army wasn't around, it would be almost impossible to find him here."
"I guess you're right Sonic," Tails said, his ears folding down. However, they shot up again. "Hey though...at least we can go help out Zack so he can save the prisoners."
"Hmm..." Sonic said. A smile crossed his face. "Well I guess that's not as good as killing Robotnik, but I'd be glad to keep all those people from getting killed. Let's go."
"But Sonic…how are we gonna find Zack?"
"Well, he couldn't have come in here much earlier than us, so maybe he's still close by. What do you say we fly up and see if we can spot him from the air?"
"All right. Grab my arm then."
Sonic grabbed Tails' arm, and the young kit twisted his tails. Soon, the two were floating up near the roof of the room, scanning for Zack and the others.
"Hey, I see 'em!" Tails suddenly said. "Over there, on the other side of the room!"
Sonic glanced towards that area. He just barely could make them out at this distance, but he saw them going through a doorway on the opposite end of the room. They were almost the size of ants from here, but Sonic could still identify Zack and his cops by their black uniforms, and Dr. Skeleck by his white coat.
"Let's get after them then Tails!" Sonic said.
"But Sonic… What if they see us?" Tails asked back.
"Oh it doesn't matter now, I think. Even if Zack knows we're here, it would be too dangerous for him to have somebody take us back outside."
"Well, I guess that makes sense. Hold on then."
For the second time in the last several minutes, Tails did a dive bomb maneuver towards the ground. This time he aimed for the doorway the cops had gone through a moment before. However, this time Tails pulled up in time, letting Sonic go. Sonic easily landed on his feet, and Tails came down next to him without a hitch. They were now at the doorway, which opened into a sterile metal corridor. Nothing decorated the corridor at all, unless you counted the fluorescent lights and pipes in the ceiling. It felt like a dead place...with no warmth in it at all.
Sonic silently wished to leave this place as soon as possible, after their objective had been accomplished. In the distance, Sonic heard the faint echoes of boots on metal.
"I hear them," Tails said.
"Me too," Sonic said back. "Let's hurry and catch up to them."
Sonic and Tails ran down the corridor, trying to catch up with the police.
As they got closer, they heard Zack shout, "Hey...we've got something incoming! Get ready!"
Sonic waved a hand to signal for Tails to stop, and whispered, "Wait here... I'll go talk to them first and calm them down."
As Sonic stepped around the next corner, several bullets ricocheted off the wall next to him. He ducked back around the corner, avoiding the bullets. Several more shots were fired, but they quickly ceased. The corridor was now deathly quiet. Sonic let out a sigh.
Guess we should have been more careful in letting them know we're here.
Slow, rapid footsteps approached the corner, but they stopped just short of the edge. A mirror on a metal pole then poked out from around the corner. In the mirror, Sonic could see Zack's hardened eyes look at him. However, the bobcat's expression quickly changed to a look of surprise, followed by anger. Zack himself then stepped around the corner to look at them.
"Don't shoot fellas," Zack said, waving an arm back at the others down the hall. "It's just the kids again."
Sonic heard deep sighs of relief around the corner, followed by the sound of rifles clicking as their owners lowered them into relaxed positions. Zack motioned with his hand for them to follow him, and then he stepped back around the corner. Sonic and Tails followed him.
"You just don't give up, do you?" Zack muttered, slipping the tactical mirror back into his utility belt. "Well, it's too late now to send you back now, so I guess you're stuck with us."
"Great!" Sonic said with a smile.
"Oh yeah...you'll see how great it is once we get back to the station," Zack muttered. "You're lucky I don't break your leg again to stop you from pulling crap like this."
"I wouldn't mind you doing that either," Dr. Skeleck said. His arms folded across his chest as he stood with the other cops. "He'd get in a lot less trouble that way."
The doctor then turned around, looking about the corridor.
"I think this is the way to the prison complex," the doctor said, pointing down the hall. "I've been taken down this hallway a few times before."
"All right, good," Zack said back, the yellow bobcat walking over Dr. Skeleck. "Let's get a move on then." Turning back to face Sonic and Tails, he said, "You two stay in the middle of us. We can't let you get in any danger."
"Aww..." Sonic muttered. "I wanted to go fight stuff, not get baby guarded."
The group silently walked down the corridors, as they kept an eye out for danger. The tension was so thick in the air around them it could be cut with a knife. Occasionally, they'd pass a window that would let them look out over a larger room, which was typically full of smelting pits. Maybe Robotnik made metal to build his military here. The area seemed lightly guarded though. Only a handful of guards seemed to be patrolling down here, and even then they'd been easy enough to sneak past.
After about fifteen more minutes of walking around, the group came to a stairwell that led further down to lower levels. Darkness shrouded the bottom of the stairs, not allowing anyone to see what was waiting down there.
"Well doctor?" Zack asked. "Are we on the right trail?"
Dr. Skeleck stepped forward and gazed down into the thick shadows.
"Yes...we are. These stairs will take us to the prison area," he answered, turning around to face the group.
"Do you remember what's down there?" Zack asked.
"Not really... They always keep the lights off down there, I couldn't see much because of it."
