Chapter 3: "Different Priorities"
Sonic was grinning up at them as Dulcy came crashing down into her final landing of the day. There were times when the hedgehog wondered why she bothered to take off in the first place, but when she skidded to a halt, she seemed to remain at least coherent this time. She just sighed, and let everyone climb off her back.
"So what took ya, huh?" he mock-complained, still grinning.
Until a particular princess came right up and grabbed his nose with a rather painful clamp of her fingers.
"Yeowch! Hey, Sal!"
She let go, and stared at him sternly. "Sonic, I swear, if you ever get yourself in that much trouble again, I will hand you over to Robotnik before you get us all killed or roboticized! You sped off twice when it was incredibly brash this time, and it nearly cost us our biggest advantage in this fight with Robotnik!"
Bunnie was lingering back with the others, hiding her humor poorly as she resisted giggles at the riot-act-reading Sonic was getting from Sally. Tails was flying up, blinking at the spectacle, and the other freedom-fighters were mostly hiding laughter as well. Antoine, however, seemed to take a smug satisfaction in Sonic's dressing down.
Sonic seemed startled and upset that Sally would be so angry this time in particular. "Hey, hey, hold up a second!" He stopped, everyone staring at him. "Wow, I don't think I ever said that before…"
Sally raised her eyebrows, realizing he was right.
Sonic quickly shook his head. "Anyway! Look, we toasted that toaster, didn't we? What's the biggie?"
The princess frowned firmly. "Because we got lucky when, if you had listened to me, we could have gotten a plan going much faster. You slowed us down this time, Sonic. Do you understand that?"
Tails landed at this point, and his surprise was turning into a pout and watery eyes as he saw two of his favorite friends really getting angry at each other.
Being called slow was all it took to make Sonic go livid. "Oh no! You did not just call me a slow-mo! I was keeping that tin-can revving from start to finish!"
"Yes. Our finish!" Sally shouted back.
Bunnie sighed. To her it was obviously just the pair's concern for each others' safety boiling over, but it was getting too angry to do any good now. She moved over at this point, Sonic looking like he was about to jet off just to get out of the situation, and planted her heavy feet between them. "Alright, y'all, that's enough."
Sally blinked, staring at her. "You're taking his side, Bunnie?"
Sonic grinned.
Bunnie, however, fixed them both with a firm stare, and it looked like Sally was getting dressed down by the dip of her head she suddenly gave to the half-roboticized woman. "This ain't 'bout sides, darlin'. You two are shoutin' too much to do any good. Sonic, Sugar-hog, if you ever jet off when we're dealin' with a serious problem like that again, I'll break those speedy little legs off," she flexed her metal hand, and the blue hedgehog twitched, "ya hearin' me?" Then Bunnie rounded on Sally, "And Sally-girl, reading the hog in front of everybody like this is just gonna rile him up worse, and you know it. You want to give him a hidin', you do it right. You let him jet off every time, you can't get angry just because this one was a little worse. Ain't that right?" she finished, tilting her head down and using a tone that an angry mother directed at disobedient children.
Sonic was toeing the ground as he nodded, Sally blushing a bit in front of everyone, and nodding a bit, whispering something about, "Y-yeah, Bunnie," under her breath.
Relaxing into her warm, usual humor, Bunnie smiled ,and raised her arms out. "Well then what are we waitin' for? We need to celebrate kicking that little tin-can's kiester Knothole style!"
Suddenly everyone was cheering, and charging off the dining hall. Bunnie let them go, Antoine carried off in the crowd, and Sally and Sonic shared a meek smile, both apologizing quietly.
"I-I mean, I… coulda listened this time, Sal," Sonic added awkwardly, scratching his spines.
Sally half-smiled. "And I do let you do it a lot, I should've been more clear."
"So is the fighting over?"
They both looked down to Tails, who was pouting up at them from near Bunnie's right leg. Bunnie gave the little fox an adoring pout, but let him trot over as Sally crouched down and offered her arms. "Come 'ere, Tails."
She gathered him up in a squeezing hug. "Yes, the fighting is all over. Sonic and I just had a bit of a scare out there today, and got confused."
Sonic smiled, patting Tail's shoulder. "What she said… just with the names flipped around." He crossed his fingers from each hand, and crossed his eyes, making Tails laugh before Sally kissed him on the cheeks and nose.
Giggling as he got back down on his feet, Tails smiled up at them, and then all four of them hurried to the dining hall to join the others in the party.
(Two weeks later…)
Things got quiet for a couple of weeks after the defeat of Metal Sonic. Sally had updated Uncle Chuck, who agreed to keep an eye for parts that would help with a super-fast robot design in future. It also didn't seem Robotnik was up to anything other than maintenance, and so the resistance took the chance to plan new attacks on power-sources and supply lines as they were. Down near Rotor's workshop, Bunnie was helping move some heavy parts on the upper level. Rotor was out on a high balcony with her, and he was setting up a rudimentary solar power system to help boost their supply.
Bunnie was helping hold part of the large machine in place, Rotor screwing it in to lock it down, when his hand slipped, and he stumbled into the contraption. "Ouch! Oh, whoa, Bunnie watch out!" He realized the apparatus was sliding back, and Bunnie was behind it, near the railing.
Shifting her wait to hold it. "I got it, Rotor, don't worry 'bout a—thing!" she yelped as her right foot missed the edge of the balcony, and she twisted and fell back. The weight of the machine and her own limbs made her crack clear through the wooden railing, and she went flying out into the open air.
"Bunnie!" Rotor shouted in dismay, and scrambled to the edge of the balcony.
With a grunt as she hit the side of the building with her legs, Bunnie spun out into the air, and slammed onto her back with a sickened groan.
