To answer English Bloke's question, yes, Tom is kind of my version of Bobby- but of course he isn't Iceman. ;-)
One last thing- there is a small amount of strong language here... Well, stronger than normal. But this is about the only time I intend to use the word, so don't expect it to become common.
Chapter 7: It's all in a NameIt was late night, and at this time as it always had been since its construction, the building was silent and calm. But, unlike all other nights, numerous figures crept through the corridors, searching for something. Most could be seen as clear as day as they lacked any talent for stealth, but as Miles Prower stared at one of them, he just knew that mechs were merely the beginning.
The cat-machine combo was here for an assassination. He could see it in her bright, fanatical eyes, and how she was checking if he was the target she had been sent to eliminate. The trouble was, she was the wrong person for the job- an assassin does not walk on a wooden floor with metal feet.
A decoy? Possibly. The more manic Mechanists weren't known for their individual smarts, but a clever leader could have sent her here on what she would believe to be a 'holy mission', whilst the real, dangerous characters went for the real targets. That would explain the gun too- people only used older, non-energy weapons for one reason; they could be easily fitted with silencers. This one, however, most certainly did not appear to have such a modification.
There was no movement from the two creatures for just a moment, but then, as if one, there was a flash of steel from Miles' fists and a swish of air as the Mech's gun came up against her shoulder.
Once more there was a pause, and the mercenary found himself frowning in confusion as she lowered her weapon at the sight of his blades, and a smile blossomed on her face.
"Brother!" she cried in an almost dreamy manner, "The promised time is upon us at last! Have you found the cruel one, Princess Acorn?"
He just looked at her, lowering his guard slightly as a few incoherent words came from his mouth. What in the name of the Ancient Walkers did the mech mean? Surely this was an assassination attempt... the leadership of the Mechanists weren't stupid enough to actually attempt a full coup, were they?
"What?" he asked, blinking dumbly, not quite able to get his head around everything that was going on.
"The revolution is now! Come with me, the children of the Freedom Fighters are here- the Machine God needs them for his army!" She let out an almost insane giggle. "Our army shall be marching over the rubble of the city by dawn!"
She was too certain, too confident to be an all-out-wacko. The cat might be heading to the deep end, but she knew what she was doing, all right. Which meant... An army? A Mechanist army was in the palace?
Shit.
Not for the first time, his claws had made him appear to be a mech. Mechs didn't get jobs in high society, it just didn't happen- therefore, she must think that he was here as part of the army. And that gave him the advantage. If he could just get her to turn her back, then he'd be able to eliminate her without a sound-
One of the dorm room doors opened behind the half mechanical cat, and he could see Cream and Pepsi lean out into the corridor. The cat whirled to face them, crying out in a sudden and disturbing anger.
"Foul creatures!" she yelled, and brought up her gun once more. The two young girls screamed, but before the cat was able to open fire Miles leapt forward, closing the distance between he and the aggressor in a flash.
He grabbed her, spun and slammed her back into the corridor wall. She did not appear to resist, even as he brought up his right set of claws to rest by her throat.
"Tell me about the revolution," he snarled. "Why are you here?"
She just looked at him in surprise, slowly turning to recognition. He made to ask again, perhaps throwing some of her blood into the equation to show how serious he was, when another voice came from down the corridor.
"You! You are the Spyder!"
He glanced away from the mech to see another, this one a male cat with a metal lower body, standing with a black pistol in one hand.
"Spyder... The priority!" the female muttered.
Miles had frozen up upon hearing the name. He hadn't heard it for ten years, because as far as he knew no one else knew it. He had been a failed experiment, and as such he had assumed that the classification Robotnik had given him was never entered into the Robotropolis archives. There was no point – his kind would not have been created in batches like other Cyborg types because the process of creating a Spyder was flawed. Miles was quite certain that he was the only one in existence.
So how did they know that he was a Spyder class Cyborg?