"All right then, we'll have to proceed a little more carefully from here," Zack said, as he turned to face the group. "Everyone slow down your pace. We don't want to walk into a trap."
Zack took point as he walked down the stairs. The other cops followed him, with Sonic, Tails, and Dr. Skeleck towards the rear. The further they got away from the stairs, the darker the place became. However, a dim light at the far end of the passage was shining at them. It hung on the wall above a door, revealing the exit. Some of the policemen turned on their flash lights, and shone them around to keep an eye on things. There didn't seem to be much to look at in the hall though, apart from exposed pipes and ductwork in the ceiling.
Even so, Tails shook violently in fear. He absolutely hated dark places, and this one was no different. Even as bad as the Land of Darkness was in general, it was nothing compared to this place. Not to mention, he got the feeling that they were being watched, and that anyone or anything could just jump out of the blackness and surprise them.
In fact, right now, he heard a strange whispering sound behind him, and turned to look. There was nothing there though, apart from the stairs at the other end of the hall. The whispering noise continued, but he still couldn't see a thing. What was making that noise? He was sure he didn't hear it a few moments ago. Finally, Tails just shook his head and told himself it was his imagination, his hyper-sensitive ears, or probably both. There wasn't anything there, and his eyes proved it.
Turning back, he realized they were nearly at the door to the next room. Up close, the door looked very strong...maybe about as strong as a bank vault. It even had a rotating handle on the middle like a vault. Zack stepped up to the handle, and tried to turn it. It looked like it wasn't budging. Even when he started straining with all of his might, he couldn't get it to move.
"It's no good..." Zack said. "This door just isn't going to open without a key. We'd have better luck getting through a wall."
"What about that big gun of yours?" Dr. Skeleck asked. "It's an anti-tank gun right? Well why not put it to use?"
"Because when I fire it, it'll be like an explosion. We don't need to be making that kind of sound, because it would draw a lot of attention."
"So what now then?" Sonic said.
"Well, there's not a lot we can do. I can see a card reader here, but the card could be anywhere, and it's too dangerous to go searching for it. Even if Robo's army wasn't here, we could be looking for days in this place just to find it."
"We just give up?" Tails said, sounding shocked.
"Well, I'm afraid so Tails," Zack said. "That is, unless you know some kind of magical way of opening this door, like saying Abracadabra."
Zack then gasped as he heard the door opening behind him, and whirled around with his gun at the read. Everyone else who had a gun did the same. A blinding white light on the other side of the door poured into the black corridor, almost blinding Tails. Finally, with a thump, the door stopped opening. As Tails' eyes adjusted, he began to make the next corridor.
It looked completely empty, except this time the theme of the room was quite different. Instead of just plain metal and such, the room's walls, floors, and ceiling were all made of glass. On the other side of the glass was an array of fluorescent lights over a reflective mirror, which was why so much light was hitting them as the door opened. It was without a doubt the most surprising thing Tails had seen since they'd gotten in here. He'd been expecting to see something like another plain metal hallway.
Then something surprised him even more. At the other end of the glass hallway, he could see the next door opening. It was like the whole place was just opening up for them.
As the second door stopped moving and thumped to a stop, there was silence again. Everyone stood rooted to their spots for a couple of minutes, not moving or saying a word. However, Zack soon lowered his rifle and relaxed a bit as he stood up straight.
"I can't believe that word actually worked..." Zack said.
"Oh use some common sense you brute!" Dr. Skeleck called out. "It's probably a trap! That's why it opened up for you! Robotnik knows we're here now. I'm sure of it!"
"Maybe...but even with what I said in the briefing, I don't wanna give up on those prisoners when we're so close," Zack said back. "This is the only way into the prison, isn't it?"
"Yes, that's right. But I'd suggest turning back. The guards always had to use a keycard to open that door."
Zack took another good look at the hallway.
"I don't see anything that looks dangerous. Do any of you?"
There was a general murmuring of agreement with Zack.
"Tell you what everybody...I'll take point again, and when I reach the next door, you can follow me. If there's anything dangerous, I'll probably spot it. Sound good?"
The others nodded, while Dr. Skeleck just folded his arms and snorted, as his face took on a 'you'll-be-sorry-for-not-listening-to-me' look. Zack entered the corridor...moving one step at a time down the brightly lit passageway. It took him at least a few minutes to reach the other end of the hall, with how slow he was going. Sonic seemed to be getting antsy about watching him take his sweet time like that.
However, he finally reached the door at the other end without any mishaps. The bobcat then turned around and waved for them to move up. Everybody else in the group moved forward, with Dr. Skeleck and Tails bringing up the rear.
"I'm going to regret this," the bat doctor muttered.
As the last of the cops stepped in, the door they'd just walked through slammed closed. Then the door at the other end of the hall slammed closed too. Next, Tails heard a whirring noise getting louder, as if something in the room was charging up. Everyone looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. Suddenly, a bright flash of light blinded Tails. When he was able to see again, he saw that it was a laser coming out of the wall...and it had already slashed two cops in half as it sliced across the hallway.