Rotor sprinted out of the bottom of his workshop, and ran over to her. "Bunnie! I'm so sorry! Are you seriously hurt?"
Bunnie reached up with her furry hand, patting her forehead. "My stars… that was one heck of a trip…" She started to ease herself upright. "No, no, sugar. I think I'll be okay. Mind if I just take a break, though?"
Rotor smiled with relief. "Not at all. Gosh, I would've felt horrible. I'm so sorry, Bunnie, that was completely my fault."
She smiled, but was holding a bit of an awkward pose, only faintly sitting up, and seeming to rest her furry hand on her metal shoulder. "Not a problem, darlin'. It happens. Go on inside. I'll come fetch ya when I'm feelin' up to it, alright?"
He grinned, and ran back into his workshop. Bunnie winced a bit more seriously, and started to sit up. She jerked when her left arm slipped out of its shoulder socket and clanged into her lap.
Frustration boiled over, and she wrenched it off her lap, managing to get up on her battered feet, and then hold the mechanical arm back to her shoulder as she walked off into the bushes. Moving a short distance, she found a small tree-stump, and just sat there, holding her arm in place as she bowed her head. Her torso started to shake quietly, but she didn't make any noise as drops started to ping off her arm, and drip to the dirt and grass at her glistening, metal feet.
(Later…)
"Aunt Bunnie? Aunt Bunnieee?"
Tails looked around, starting to push through leaves in the bushes. He'd been looking for her for Aunt Sally, and Rotor told him she'd gone out for a walk near his workshop. Tails wasn't sure why Rotor looked so sad when he'd said so, but figured it was some grown-up thing he wouldn't understand.
"Aunt Bunnie?" he called again, just stepping into a little clearing. "Aunt Bunnie!"
He hurried over to her, still sitting on the stump, her head bowed. The rabbit jerked away from him suddenly, however, and Tails stopped.
"What's goin' on, darlin'?" she asked as lightly as she could manage, but Tails realized her voice was a bit thicker than usual.
"A-Aunt Sally wanted to talk to you, but couldn't find you anywhere. A few of us agreed to go look for ya… Aunt Bunnie, are you okay?"
She took a moment to answer. "…I'm… I'm fine, Tails. Do me a favor, and just tell Sally-girl I'll be a few minutes, alright?"
Now he was worried. "But Aunt Bunnie…" He trotted over, just touching her arm.
The push shifted the metal limb just enough, and her one-handed grip on the shoulder slipped. The heavy limb slid down, and slammed onto the grass, clicking faintly from the internal parts falling into different positions.
Tails froze, his mouth open, and Bunnie rounded on him. "Just go, Tails!"
The poor boy was tearing up, stumbling backward. "I-I'm sorry, Aunt Bunnie. I didn't mean to break your arm! I really sorry! I swear I didn't mean to!"
Bunnie bowed her head from the guilt rising up to mix with her painful shame, and suddenly reached up with her furry hand. "No, no, darlin', I'm sorry. Wait… wait a bit…"
Tails stopped, blinking and confused, but then crestfallen as Bunnie started to sob into her remaining hand. He hurried back over to her, and she suddenly pulled him into a tight, one-armed hug. "I'm so sorry, darlin'. I didn't mean to snap at you," she managed thickly around her tears. "I was just tryin' to be alone, and ya startled me, is all. I'm real sorry, Tails. Real sorry…"
Tails started to cry as well, and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry, Aunt Bunnie. I didn't mean to knock your arm off. We can fix it, right? We can fix machines, right?"
The combination of his innocent intentions, her already painful shame, and the guilt of what she'd just done to the little one made Bunnie break down completely. She was weeping onto the poor child's shoulder as she tried to comfort him. "Y-yeah… we… we can fix it… Don't you worry 'bout a thing… I'll be fixed up in a jiffy… You didn't… You didn't knock my arm off, darlin'."
"T-Then why are you so sad, Aunt Bunnie? I don't understand."
Bunnie gasped for breath. "I-I know you don't, darlin'. I know you don't. It's alright, I promise. Your Aunt Bunnie's just cryin' 'cause she's a crazy old grown-up. Don't you worry, don't you worry one bit. You're good a boy, Tails. I shouldn't a-snapped at you like that. It was just mean of me…"
Tails squeezed his hug. "Please stop crying, Aunt Bunnie. It'll be okay. We'll fix your arm up, good as new. I-I bet it'll be even better. Way past cool!"
She could finally laugh, pulling the boy back to give him an adoring pout through her tear-stained, floppy-eared face. "Aw, ain't you jus' the sweetest little darlin' on Mobius?"
Tails tried to smile instead of crying as she patted his cheek.
She nodded for him. "It's okay, Tails. It's okay. You just stumbled into a mess, you didn't do a thing. I promise, alright?" She patted his cheek and held his chin up, raising her eyebrows.
He did relax, nodding softly. She let him start to wipe his eyes, both of them sniffing as she wiped her own. "Do me a favor, darlin'?" she asked when her voice was tolerably normal.
Tails nodded rapidly.
Smiling fondly, Bunnie explained, "Please tell Aunt Sally that I need to have Rotor fix up my arm, then I'll hop right over to her place, okay?" She could push her normal humor into her voice at this point, but was still hiding a wave of frustration at her body.
Grinning, Tails hopped up, twirled his tails into flight, and shot off. Bunnie finally sank onto her knees, and held her hand to her head. "Good stars tonight, girl, you need to get a hold of yourself. Cryin' over nothin' and then scarin' poor Tails half to death. Honestly." She hefted herself up, picked up her damaged arm, and walked back to Rotor's.
Rotor was shocked and horrified that her arm had fallen off, and she knew it was because he realized it had happened when she fell. Spending half the time calming him down from apologizing, she finally got the poor walrus man to fix her arm up. It was good as new in a few minutes, she thanked her friend, and hurried to Sally's place.