The female mech's upper body barely moved as one of her robotic legs came up and smashed into his side, with such independence from the rest of her that it looked for all the world that she had not actually willed it into action. But regardless, the sheer strength of the limb sent him careering down the corridor, straight towards the other mech.
Miles controlled his short flight as best he could, grabbing onto the cat's raising gun arm a moment before impact and twisting around the half robotic male feline. His hand covered the mech's grip on the pistol as the two fell backwards and contracted three times, squeezing the cat's hand and in turn pulling the trigger. All three rounds that came from the gun struck the other mech, sending the body silently to the floor. Her comrade soon followed as the fox stabbed him with three claws in the back.
He reached down and pried the gun from the lifeless fingers of the male mech, then went to retrieve the sub-machine gun from the other. Cream and Pepsi were still watching as he did so, Cream looking like she expected it to a degree whilst Pepsi looked somewhat ill. The other members of the royal school were coming out to join the two in an attempt to find out what all the noise was about- none of them expected to see Miles standing there with a few spots of blood on his fur, a gun in each hand and claws protruding from between his knuckles.
He subconsciously willed the blades to return to their housing, and they did with a sharp hiss. A few mutters of astonishment followed from the children.
"Stay still," he said, making a quick head count. Twenty-seven, good, the entire population was here. With any luck they could stay in his room and be safe until he could find out what was going on around here.
"Come on kids, go down here and into my room, okay? Try and get comfy, keep low, and stay quiet. Do you get me?"
They nodded shakily, and made their way quickly to the room he was gesturing to. Cream however remained where she was.
"Miles, what's going on?" she asked.
"I dunno kid, that's what I need to find out. Come on, you'll be safe in there until I can find Amy and get some answers." She was looking quite insecure about the idea of being left for any period of time, so he added, "Don't worry, I'll be back. I'm gonna be your own personal bodyguard, I promise, and I never let a client down."
He stuffed the pistol into one of the pockets on the inside of his jacket, then quickly took her into the room and made sure that everyone was okay. It was cramped, but they all fit and that would be good enough for a few minutes.
He gave a nod to them all, and looked as confident as he could, for his sake just as much as theirs. He wasn't entirely sure that stuffing them all into one room was a very good idea, but he wasn't used to escorting such a number of people at once-
...
...but the sight he had just caught through the bedroom window told him that this was probably a good time to try it anyway.
"Ancient Walkers," he whispered in awe.
"Miles? I'm scared," came a voice from his side. He looked down to see Cream watching him with wide eyes, as were the twenty-six other kids.
"...on second thought," he said thinking quickly, "all of you come with me. Now-!"
He moved to the door, holding the sub-machine gun like he were a member of a black-ops force, taking a quick glance down either direction of the corridor. It was clear, so he stepped out, stopped, then did his best to watch everything at once.
"Which way to Amy's room?" he snapped.
"Down there, round the corner, first door on the left," Cream said automatically as if reciting her times table, pointing to Miles' left.
"Come on kids!" the mercenary said as he felt the familiar adrenaline pumping into his veins. "Follow me as fast as you can, but don't get ahead- this isn't a race, understand?"
He didn't wait for another reply, dashing in the indicated direction with good speed- fast, but not too fast for the children or to seriously hamper his aim along the guns sight. The weapon was now raised, the butt against his right shoulder and his finger on the trigger.
As he neared the corner, a figure came around to meet them. The bulkiness of it's arms made it known that it was another mech- and the way that it moved into a fighting stance declared that it was also a Mechanist.
Miles wasted no time, firing off a burst of three bullets into the Mechanist's face, painting the wall behind it crimson. He stepped past the body, turned the corner- and immediately leapt back to avoid the multitude of thuds from incoming rifle fire. The fine wood that formed the walls of the hallway exploded into tiny shards where the projectiles made contact, rewarding the two-tailed fox with small cuts from splintered shrapnel.
He cursed violently, wondering what he could do to take out the three Mechanists just around the corner. A plan was presented to him when his ears picked up the faint thud of a round object bouncing off the wall and down the corridor- a fragmentation grenade!
