Chapter 11

"Hey, get a load of this." Sonic whispered as he stopped mid sprint to inspect some curious marks on the ground. Normally the blue hedgehog was used to worn down places that Robotnik left behind with numerous craters and impact sites, but... "I've noticed these all leadin' in this direction."

Lupe knelt down and brought her crystal tipped paw across them and checked the scent. Eyes opening wide and a toothy smile crossing her lips, she pointed further down the corridor. "Good eyes, Sonic! The smell matches up with the letter he sent earlier!"

"Won't be long now. Let's juice!" The she-wolf chieftain was quick to take point as the duo rushed towards the heart of the sewers. I hope you're there too, Sal. Not gonna let you out of my sight until we're outta here!

–

Sally feigned a yawn as she paced around her chambers, hoping to get the strange man's attention. It's now or never, Sally-girl. Sonic should be here any second, but I need to know what he's been doing down here all this time.

"Where...am I?" Her acting needed to be as convincing as possible to stave off suspicion.

A muffled voice resounded near her room on the left hand side as the man was unable to contain his excitement. "Oh...hold on! I'll be there in just a second, don't worry!" Something about his mannerisms seemed humorous, even though the situation was anything but, and the chipmunk found herself trying to stifle her own giggling. The shuffling and tossing of clothes could be heard as she recovered from her short fit of mirth.

The door creaked open slowly as Sally leapt away from it with a gasp, revealing a short green gecko, much younger than she had anticipated, on the other side in the garb of the Royal Guard. The clothing was very similar to Antoine's or even Dirk's from Lower Mobius. He shifted in place, with a lot of weight being put on his right hand leg, which was made of solid metal. The joints creaked and scraped with movement seeming somewhat difficult. A yellow streak traveled up the lizard's nose, across his head and down the other side. Wide inquisitive eyes that matched said streak in color scanned the chipmunk's body leading up to her face, causing her to blush slightly.

"P-princess Sally, it's wonderful to finally meet you face-to-face. I'm Leonard, displaced member of the Royal Guard." His left hand came up in a hasty salute as he nearly toppled over due to the shift in balance. Catching himself, he affixed Sally with an awkward smile as he continued. "Apologies for the state of my home... My constant vigilance has distracted me from such things, your highness." His tongue flicked reflexively as a loud gulp resounded in his throat. Sweat beads formed on his forehead as he awaited a response.

She almost felt bad, gazing at his pathetic form in a mixture of disgust and pity. The uniform on closer inspection was in disrepair and clearly too tight for his form. His mannerisms mimicked that of a disciplined soldier, but the movements were unpracticed and lacked dignity. It was like watching a child putting on a play. "At ease, Leonard. I take it this your home base then?"

The gecko's eyes lit up at the question and he beckoned her further towards the computer she investigated earlier. As they walked back into the main room, she relaxed her posture and scanned the area for more clues to her whereabouts. "Please don't be alarmed, Sally—can I call you Sally? Yes...this has been the center of my operations for quite some time. Me and my group of Underground Freedom Fighters have been quite busy these past few months." She nearly froze in place as the last sentence left his lips. There's more of them down here!?

"Sally is fine... It's not much use to address me as royalty when I don't have a kingdom to rule over. I'm more concerned with why you haven't tried to contact us in all this time!" It was time for Leonard to pause, as he glanced over his shoulder with a pained look in his eyes. Shaking his head, he grinned once more as they approached his control room.

"If we're dropping formalities, then just call me Lenny then. Most of us were scattered when an unexpected Swat-Bot patrol caught us by surprise. Many of us were immediately captured and sent off to be roboticized. We didn't stand a chance." A balled fist clattered the keyboard in front of him with a large sigh punctuating the outburst. "I should have known better. Last I've heard, Robotnik was ramping up operations for his Doomsday Project. I wonder what became of it..."

Leonard then handed Sally a small framed picture that had fallen to the ground; something she had missed in her first search. The glass on the front was cracked from the impact and a layer of dust told her that it had been there for quite some time. Two bears, a dog, a white bird and a fox girl all stood waving with the gecko knelt down on his good leg. There was a warm, confident smile on his face. Something about this group seemed familiar... "Lenny, these Freedom Fighters. I think Sonic-" A grumble sounded from the small man as soon as she uttered his name. "Is...something wrong?"

"No. It's nothing... I just thought I spotted something on the camera feed. There are many dangers in these tunnels, which is why I must be ever vigilant, your highness." No Leonard, something is definitely off and I think I might know why!

–

"Oh man. Not these rat-bots again." Sonic briefly slid his hand down into his backpack before Lupe seized his arm. "Hey! What's the-" Another hand clasped over his mouth as the wolf was quick to shush him.