When she got there, she was a bit startled when Sally yanked the door open, and just hugged her tightly. Bunnie blinked, but hugged her back. "What's all this, Sally-girl? Somethin' go wrong?" she asked the second question with a bit of fear in her voice.
Sally pulled back with a soft laugh, but her eyes were watering. "No, Bunnie, Tails just told me what happened. Aw, Bunnie, I'm so sorry he stumbled onto you like that."
Bunnie's expression melted. "I'm just sorry for snappin' at the poor boy."
The princess pulled her friend into the cottage, and hugged her again after closing the door. "You're not a freak, Bunnie. You're one of the bravest, most beautiful women I've ever known."
She was tearing up again herself, so Bunnie started to pat Sally to calm her down. "N-now, now, Sally-girl. Don't go gettin' all silly on me."
"Just listen for once, would you?"
Bunnie blinked, startled the power of her friend's sympathy.
Sally pulled back, but held her friend's shoulders tight. "You don't need to be ashamed of the roboticized parts, Bunnie. Please. We'll get you back your original arm and legs, I promise, but there's nothing wrong with you, Bunnie! I know you're hiding it all the time, how ashamed you feel, how ugly you feel, but it's not true!"
Her shell was cracking, but Bunnie shook her head. "Sally-girl, hold up a sec alright?"
Sally did calm, a bit meekly pulling her hands back to herself.
"Y'all are great people, I know that. None of you even give my metal parts a second glance, and I can't tell ya how much it means to me, to fit right in when I can't even stretch in the mornin' without a can of oil by my bed. Sugar-hog, Rotor, all the guys make me feel like the prettiest little gal in the forest next to you," she added with a fond smile, "but sometimes I just miss my own body, alright? I'm glad I can help fight, that these legs and arm of mine are so strong, but when it just gets too much, it gets too much. I'm not happy with the way I am, and I'm not gonna lie about it."
Sally smiled gently. "I know, Bunnie… I just don't want you to feel like you have to lie to us the rest of the time. You're our friend, you don't need to go hide in the bushes when your arm or legs get damaged. If it were that easy to fix any other injuries, we'd be beating Robotnik back to the stone-age already!" she tried to offer some humor, smiling hopefully.
Bunnie did actually laugh, and Sally was glad to join her in it. And then, Sally reached out and pulled Bunnie's metal hand up in both of her own, making the other woman's face tighten. "Please, Bunnie. I know it's not the hand you want, but it's your hand right now. This is my friend's hand. Don't be so angry about it, please."
This time, she looked down… only to see her feet. She forced a smile, and looked up at her friend's eyes. "You're a real darlin', Sally-girl, but it's okay." She pulled her hand back to her side.
Sally let the cold fingers slip from her own, and then nodded. She knew Bunnie didn't want anymore said on the issue that day.
"So what's goin' on?"
Sally nodded again. "We got a new report from Uncle Chuck. Robotnik is starting to move supplies into a facility in the Great Unknown canyon area. Sonic is out scouting the place, I just wanted to update you."
Bunnie smiled, nodding herself. "Thank you kindly, Sally-girl. I'm gonna go help Rotor finish settin' up that solar thingy a-his before night comes!" she finished with a light laugh, and Sally relaxed into one herself as the rabbit hurried out the door and on her way.
When the door shut, Sally looked down sadly. "…I thought she was getting used to it, but I should've known better. Oh, poor Bunnie." She frowned firmly. "We'll build a deroboticizer that works. We'll get you back your body… then you won't have to be ashamed with your friends anymore."
She pulled up Nicole, and started adjusting battle-maps.
(Elsewhere…)
The dusty yellow plains and crags of the great unknown were actually becoming rather familiar to Sonic, he just hadn't bothered making a map with Sally and Nicole yet. It didn't take him long to spot a convoy of hover-heads, their colored, dome-like shapes rushing off to the North. After following them quite a distance, he hid behind a rock, and watched them fly down into a long, narrow valley, which became quite deep surprisingly soon.
Not one to leave his nose too far out of Robotnik's business, the hedgehog blurred up to the edge of the valley, and looked down a straight drop for about eight meters. If the others came, they'd need him or Dulcy to get them out. Nodding to himself, he blurred down, and coasted deeper into the valley. When he spotted a fresh set of hover-heads rushing out of the valley, he zipped behind a boulder in the darkened crags, and let them fly past. He kept going until he saw what they were working on.
At the end of the valley, in the deepest part of it, a large, mechanical gate had been constructed, with a small army of swat-bots guarding it. "Looks like red-eyes got himself a nice dark hole to hide in," Sonic muttered to himself. He grinned with the gate started to open again.
Rising to the top like a beast's jaw opening to roar at the valley, the gate swung out of the way with hissing hydraulics, and let Sonic see into a surprisingly large chamber with something incredibly bright flashing and flickering at the very back.
A fresh patrol of hover-heads zoomed past his hiding spot from the open gate, and it started to close again. Though he couldn't tell what exactly Robotnik was or had already set up in the chamber, it was obviously a big deal, and even more obviously in need of being destroyed.
After making sure he had a gap in the patrols, the blue hero streaked out of the valley, and headed back to Knothole. He did not realize that he was already on one of Robotnik's view screens as he jetted out of the valley. The tyrant smiled darkly in his command chair back at Robotropolis, and then rotated it around to look at his needle-nosed nephew. "Excellent. I had hoped some of those little friends of his would be the first scouts, to get some early data back, but there's only one game that matters, in the end. Everything is prepared, yes, Snively?"
"Y-yes, sah. Regular supplies have been forwarded to the unknown facility, and a full battalion of swat-bots and aerial support has been stationed there." The much smaller man was reading off of a data-board as he stood near his console.