His left hand snapped away from its grip under the barrel of his gun, catching the ball before it could touch the ground. Immediately, he tossed it back before it could go off and kill both he and the kids-
And then it went with a blasting roar. Miles waited a moment, sparing a glance to the frightened kids behind him as they clutched at their ears, then stepped around to witness a mess that the palace servants would probably never be able to get completely out of the woodwork.
"Come on!" he shouted, dashing through the wisps of smoke and towards the first door he could see on the left. Whilst he was transfixed upon events happening around him (this was a battle, after all, and one needed to be alert), in the back of his mind he was questioning one thing- where the bloody hell was security around this place?! It seemed like he'd find more guards around a primary school!
He reached the door and kicked it open, coming face-to-face with Amy Rose. It looked like the initial bursts of gunfire had awoken her, as she was only dressed in her nightclothes.
"Miles?" she gasped, blinking and looking at the blood on him in shock, "What's going on? What are-"
"The palace is under attack," he said quickly, kids beginning to file into the room for safety. Amy's room was quite large, he noticed, bigger than his (probably all Freedom Fighter leaders had similar benefits) and filled with some nice paintings. Was she interested in that sort of thing, he wondered? "Mechanists, everywhere, all armed in some way. We fought six just getting here."
He tossed his gun to her and drew the pistol from inside his jacket, taking out the clip and checking that it still had some ammo inside. It did, so he slid it back in.
"Well- what do they want?" Amy said, forcing herself to wake up as fast as she could, and letting her Freedom Fighter training taking over.
"What do you think? The Princess, guessing by what one of them said. And the kids, too."
"Why would Mechanists want to find Sally?" she asked with a frown. "They've always been friendly to us."
"Mechanists are the result of society's ignorance," Miles snapped. "They've been talking about revolution with mechs in charge for years, but I never thought they'd actually try it."
Amy paused, digesting the information, then said,
"I don't believe it-"
She was cut off when another voice, Miles recognised it as Tom's, interrupted with a cry of warning. He spun to face the doorway just in time to witness the muzzle flash from a silver pistol, held by yet another mech – this one a fox with a metal tail – and hear the whistle of an incoming round. It all seemed so slow, how it skimmed his shoulder, biting in only far enough to be deflected up and away by the metal bone just beneath the skin.
It wasn't a serious wound- but it still drew blood, and the force of the impact was enough to throw him to the floor. Almost immediately after, he heard a short burst of fire from where Amy was standing- and the fox mech went down.
"Hoo yeah," he growled sarcastically, as Amy knelt down by him to examine the wound, "they're real friendly."
----------
Grid: 86/A/92
Time: 1/44: 96/A
Cross file: AD/I/81/7
Location: scanning...
...found, Knothole Palace, east wing, ref. 3827/B
Stealth mode engaged, battery time remaining: 1/35: 83/A
Primary objective: terminate ROYAL FAMILY, ref. ACORN, SALLY/HEDGEHOG, SONIC
Secondary objective: SPYDER, search and destroy, ref. PROWER, MILES
HEDGEHOG, priority: 1
ACORN, priority: 2
SPYDER, priority: 3
...
Variable sighted: identification: Palace Guard
Action? Options: avoid/engage/capture
...
Engage_
----------
"...my God," Amy Rose whispered as she looked out of Miles' bedroom window. They had quickly returned there once they had made a makeshift bandage for the mercenary's shoulder, he telling her that she had to 'see this for herself'. Which was just as well, she had to admit, as she'd never have believed it otherwise.
The window opened out to give a good view of Knothole's main street, leading right up to the main gates of the city. The gates themselves were open and, now, marching through them in neat, precise columns were swatbots. Hundreds of swatbots.
"What do we do?" she asked Miles, who was standing just out of the doorway and watching over the kids, pistol in hand.
"How should I know?" he replied harshly, "You're the Freedom Fighter!"
She ignored the venom in his voice, as he did have a point. She was a fully trained Freedom Fighter, she could handle this... She hoped.