"I know your concern over the princess's safety is causing you to get antsy, but we can't make too much noise. Remember what I've told you earlier." Seemingly on cue, another of the metallic rodents slunk past their position as a low screech emanated from it. Two others fell in line with it as they moved further towards the entrance.

The blue blur sighed and tapped his foot impatiently, with a look of concern written all over his face. "Right... Y'know patience ain't my strong suit, but I don't want to blow our chances. Still..." Scanning the room, the glint of a reflective surface caught his attention, giving away the position of yet another one of the homemade cameras that dotted the interior. An impish expression crept across his face, as an idea began to coalesce in his brain. "Ya didn't say anythin' about a good distraction!"

–

Before Sally could inquire further about the missing group of Freedom Fighters, the sound of a small, muffled explosion traveled through the facility, with the wires and bits of metal clattering like chiming bells. One of the feeds abruptly faded into static soon after as Leonard hastily pressed a small red button on the keyboard. He turned to face the chipmunk with a pained grimace and shuffled off towards the exit. "Apologies Sally, our chat will have to wait. We have visitors."

–

"Sonic. I fail to see how this will help us." The hedgehog rolled his eyes as they sped down the corridor with Lupe in his arms. His eyes kept track of the shifting patterns of scrapes, as the sound of numerous whipping tails of robo-rats faded into the distance.

"If this is Sal's secret admirer that's holdin' her 'captive', then we don't have anything to worry about. The sooner we find him, the sooner we can put this mess behind us!" The she-wolf grinned a toothy smile as she pointed ahead into the darkness.

"Looks like we flushed him out!"

–

A pair of infrared binoculars was glued to the gecko's eyes as the pair stood just outside of the base. More sweat beaded down all over his skin as his hand clasped into a balled fist once again. "No no no! He's going to ruin everything!"

Sally saw her opportunity at last and brought her weight against his frame, pinning him to the adjacent wall! The binoculars fell to the ground as the sound echoed through the hallway. Fear crept up into Leonard's face as she reached into his coat pocket, revealing a silver control module. "W-what are you doing!?"

"You had control over the rat-bots, Lenny. That's why you didn't bother to search for your comrades. You gave up on them!" The accusation rattled the young man who shrunk into his garb, as a button burst from lower part of his shirt. "Sonic rescued them all from being roboticized. That's what I was about to tell you!"

The telltale sound of the blue streak could be heard approaching and the Freedom Fighter leader pressed her advantage, gesturing towards the darkness. "Now tell me this, because he won't let you get a word in edgewise. Did you give them up to Robotnik or not?" A sigh left his lips but he remained firmly silent, averting his gaze from Sally's. "If you respect me that much..."

"Okay okay! Fine. You won, as to be expected..." She could feel his muscles relaxed as she too loosened her grip. "I...let them be captured. Re-routed the patrols so they could find them easier. They were impulsive and naive. Would have been caught eventually... I just needed more time and my plan would have went off without a hitch!"

"What could have been so important that you would give up your entire team!? Lenny, nothing is more important than looking after the ones you care about! No matter how you feel about them..." The two leaders stared each other down as the gecko began to shake heavily in mixture of anger and sadness.

"I wanted to be there with you, Sally! I found out you were going to take down Robotnik once and for all! We were going to make the final push and I had just the army to do it!" The clamor of creaking metal and electric snapping of robo-rat tails added to the din that Sonic and Lupe were making. It all finally made sense.

"You replaced your team with modified rat-bots." A click on the button of the control pad sounded out as the speeding duo approached with the robots following close behind. Instantly, the movements of Leonard's "army" seized in unison with a horrific, rusty creak. It took all of her strength not to crush the implement under her heel as she glared at him for a response...any response. Tears streaked down his cheek and he began to sniffle, clutching at his sides as he balled himself up against the wall.

"There's no hope. We were doomed to fail from the start. Going to be...trapped forever under his rule." Sally shook her head and relaxed her stance once more, coming over to kneel beside him.

"I can't forgive you for what you've done...not yet. However, I can tell you this..." His yellow eyes stared up at hers as he choked back more tears. "We beat him. Robotnik is gone."

"Yo Sal!" The familiar cadence of the hedgehog sprung forth.

"Are you safe, princess?" Lupe soon followed suit. The two were greeted with the sight of a lizard in Royal Guard attire clinging to her in a deep embrace, high pitched wailing exploding out of his frame. It was a pathetic sight.

"I'll be fine. Before you say anything, we should get out of these tunnels first." Sonic wrinkled his nose in disgust as he looked over the strange man who had not stopped crying since they got here. Sally caught his glance and shook her head silently. Gripping the power ring in hand, he took one final disdainful look at the frozen bodies of the rats behind him.

"Let me just say one thing. Hold on, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!"