Robotnik grinned again. "And, of course, my little 'surprise' for those aggravating freedom fighters. Oh, I do hope Princess Acorn is with them again. It will make this so much more satisfying."
Snively was a bit confused. "Considering the nature of the modifications you made, Dr. Robotnik, wouldn't it be wiser to capture the Princess alive? It would be a crushing morale blow to the resistance, and make it much easier to--?" He yelped, ducking as a random bolt was sent flying at his head. He was spared, but the wall behind him was sporting a new exhaust port.
Robotnik glowered at the dwarf. "Don't you see, Snively? That's the very problem. Capturing. No, no. We're done capturing. With Sir Charles managing to recover his mind as a robot anyway, the risks may outweigh the gains with roboticizing them all." He smiled with renewed relish, looking back to his screens, some of them showing diagnostics for a wire-frame very like Sonic's shape. "Game over, hedgehog."
(Back at Knothole…)
A familiar boom and rush reminded Sally to step out of her cottage and walk out into the central field of Knothole. She smiled warmly as her blue hero rushed up and skidded to a halt in front of her. The squirrel held her hands to her hair for a moment as the wind caught up with him. "Welcome back, Sonic. What did you find?"
"Mondo trouble, Sal," he started in classic style, smirking despite his news. "Ro-butt-nik's got himself a new base up in the canyons. Tons of guards, and something big inside. I couldn't quite make it out, but I'm not sure we can pass up blowing it to bits."
Sally looked up and off, pondering the information. It was troubling, but also simply odd. "This is all very strange, Sonic. Robotnik nearly has Doomsday complete, but he's delaying suddenly, and working on all these side-projects. As dangerous as it was, even that robotic double of you didn't seem like enough to really get him side-tracked for long." She frowned, looking down at the ground. "I don't like this… But you're right, we can't pass it up either."
Sonic nodded. "Exactly. I know big, round, and mean is acting weird, but there's just too much there to skid around. 'Sides," he hopped into a pose, leaning back while looping his thumbs into the straps of his backpack, trying to look suave, "you've got the fastest thing on Mobius with you."
The Princess smirked at him despite the situation. "How could I forget?"
He winked, and then she leaned over to kiss his cheek, making him laugh nervously and scratch his spines.
Sally nodded back. "Come on, Sonic. Let's round up the others, and get a plan going."
Of course, the blue hedgehog was more than happy to oblige. It didn't take long to get everyone together, and Rotor had built some fresh explosives just in time for a demolition job. Again, Sonic would be the diversion for most of the guards, while the real mission group got inside and rigged the facility to blow, especially the strange device Sonic had seen at the back. Dulcy would carry them to the site behind Sonic, and then Sally, Bunnie, and Antoine would rig the devices. Most of the other freedom fighters had other missions to keep the Robotropolis forces on their toes, but they didn't want too large a group anyway.
By late afternoon they were ready to go. Sonic was warming up his legs to pass time as Dulcy and the others prepared to follow him. Tails flew over from the houses, and landed with his hero and friend. "Can't I help, Sonic?"
The hedgehog ruffled the kid's ears lightly, making Tails giggle a bit. "Sorry, Tails, but this is another big-time mission. You don't want to be anywhere near it, trust me."
Sally smiled with a bit of approval for once as she heard Sonic speak, and, as she situated herself on Dulcy's back with Bunnie and Antoine behind her, she called down to the little fox. "He's right, Tails. This isn't going to be fun, just really dangerous. Don't worry, we'll be back as soon as we can."
Sonic winked. "What she said." He glanced back to his comrades, nodded to himself, and flashed a grin to the little fox again. "We're all set. Time ta juice!" He hopped up, legs swirling into red discs, and hit the ground with a sonic blast, flashing off with a ripping roar.
Tails braced his stance against the blast of wind, Dulcy skidding a bit on the ground thanks to her wings, and then the Dragon braced down, spread her wings, and pounced into the air, taking flight.
Bunnie waved down at Tails. "Take care of the place for us, darlin'!"
"You got it, Aunt Bunnie!" he cheerfully affirmed.
Looking ahead with the others on Dulcy's back, Bunnie giggled fondly. "He's such a sweet little thing. Growin' up a might too fast for my likin' all the same, though."
Sally turned a bit melancholy. "Don't I know it… I'm not sure I'll be able to handle him joining the front-lines if we haven't stopped this war soon."
Dulcy looked back with a wink. "Don't worry, Sally. We'll have that no-good tinker-toy running for the hills in no time."
The princess smiled. "I certainly hope so."
(Later, in the unknown…)
Sonic blasted across the dusty plains, ripping around the occasional boulder, his eyes sharp with focus this time. With his friends, especially Sally, he'd kept up his old bravado and humor, but the fight with Metal Sonic had affected him, and he wasn't going to let Robotnik get so close to seriously hurting his friends again. With a brief glance over his shoulder, he spotted Dulcy in the distance, and nodded to himself. He reached up, and touched a small device in his ear. "Reading me, guys?"
Bunnie's laugh came through clear first. "Loud and clear, Sugar-hog."
"Yes, we're reading you, Sonic," Sally's voice added. "Rotor's transceivers are working like a charm." On Dulcy's back, the princess looked up to the blue smudge ahead of them under the darkening sky.
"Way past," Sonic's wry humor reached her right ear all too clearly.
The squirrel just laughed gently, shaking her head, and then braced herself for the mission mentally.
"We are quite certain Sonic will be distracting all of the swat-bots, yes?" Antoine muttered hopefully behind the cyborg rabbit of their group.
"What's the matter, Antoine?" Bunnie asked, looking over her organic shoulder at him with a combination of alluring and sardonic humor. "You're not afraid of a few little ole swat-bots now, are ya?"