But what to do?
"Let's find Bunnie," she said, marching back into the corridor and hefting her sub-machine gun. "She can get the kids to safety, whilst we can hit the alarm to alert Sonic and Sally."
"What? Surely the noise has woken them up."
"They sleep in the east wing, their room is on the other side of the palace. They might have woken up... But then, they might not. Do you want to risk it?"
"I don't know," he said darkly. "I guess it depends whether or not I'll get paid this time."
"Is that all you care about?" she asked after a short pause, feeling thrown off guard. "Just money? Doesn't... doesn't anything they did for you matter?"
Miles' face went blank and, for the first time since they had been re-united, he looked unsure. He blinked and shook his head, letting out a frustrated growl.
"Alright. Lead the way, Freedom Fighter," he said.
Amy ran into the hallway, the kids hot on her heels and Miles acting as a rear guard. She spared a moment to wonder what was wrong with him- he was becoming awfully angry awfully quickly- it seemed unnatural. The day before, he had gotten along well with her. So what had changed?
It was not long before they arrived at Bunnie's room, located as it was just outside of the 'school' area. They encountered no Mechanists en route, which was good- fighting had never truly sat well with Amy, and she didn't want to lose any of her kids.
They came to the doorway, where they found it open- and there was noise of what sounded like a struggle inside. She turned into the room, and saw Bunnie in hand-to-hand combat with a dog mech. The rabbit ducked as a metal arm whipped over her head, and caught sight of Amy in the doorway, weapon in hand-
She dove away from the Mechanist whilst Amy fired a round at it, sending it down spinning with a cry.
"Amy! What the hoo-ha is goin' on?!" Bunnie shouted, pulling herself to her feet. The kids moved into the room once more for safety, avoiding the body and the slowly expanding pool of blood beneath it.
"The palace is under attack," she said, helping her friend up. Like her, she was in her night clothes- a white robe that came down to her knees. "Bunnie, we need you to get the kids out of here."
"Wah? Why, where are ya goin' Amy-girl?"
"Miles and I are going to get Sonic and Sally out. Have Antoine and Rotor got back?"
"Nah, not yet, they're scheduled to return tomorrow."
"Damn!"
"Doncha worry Amy, I'll get the kids out. We gonna meet up or anythin'? An where are the guards?"
"We haven't seen any guards anywhere. It's strange, and I'm starting to think that this is an inside job... Get the kids out through one of the passages down near the barracks, take them to the ring pool."
"Full uniform?"
"Yeah, get set before you hit the passage. We'll meet you down, by the pool."
Amy turned away, looking back to Miles who was standing in the doorway. He threw his pistol to Bunnie, and said,
"All right kids, I want you to go with your Aunt Bunnie. She'll take you to where it's safe."
"Where are you goin', Miles?" Cream asked standing close to him due to her confidence in his ability to protect her.
"I'm just going with your teach to wake up Their Royal Highnesses."
"But-! But Miles,"
"Don't worry kid. Nothing's going to happen to you or any of your friends," he said casting a glance over all of the children. "Rabbot will keep you safe, and besides, I'll see you soon."
As Amy left the room and led Miles in the direction of the east wing, she couldn't help but wonder at his protectiveness of the orphans. It was encouraging in a manner, that he would lay down his life for them- inspirational too, but why was he so loyal to their well-being? Tails would have been she guessed, had he grown with them in Knothole, as he was one of them in a manner. But Miles... He was like two different people in the same body.
Who was he?
----------
They found them, soon enough.
The trip to the east wing had been eventful, numbering five Mechanist kills thanks to Miles' claws, and three due to Amy's gun. There had been little conversation between the two, just the words of business- such as 'incoming', or 'enemy down'.
Sonic and Sally had been awoken by some of the gunshots, but were confused as to what exactly was going on. They'd explained- well, Amy had explained, but Miles had disappeared for a few moments before returning to the three with a good idea of what had happened to the guards. He'd led them to a body of a mouse who had been stuffed into a service corridor, dressed in a blue and gold uniform (similar to that of Antoine's clothes of old). A mouse whose throat was slit with a neat, deep line.
