CHAPTER NINE - Plans

Robotnik watched the group's progress on his security monitors. Nail was using Robotnik's to find his way to Sonic. While Sonic was in the doctor's grasp, the only roboticizer in the command center had been damaged. He had to get it repaired before he could use it on Sonic.

"Hurry it up!" he shouted to his repair bots in the room.

They worked quickly to clean away all the robots Sonic had destroyed. They were also fixing the glass on the roboticization chamber that Knuckles had damaged, the machinery that Nail had electrocuted, and the other terminals that Sonic had damaged during the fight.

That crazy Nail will have eliminated my whole security force in no time at this rate... I should have had his weapons and vehicle crushed or something while he was unconscious.

Robotnik sighed as he saw Nail take down yet another group of swatbots with a series of shots straight to their heads. Tails and Knuckles were trailing behind Nail during his shooting spree, but they weren't doing much of anything. They were only a few floors away from where the roboiticization room was now.

I have to think of something I can do to slow them down... He then got an idea. I know I can't use the roboticizer right now...but they don't! I can use that to my advantage...

-

Nail reached the stairs to the roboticizer's floor, when the PA system in the building started crackling.

"Attention intruders..." Robotnik's voice said over the speakers. "Stop fighting now, or Sonic will be roboticized."

Nail stopped dead in his tracks. Tails and Knuckles ran up and stopped next to him.

"He's bluffing I betcha. Why would he wait until now to give us that threat?" Nail said. "I gave it a good jolt with my tazer before, so he probably can't use it right now."

"I can most certainly use the roboticizer right now, Nail. I've...just finished repairs on it."

"I still think you're lying!" Nail yelled at the nearest security camera. He fired some shots and destroyed all the cameras in the area.

"Are you willing to bet Sonic's mind and body on the chance you could be wrong?" Robotnik asked.

Nail paused for a moment, and then stared at his feet. He muttered "No..."

"Good. Then I want you to drop all your weapons where you stand and surrender to me at my office on the next floor. I'll see you there!"

There was a click, and the speakers in the hallway deactivated. Nail continued staring at the floor.

Tails got an angry look on his face and started shouting at Nail. "So that's it? You're just giving up? After all we've done!"

Nail looked down at Tails.

He looks a lot like I did when I was a kid...minus the second tail and the hideously bright orange fur of course. I hope that what I'm about to do for these guys won't fall through, otherwise, we'll be servants of Robotnik forever.

"Actually, Tails, I'm not surrendering," Nail said in a whisper. "Robotnik has double-crossed me once before already. I think it's my turn to do some double-crossing."

"Should we be talking like this?" interrupted Knuckles with a quiet voice. "What if Robotnik's still watching or listening or something?"

"Don't worry about it, redhead," Nail said in a whisper again. "I shot out all the cameras in the area with those last gunshots, and the microphones shouldn't be able to pick up our whispers very well."

He looked between the two of them.

"Okay, like I said, I'm not surrendering. I've got a plan. If it works out, we'll all be getting out of here, including Sonic."

"And if it doesn't work out?" whispered Knuckles.

"Well...we'd all be screwed. But desperate times call for desperate measures, right?" Nail said. "Anyway, it's my fault all of us are even having this problem, so I think it's my responsibility to get us out of it."

Knuckles sighed, and then said "Well...I'll at least hear you out. After I've heard your plan, we'll see what we'll do."

"Okay then," said Nail. "Here's the plan..."