The fox adjusted his collar, resisting the sweat growing into beads on his forehead. "N-No, not at all, mademoiselle Bunnie… Not at all…"
Down on the plains, Sonic finally spotted the start of the valley. He touched his ear again. "Here it is, Sal. You guys get ready, I'm juicin' in." And he revved harder, ripping a trail in the dust, and swerving down into the darkened crags, clearing the brief drop in the blink of an eye.
Sally checked her pack, nodding to herself, and looked to Dulcy. "Take us in low from the side, Dulcy. We want to let Sonic pull most of their forces out of the valley completely."
The dragon nodded, and dove down to the right.
Sonic laughed as he skidded to a halt right in front of the huge mechanical door at the deepest end of the valley. "Well look what we got here! Is this tall, dark, and ugly's new summer home?" he asked the two closest swat-bots before they had even registered his presence. "Because it stinks as bad he does!"
"Hedgehog alert! Priority 1!" the entire army of bots in the canyon suddenly chorused, hover-heads, patrol craft, and the soldier-types all rushing at him.
"Too slow!" Sonic hopped over a few blaster shots, landed on blurring legs, and shot from side-to-side, blasting back to the entrance of the valley, the small army in his wake.
Outside the valley, Sally raised her binoculars on Dulcy's back, the dragon circling some tall spires off to the right of the deep canyon's entrance. She saw Sonic lead the guarding bots out onto the plains, and shoot off in the opposite direction. "That's it! Dulcy!"
The dragon snapped around, and shot for the valley. With surprising speed for her size, Dulcy rushed down into the dark crags, and started to slow down for a big turn down near the large metal gate. Sally braced with Bunnie, who made sure Antoine was ready with a tap on his shoulder. Gripping their packs for good measure, the three resistance fighters leapt off Dulcy's left side, and let the Dragon fly straight back out of the valley. Antoine landed with a loud 'oof!', falling on his front, but the two ladies managed to crash to their haunches. Bunnie gave the ground a glare when it cracked under her metal feet, and then stomped over, yanking Antoine onto his feet. "Come on, Antoine. It's mission time."
Sally ran to the right side of the gate, almost smirking as she heard Sonic's mocking calls and hollers of victory over the transceiver in her ear. He was probably already close to finishing with the forces Robotnik had left outside.
Patching Nicole into the gate controls, Sally gave a small exclamation of success when the huge gate snapped, and hissed slowly open for the three of them. She flattened herself to the right, Bunnie slamming Antoine back with her on the left, but nothing came out immediately.
Both women risked a glance around the edges of the gate, and they were both quite troubled to see not a single swat-bot in the entire, huge chamber. Industrial pipes ran from the walls on either side of the entrance, around the edges of the deep cave, to a huge, brightly flashing machine at the far side.
Sally stepped out into the open, Bunnie joining her, with Antoine gripping his pack to his front rather than leaving it on his back as he stepped out hesitantly himself. The princess held up her computer. "Nicole, scan."
"Scanning… Energy generating drive. Transparent casing appears to be comprised of diamond glass. Comparing with bomb data, your explosives will not crack the outer shell."
Bunnie hissed in aggravation, but Sally didn't despair just yet anyway. "Nicole, are the connections also diamond-glass protected?"
"…Negative."
Sally nodded, and waved for her friends to follow her. The three of them quickly ran across the huge cavern. Of course, what would have taken Sonic all of a second, took them nearly five minutes. The device itself was huge, easily capable of containing a dozen or more Mobians in its diamond-glass double-dome, which vaguely resembled a short, fat Mobian itself. The glow was all but blinding, however, with violent white light flaring in renewed waves of power and noise. The glass, however, was set in a large, black-metal base, with large pipes connecting to the even larger pipes feeding back along the outer walls of the chamber. Sally pointed around the base, looking back to her comrades. "Place the charges at the connections. We can probably start a cave in and cut this thing off."
Antoine and Bunnie quickly hurried around the left side, Antoine starting ahead of the cyborg, and Sally started where she was on the right, working toward the back. After just a few seconds, she was nearly done with her charges, and she could see Antoine closing toward her. She touched her ear. "Dulcy, things are wrapping up. Be ready to come pick us up."
"Ready and waiting, Sally. I'll dive in from the top at your signal."
Sally paled a bit, but nodded before remembering to speak, "Thanks, understood."
Antoine placed his last one, and grinned at her, marveling at his accomplishment. Sally gave him a playfully fond smile, and then looked past him to see Bunnie give a thumbs up with her metal hand. The leader of the resistance nodded sharply, and waved to the front of the cavern. The three rebels ran around the machine, and started to sprint for the exit. "I'll blow the charges when we're clear of the canyon. No point taking risks with the collapse," she explained quickly, a bit short of breath.
"Good thinkin', Sally-girl!"
"Oh yes, vera good thinking, ma Prinzess!"
Sally was just smiling at them when a bit of motion ahead of them made her snap her eyes forward. Horror flashed across her face, Bunnie and Antoine gawking as the huge gate suddenly slammed shut with a shuddering crash. The three resistance fighters skidded to a halt.
"No!" Sally's heart sank through her stomach. "Oh no… no, please no… It's a trap!"
Out on the plains, ripping down through one of the last remaining bots, Sonic unraveled, and slammed to a halt on the ground, holding one hand to his ear as his face locked in urgent concern. "Sal? Talk to me!"
Dulcy was holding a hand to hear ear as well, her face etched with fear, but down in the cave, Sally couldn't think of what to say.
Bunnie and Antoine looked to her, and she just shook her head weakly. "M-Maybe… move the charges to the door?"
Bunnie raised her arms out to the sides. "But that'll bring the whole place down even faster!"