He didn't tell them, but Miles knew that the kill had been done with almost mechanical timing and precision. The cut was... perfect in every way. A Mechanist would not have been skilled enough to make such an attack, so to his mind, this had been done by the real threat- a Cyborg, probably. Perhaps Shadow- the Snyper? All the thing had to do was to take out the guards on duty, which was clearly no trouble for it, then the mechs could pour in unopposed.
Anyway, whatever it was, it was worthy of his concern. So, he had told Sonic, Sally, and Amy to hurry up and decide what they were going to do.
They'd head to the barraks, get their uniforms, then check the exit Bunnie was going to use. If it was sealed, then they'd head for another secret passage, and meet with her and the kids by the ring pool.
----------
Grid: 86/A/36
Time: 1/42: 201/C
Cross file: AD/I/81/7
Location: Knothole Palace, approaching lobby, ref. 3365/B
Stealth mode engaged, battery time remaining: 1/20: 56/A
Primary objective: terminate ROYAL FAMILY, ref. ACORN, SALLY/HEDGEHOG, SONIC
Secondary objective: SPYDER, search and destroy, ref. PROWER, MILES
HEDGEHOG, priority: 1
ACORN, priority: 2
SPYDER, priority: 3
Primary and secondary objectives sighted
Variable sighted
Action? Options: avoid/engage/capture
...
Engage: ambush, stalk to Grid 86/A/01, send alert to GUYDE: initiate SPYDER anger program
...
Combat mode active, prepare flamer ignition
Order, priorities 1, 2, 3...
Restructuring for circumstance...
Target 1: priority 2: ACORN, SALLY, tailblade
Target 2: priority 3: SPYDER, flamer
Target 3: priority 1: HEDGEHOG, SONIC, tailblade
Target 4: variable: ROSE, AMY, flamer
Cleanse and burn_
----------
The three Freedom Fighters were now suited up and ready to go. Amy still held the sub-machine gun whilst Sally had taken a blaster from the armery to supplement the standard issue plaster pistol at her side.
Miles had taken no weapon, content to just use his claws- he was better in close combat then in ranged combat anyway, and in these corridors, hand-to-hand was likely. A rifle would just get in the way for him.
Bunnie's suit had gone, and the escape route was indeed sealed- they would have to go another way, and upon sighting a concentration of Mechanists near the backup route they had opted to return up to the lobby. They were entering the large room now, and Sally insisted that there was a passage there that would take them directly out the back, quite near to the ring pool. Hopefully, it had not yet been found.
But Miles was beginning to question whether they had been found. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end. His instincts were screaming- something was about to happen, he could feel it. Something-
There!
Miles leapt at Sally, and she cried out in fear as his claws extended in a flash. But contrary to how it appeared, he was not attacking her. Instead, he pushed her aside and raised his blades to parry a blow, which whilst almost invisible to the naked eye, he knew to be there.
A clang signalled that he was correct, and he felt the blade make contact with some off his own. He slashed out, searching for what looked like a bubble of air- and he caught it, sending a shower of sparks down from where it hung from the ceiling.
Like a television, the bubble turned to static, falling to it's feet and facing him. All manner of colours rippled over the figure's surface like liquid, eventually settling on a cold, dull grey. A long segmented metal tail curled up and waved lazily over it's head, a wicked looking blade upon the tip with a blaster muzzle just next to it. Arms outstretched, it's fingers had suction cups on the tips, allowing it to walk upon all manner of surfaces- and in the palms were a pair of holes which, with a flash and a puff, were obscured with small flames.
A Chymeleon class Cyborg- so that was what had opened up the palace so easily. All it had to do was activate it's camouflage technique and it would become practically invisible- tiny cameras built into it scanned the surrounding area, allowing the body glove it wore to adjust itself accordingly to blend in with the environment via thousands of tiny LCD screens. All it had to do was to pick of guards one at a time with cuts to the neck from it's tail.