"We trapped!" Antoine wailed. "It is the end of everything! I am being too young to die!"
Bunnie actually swatted him from behind with her metal hand, glaring at him as he slammed into the cave floor. "Now is not the time to panic, Antoine!"
"Oh," a malicious voice they all knew too well drew the simple sound out with dark relish, "I think it is quite the appropriate time to panic, my little, semi-roboticized friend."
Sally, Antoine (on his knees), and Bunnie twisted to look at the back of the chamber. The 'energy drive' dimmed quite a bit, perfectly low enough to look at directly, and a holographic screen of Robotnik's face appeared floating just above and in front of it. He was grinning. "You see, I knew your little resistance couldn't 'resist' coming out here to wreck a new facility of mine, especially with a big, glowing, flashy contraption at the back to distract your speedy little hero." He cackled at the good of his own plan.
Sally raised her fist up at his screen. "Sonic's on his way, Robotnik! A door won't hold up against him for very long!"
Robotnik calmed, but was still smiling. "Oh, I'm counting on it, Princess… You see the door is only there to keep the hedgehog out for… a bit of time. I want him to see you when my little experiment is done with you. Indeed…"
Bunnie was beginning to know how Antoine felt, and it was not a pleasant sensation. She looked over to her best friend, and the squirrel finally looked back to her with real fear rushing behind her eyes.
"The charges," Bunnie finally said, firming her voice.
Sally turned stoic as well. "Right."
They sprinted back toward the energy core, Antoine blinking, and then sprinting after them. "Wait, wait! I am coming to 'elp, ma Prinzess!"
"No waitin', just keep up!" Bunnie shouted back.
Robotnik let his smile grow back into a grin. "Perfect." And the holoscreen winked out of existence. Instead, part of the rock landing that supported the energy core, right at the front, split apart, and a platform started to rise out of it.
When they saw what it was, the three rebels slowed to a stop. Sally's eyes were wide, and she actually took a step back. "I-it can't be… S-Sonic isn't… here…"
"I'm comin', Sal!" Sonic shouted, holding his ear, as he ripped down into the valley, leaping into a saw and slamming into the front gate… but it was very thick metal.
Bunnie eased back on her right foot as well. "S-Sally-girl… If the door's for keepin' the Sugar-hog out, then…?"
They couldn't take their eyes off of it… Standing on the risen platform with horrible, unnatural calm, it was crafted of black, layered metal with silver joints, details, and a sharp, ridged face-plate under dimmed optics. The large head was sleek and sharp, especially with the razor-fin of blades coming down from the top, onto the back.
Metal Sonic suddenly flashed his red pupils, and the same, horrible, rushing roar filled the chamber as his back-blade revved to life. A smooth, dark voice started to speak. "Acquiring targets. Priority 1: Resistance fighters. Order by proximity." The optics snapped into focus on Sally. "You're standing close enough, Princess."
Sally twisted, starting to run. Bunnie and Antoine couldn't even twitch before a boom shook the cavern, the air roared from something moving too fast, and Sally yelped horribly. The squirrel woman was dangling in the air by her neck, one cold, hard hand clamped around it as red optics bore into her widened, watering eyes. She clenched her hands around the articulated wrist, and started kicking at him wildly, but Metal Sonic simply let her ping her boots off his hard chest.
Metal actually pulled her down into his face with malicious patience, his optics narrowing into her eyes. His back-blade revved abruptly, and his hand started to squeeze with mechanical force. Sally gurgled, jerking violently as she tried to regain the ability to breathe, clawing at his arm and kicking at his front as powerfully as she could. Even worse, his hand kept squeezing. She didn't doubt her head would simply pop off before he was done.
"Back OFF!"
Two loud clangs rang out as Bunnie came out of her side-flip, ramming each foot into the side of Metal's head. It knocked his head out to his left, but his optics calmly drew their focus onto her, his hand releasing Sally. The squirrel was still falling as Bunnie fired her elevation extenders, her feet ramming off like pistons, shooting the robot across the cave and into the far pipe before her back hit the floor as well. Sally landed to all fours, coughing and holding her throat, tears in her eyes from the pain and fear. Grasping her right ear, she rasped hoarsely, "It's after us! Sonic, help!"
The buzz-saw at the door suddenly whirred with ungodly speed, and the metal started to melt immediately around it.
Bunnie retracted her feet, and picked herself up with a dark grin as Antoine ran to Sally's side. She shook her head to his concerned questions, and looked up at Bunnie as the cyborg turned to her with a lighter smile. "See? He ain't so tough--?"
"BUNNIE!"
It had been instant. Bunnie was standing in front of her, grinning, and then she was just gone. Sally's brain took a full second to register the path her friend had taken, ahead of a black and silver streak roaring through the air in the chamber.
Bunnie had gasped on impact, her left arm nearly ripping out of its socket as some horrendous force yanked it behind her. Able to regain her focus, she looked down, and saw Metal Sonic, his claws digging into her forearm, charging for the opposite wall with unremitting focus in his unnatural gaze.
In reality it was barely two seconds from hit to stop, but Bunnie was moving on instinct, not plan. She knew the wall was coming up, and she wrenched her mechanical legs backward, into the oncoming impact. Metal's self-preservation programming made him halt just close enough to slam her into the wall, not himself, and so the result was Bunnie crashing to her haunches completely counter to gravity's pull. The wall shattered on impact, the metal pipe ripping apart in her wake… but she held, and looked up into Metal Sonic's glowing gaze with a firm smirk. "You wanna mash metal, darlin'? Bring it!"
She kick-flipped out of the crater, and came down on his head with her heels, rotating completely at her robotic shoulder to do so. Metal Sonic's head slammed down into a crater in the ground of its own making, his hands releasing her arm, but leaving deep holes where his digits had dug in. Bunnie flipped off, and slammed to a more natural crouch behind him. She stood up and twisted around, her eyes widening.
Metal just stood back up, and turned around, his optics flashing with a fresh rev of his back-blades. The gate over to Bunnie's left was starting to glow white hot in the center, but Sonic wasn't through yet. Metal burst again, but Bunnie had a shot. With her mechanical legs spread, she caught his motion enough to dodge down to her left as Sally and Antoine watched in fearful awe.
But something worse happened. Bunnie's eyes flared with a deep, heart-wrenching wave of fear as a vice-like clamp crushed around her right wrist… her normal, healthy arm. "No!" she gasped instantly, meeting Metal's eyes along the path of their now-linked arms.
It was almost like he smiled with his solid faceplate, and slammed down to a landing just behind her. With a yank, spinning her around, his left arm was holding her organic one up and out to the side as he looked into her eyes. The optics flashed as her left arm tried to attack him, the back-blade revved, and he leapt into the air. Her punch missed, and she looked up as his body coiled up into a buss-saw of black and silver, his arm still holding her natural one out from her body.
Sally went hollow. "Bunnie, no!"
Metal Sonic ripped down through the air, and skidded to a halt just past Bunnie's right, a little behind her. His optics flashed, and sharpened with evil pleasure. He'd been too fast, Bunnie was still airborne. Her robotic arm and both legs were still flying apart along the twisted path of his razor-sharp body. Pain twisted Bunnie's lovely face, fear ripping the air out of her lungs, and her soft hand clawed at empty air as she started to fall forward.
Her torso slammed into the cave floor as the remains of her three limbs smashed and rained down around her. Servo-fluid, oil, and hydraulics started to pool on the ground beneath her, but Bunnie's hand clenched the dirt… and she screamed in pain, water pouring out of her eyes.
Dulcy's eyes watered at the sound, completely lost, not knowing how to help her friends who desperately needed it. The gate was starting to shake the entire canyon wall from the forces ripping into it as the scream sounded out.
In the cave, Sally snapped, seeing her best friend in the most hellish pain imaginable. The princess suddenly grabbed Antoine, and yanked him behind her by the shoulder. "Hey!" she roared, rising to her feet.
Metal Sonic focused on her, his back-blade revving.
"That's right, you scum-sucking, rusting, bolt-ridden monster! You want me, don't you?"
The optics narrowed. "Oh, yes."
Sally saw the robot brace. "Antoine! Get Bunnie!" The cold ferocity in her voice evoked no dispute, but she'd underestimated the effect of Bunnie's scream on her usually cowardly friend.
Antoine growled, his body shaking as he rose up behind the princess, and Metal ripped off. The fox dashed for Bunnie… just as the gate burst apart, liquid-hot metal splattering the entry-way as a blue beam appeared across the cave and slammed straight into the black and silver one aiming for Sally.
The Princess almost shivered from relief of her own fear, but then focused on the colliding speed-masters with renewed shock as she heard a sound she'd never imagined before. Sonic roaring in near-berserk rage as he grappled with the robotic copy in the middle of the cavern.
Antoine was ignoring all of this, however. He slammed to his knees beside Bunnie, just past the severed remains of her left arm, and grabbed her trembling body, pulling her up in his arms. Bunnie cried out in a fresh wave of pain, shivering in his arms as she grimaced, her eyes shut against the tears pouring out of them. Antoine's face melted. "Mademoiselle Bunnie…"
Suddenly her hand clawed into his shirt, and clenched into a fist. She was trembling, but this time with focus. Her jaw rigid from the pain, she looked into his eyes. "I-I…need… help…"
Antoine nodded for her, and wrapped his arms around her body, letting her hook hers over his neck, and stood up. She was disturbingly light without three limbs connected to her body. Looking over to the others at least, feeling Bunnie's tears start to seep into his shoulder, he saw the warring hedgehogs in the center.
Sonic kept trading feet with Metal, neither letting the other start building speed. Metal, however, was just trying to get Sonic out of the way, his optics locked on Sally. "Priority 1, resistance fighters. Princess Sally."
"SONEEK!"
It was not the voice either Sally or Sonic expected to hear scream with urgency and a fair bit of rage as well. Sonic glanced past Metal, Sally blinking over at him, as the fox held Bunnie tightly to his front. "We must LEAVE!"
It all clicked, everybody knew he was right, he'd just been the only one able to see it first. Sonic spin-kicked Metal in the chin, and flickered. Sally yelped, but then held onto Sonic's hand tightly, and as they rushed around the room, she grabbed the shoulder of Antoine's back-pack. Bunnie and Antoine clung to each other like vices, the fox being yanked off his feet, and the four of them streaking for the exit.
Metal Sonic was correcting even as Sonic picked up Sally, and the robot blazed after them almost as soon as they could get away from him. Antoine felt his pack slipping, and so he risked letting go with one arm, and clamped his hand around Sally's wrist. She let go of his bag, and gripped his forearm with her hand, the two sharing a grim camaraderie in the moment with a glance. Sonic, however, reached to his ear with his free hand. "Dulcy! Fly to the far end of the valley! He's after Sally and the gang, I have to get them air-borne!"
Dulcy cracked the whip, shooting for the end of the canyon. "You want me to catch them?"
"We're out of options here, Dulce!"
She'd never heard him so serious.
With Sally and Antoine looking ahead to what Sonic was doing, preparing themselves for a super-sonic toss, Bunnie lifted her head, and glanced down her good shoulder. Her eyes wavered. "He's gainin'!"
Everyone glanced back, and Sonic actually growled. "Hold on tight! Antoine, do not let go of Bunnie!"
A dark indignation flared in the fox's chest. "I will not be the one letting go, Soneek!"