Beneath the body glove, the creature appeared canine, a wolf perhaps? It was hard to tell, as even it's face was covered by the glove. But the point was moot, anyway, as it raised both hands towards him and engaged the flamethrowers housed there.
With a yelp, Miles leapt away and off the balcony that ran in an arc around the lobby like a hotel, but he was so close to the blast that he could feel the heat flow over his back. He fell down to the red-carpeted floor and landed in a crouch. The Chymeleon followed, lashing out with it's tail in a wide, deadly arc- Miles dodged and let out a snap-kick to the Cyborg's ribs, then made for a cut with his claws. But it blocked, and fought back with a flurry of blows that Miles was hard pressed to counter.
It let out another burst of flame from it's palms, missing Miles but still catching some of the finely carved wooden pillars that held up the balcony. It fired again, this time catching the carpet, forcing Miles to watch where he stepped with great care- the lobby was quickly turning into how he envisioned hell.
A blue blur shot past him and stuck the Chymeleon, and the mercenary took the opportunity to step back to check where the others were. Mechanists, drawn to the sounds were now entering the large room and Amy and Sally, both now at the base of the stairs, were being hard-pressed to fight them off. Sally was making her way towards them whilst firing off bolts of energy with her blaster, then reached out and pulled at a candlestick. It moved like a lever, and a small segment of the wall underneath the balcony slid back to reveal a hidden passage.
"Come on!" the princess shouted, then cried out. He turned to see what the matter was, catching the sight of the Chymeleon pinning Sonic to the floor, tail raised and ready to deliver the killing blow. Without thinking, Miles jumped at it and lashed out, cutting the tail and disabling it. But the arms were still dangerous and he knew that even if he took them off too, the Cyborg would still try to fight on. So he cut again, this time with an aim for the neck, and took the creature's head off with a spray of blood.
Sonic was on his feet immediately, and looked around himself to make sure the whole group was still together. Sally was in the passage whilst he and Miles were now right in the doorway- where was Amy?
Miles caught sight of her shooting with the sub-machine gun at a pair of Mechanists, and he shouted out to her. She heard, turned, and ran for them whilst avoiding the sporadic fire- but before she could make it to the tunnel, the balcony gave way to the flames burning up the pillars. It collapsed right in front of the door, blocking it and leaving her on one side and Sonic, Sally and Miles on the other.
"Amy!" Miles shouted, and tried to get through the dust and rubble of the collapsed walkway to look for some way to reach her. But there was no way through.
Sonic grabbed his arm, avoiding the blades still emerging from the knuckles as best he could, and shouted into Miles' ear to get his attention. But the fox didn't seem to hear, and continued to reach out to the blocked doorway, crying out Amy's name as Sonic dragged him down the tunnel.
----------
Grid: 487/F/20
Time: 0/591: 02/C
Cross file: AD/2/82/7
Location: Great Forest, lake outskirts, ref. 1943/E
CHYMELION message received, initiate SPYDER anger program
...
Program initiated
Swatbot search pattern initiated
Capture preparation initiated
...
CHYMELION destroyed, alter mission parameters
Restructuring for circumstance...
Primary objective: capture ROYAL FAMILY, ref. ACORN, SALLY/HEDGEHOG, SONIC
Secondary objective: terminate SPYDER, ref. PROWER, MILES
Targets approaching, initiate ambush program, initiate capture program
As the Profit commands_
----------
"You bastard!"
Miles had felt many things for Sonic. Respect, anger, even jealousy. The hedgehog had been his idol, his surrogate father, his older brother and best friend...
But right now, all he wanted to do was kill him.
"I could have saved her!" Miles shouted at the hedgehog who one day would be the king of Knothole, "I could have done something-"
"What would you have done, Miles?" Sonic snapped, just as pissed off as he. Apparently, he wasn't used to being attacked in such a violent verbal manner that the fox had developed over the years.
"I would have got through the rubble, I would have dug-"
"No one could have dug through all of that!"
"And how should you know, huh?! How would you fucking well know what I'm capable of?!"
He didn't even realise that he was doing it until it was done, and Sonic was on the ground, wheezing from the kick to the chest he had given him. Miles knelt down with a set of blades to the hedgehog's throat, ready and willing to slit it and let him bleed and gasp there, let him bleed whilst he added a few more cuts all over-
Mile stopped when he saw Sonic's frightened eyes, and in that moment he wondered what, just what, was he doing? Why... Why was he so angry? Amy wouldn't be dead, Sally had told him that she knew all the escape routes around the palace (and there were a lot of them).
He'd never seen this look on Sonic, though. Sonic never got scared of anything, least of all him.
What was he doing?
The unnatural rage, the hatred was still there, and it was stronger than he'd ever felt it- but he was able to turn it away before he exposed Sonic's insides to the world. He roared, looking for some way to release it, and stepped away from Sonic. He ignored the hedgehog as he scrambled to his feet, now wary of his... 'best bud'.
Even in this state, a movement caught his eye. He turned, and saw there in the forest, clear as day, a... Cyborg.
But he had never seen this design before.
It was built around an adult fox, one whose fur pattern bore a striking resemblance to Miles' own; orange fur with white patches in what appeared to be all the same places. The top of it's head was covered with a metal cap, like a helmet that reached down to cover it's eyes. Where they eyes should be were numerous glowing red orbs as a replacement, making it look like an insect or a spider of some kind.
Various parts of it's body were covered with metal plates, grafted into the skin as was so often the case with these things. But, oddly, it appeared to have no weaponry.
"Well done Spyder, you served your purpose well," it said abruptly in a purely metallic voice.
Wait... A Cyborg, talking?
"Who the hell are you?" Miles demanded, glad to have something to turn his anger on. But, rapidly, the rage was... fading.
"Designation: Guyde class Cyborg," it answered in a way that was so dull yet sinister that only a machine could manage it. As it did so, metal tentacles whipped out from hidden machines in the trees and grabbed both Sonic and Sally, pulling them high into the air and depositing them into well-camouflaged hover-vehicles. They cries were abruptly cut as the vechicles closed up, and Miles found that he suddenly felt... worthless.
"Let them go!" he shouted brandishing his claws.
"Don't pretend to be angry, Spyder. You cannot feel such an emotion truthfully, not without my intervention, and I shall not grant it to you."
He stopped.
"What?"
"But you no longer need to feel it, anyway. You are obsolete. You served your purpose in leading us here and distracting the hedgehog, but that is all you were needed for. The Profit demands your death. So it shall be done."
"That's... That isn't true, I couldn't have brought you here!" Miles shouted. "I would never betray... Sonic and Aunt Sally..."
'The hell?' he shouted at himself. Why was he talking about them like he would have when he was still a child? Why was he giving in so easily to this Cyborg?
"Your comrades are captured. You have nothing to fight on for. Hand over your flesh, Spyder."
That was true- Sonic and Sally were in their hands now. The transports were already moving away, and he could see glints of metal signalling the approach of a large number of swatbots. But the kids... They know of them? Perhaps... Perhaps he could help them?
It was a fair enough idea. Besides, it would allow him to get as far away from this... Guyde as possible.
So, he did the one thing he could do.
He ran.
A jump over a fallen tree and a cut through a bush, Miles desperately hoped that his route was correct. This area of the Great Forest was vaguely familiar to him, and the simple innocence of the place made him feel as though he had played here when he was little. But that was a long time ago, and back then he at least knew that the machine over the ring pool was intact. Nowadays, he didn't even know if it was still there.
But, the group of kids and Bunnie were easy enough to spot, and when he did, he could see that this was indeed a trap of sorts. They only had one pistol between the twenty-eight of them, and Walkers knew how much ammo it had left. Against them was a horde of swatbots, stomping towards them with intent to either kill or capture- one fell to Bunnie's gun before it clicked dry, but the numerous others, if anything, made Miles run faster.
He reached them, jumping from a rotting log by the side of the ring pool – noticing out of the corner of his eye that the ring machine was still there – and severing the first swatbot's head with a slash of his claws. It fell in a shower of sparks, giving the mercenary enough cover to move almost unseen to charge the next by spinning around the falling body and stabbing with both sets of blades into it's torso.
That one fell too, and Miles took the break between that one and the next one (now charging as it was), to look back to those he was trying so hard to protect.
"Run!" he shouted to them, immediately facing the next behemoth of metal bearing down on him. The swatbots were still overly large, just like the had been during his childhood and with it were pretty heavy, but that was not enough to stop this one being thrown into the air by the metal-skeleton-and-enhanced-muscle uppercut that Miles gave it.
He cut at the next one's legs, tripping it forward with a limb missing. It was finished off with six blades to the back, cutting the important cables that ran down it's spine and sending it silent. It's friend came up on Miles instead of the kids and Bunnie this time, forcing the mercenary to tackle is head-on- the machine found both it's arms missing rather quickly as he jumped up onto it's chest, finally eliminating it by gauging it's robotic eyes out from behind its visor.
Miles dropped back down and stepped out from the still swatbot's shadow, once more yelling for the Mobians to run and to quit standing and staring at him in a stupor.
It was around then that he was first nailed with a blaster bolt.
He looked up to where they were coming from, to see a few more machines emerging over a ridge. Two more were there, aiming at him with their energy weapons...
They were coordinating attacks against him. A few were engaging in hand-to-hand, whilst one or two would stand back and shoot- and no matter what he did, no matter how well he fought, he just could not win.
Another stuck and he doubled over, coughing up blood.
It was all in slow motion. His eyes fell, lazily, to look at the Mobians he had been doing his best to defend. They all watched with wide, disbelieving eyes.
'Well done, Spyder. You served your purpose well.'
And it finally occurred to him, after ten years. Spyder, his designation- he knew that Robotnik enjoyed naming his machines in a manner that would hint at their abilities. The Snyper, for example, was an excellent shot. The Spyder, though... He'd always assumed that he was supposed to be as agile as a spider, but of course- spy-der. He was a spy, an unwilling one, but still a spy. Without even realising it, he'd done exactly as the Mechanists wanted- they must have been able to track him somehow, so he'd been like a big neon sign saying 'Knothole is here', and even if that was not enough, he'd been the perfect distraction for the royal family whilst this... kidnapping took place.
This was all his fault.
Unable to comprehend the sheer magnitude of what he had realised, of what he had done, the Spyder did the only thing he could think of. He let out a scream of hatred, searching inside himself for the anger that was always there, always bottled up and ready to be released in the berserker rage that had never failed him-
But...
It was gone.
He felt hollow, empty. Abandoned, once more, just like he had been when Sonic and Sally had narrowly saved him from death and instead given him exile. But, they had saved him, given him another chance even if a harsh one, and he had rewarded them with... Betrayal.
And the anger was not there. Even with his old parental figures on his mind.
He leapt at the nearest swatbot, but his movements were slowed and his body burned. He didn't even make five feet towards the machine when a third, final blaster bolt threw him down and into the base of a nearby tree.
The cries from Bunnie, Cream, Tom, and all of the other kids sounded to him like they were coming from beneath water. Hazy, inaccurate- nothing to his mind, anymore, lost in guilt and self-hatred as he was.
The swatbots ignored him now, moving past his still form and grabbing the Mobians. They reached out for him, crying his name, but he couldn't hear them. He was left for dead.
'Damn,' he thought, and his claws slowly pulled back into his forearms.
...
Yes, this is where he was.
...
It was dark, history having played through his mind. But it was over now, so...
Miles woke up.
Note: I'm hoping I made it clear enough above, but the ending of this chapter relates back to the beginning of the story. So yes, all that has happened so far was an extended flashback of sorts...