Sonic ripped a power-ring out of his backpack, and held it forward. It flashed, he was engulfed in light, and he exploded up the valley, seeing Dulcy waiting up in the air at the end. Metal Sonic, however, had a new trick, too. His feet left the ground, and his entire back burst open. A thruster-jet came out, and ignited, ramming him after Sonic, nearly matching his speed yet again, and starting to gain a bit of ground.
Sally looked back, letting horror appear on her face again. "H-he just won't stop!"
"And neither will I!" Sonic growled, ripping up the final bit of shale, near the flat wall at the start of the valley/canyon. "HOLD ON!"
Sally, Antoine, and Bunnie tightened their grips on each other, and Sonic suddenly snap-twisted around at full speed, sling-shotting them off like a bolt. Dulcy was dipping down to catch them, but Metal Sonic was already diverting course to intercept the arcing trio, linked only by their arms, all three of them shouting in panic.
But Metal wasn't paying attention to his inspiration. Sonic's eyes were locked on the robotic double, and his power ring was still in his hand. He revved off the shale, and shot off like a cannon-ball, flying to meet the robot head-on.
"Yo, chrome-dome!"
Metal Sonic finally glanced down… only to twitch, flare his optics, and start sparking with waves of energy and light.
Sonic sneered in his face, the power-ring lodged half-way into the robot's chest. "I just gave you a hand-brake. Now let me show you a full stop!"
And with than he took a page from Tail's book, and actually whirled his legs around in a blast of wind, ramming them both back down into the valley.
Dulcy's face was tensed with focus, and she finally angled just right, catching Sally and Antoine on her back. It was unsteady for a moment, but she finally leveled out, and Antoine and Sally held Bunnie between them, the poor rabbit still trembling, and near passing out from the pain. Seeing her friend up close in such a terrible state renewed Sally's cold ire. "Dulcy! Fly after Sonic. I need to see when he's clear." She pulled the bomb-trigger out of her pack, gripping it in her hand.
Dulcy didn't even speak, she just flew.
Sonic drove Metal all the way back down the alley, his teeth bared in a furious grimace, ignoring the pain building his wearied muscles. The robot was twitching violently, and sputtering gibberish.
"P-Priority 1, resistance f-fighters! S-Sally, Princess… Princess Acorn, Sally! Bunnie! Antoine! Distance… Sally!" Then his voice shifted, completely unconnected to his current situation. His data was replaying randomly, and he saw Sally rising to her feet to pull him away from Bunnie. "Want… Sally…" He twitched. "Yes. Want."
Sonic roared, blasting into the cave again, and drove the robot clear through until he rammed into the power drive at the far end. The robot splayed against the diamond glass, his back-blades revving and grinding off the impenetrable bubble. The power-ring lodged in his chest was starting to melt through his systems as Sonic kept grinding him against the glass, his legs still going at full speed.
"For what you did…" Sonic rasped. "For what you did to Bunnie, to Sal…" He looked up. The machine was already dying, it was just twitching from the unbelievable power of the ring embedded in its core systems. Sonic nodded grimly, and then twisted, ripping through the cave. He held a hand to his ear. "Sal! Blow it!"
Seeing the blue streak blast out of the ruined gate from above, Sally nodded, and firmly squeezed the control.
Computers thought so much faster than an organic could. In those last split-seconds before the explosion, Metal's programming started to break down. The footage of Sonic, of Sonic's friends, of Bunnie, Sally, Antoine, and the others kept bleeding through his dying circuits. Sally smiling at Sonic, the engine in his own programming for mimicking the hedgehog's abilities and tactics. Then the targeting programming, his priorities. It kept interspersing at incredible speed, blending together into an unintelligible mess.
As the bombs sparked, and flames, heat, and force started to take the entire area apart at the near-molecular level, it all poured into a simple combination of a data-file of Sally smiling at Sonic, and the targeting program. "…Want… Sally…"
His head was replaced by a shower of thousands of tons of boulders, followed by a blinding flash as the power drive finally went critical.
Sonic was speeding along the plains below, Dulcy flying above, but they all turned to look when the horizon turned white behind them.
Sally was the first to look back down, Bunnie's head in her lap. Mercifully, the woman had passed out at last. The princess was just gently stroking the fur on her face, and smoothing out her ears, sniffing quietly. Antoine could say nothing, only look down in a deep, heartfelt shame for not preventing this somehow. For once, even Sonic was silent was he sped home with them.
Dulcy glanced back though, and finally muttered, "We… we can help her, right?"
Sally titled her head enough to see Dulcy over one shoulder. With a subtle shake of her head, she weakly managed, "I don't know."
"M-monsieur Rotor…?" Antoine offered quietly, looking up at the Princess.
Sally smiled gently. "We'll do everything we can. I think we'll call Uncle Chuck in on this one."
Sonic finally perked up a bit. "Yeah! Great idea, Sal! I'll juice into Robotropolis now!"
Sally started to warn him against it, but then looked down at Bunnie her lap. "…Go Sonic. As fast as you can."
His head tilted down. "I'm gone!"
And the air shuddered with a new sonic boom, the blue streak angling off to the heart of all their misery. Sally finally just leaned down, and kissed Bunnie's forehead before softly touching her cheek to the side of her friend's soft face, tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Bunnie… I'm so… so sorry…"
(The dark city…)
Snively shivered weakly, and didn't even want to turn around from his screens reporting the completely destruction of the unknown-area facility. He just did not want to see the horrible attack from his uncle he knew was coming. And he waited… And waited. Finally, he turned around carefully, and blinked at the sight.
Robotnik was… smiling. The mad man finally twisted his throne around to see Snively. "Did you see that, Snively?"
"Yes, sah…"
"Did you see their misery?" His fist closed, and shivered with force.
Snively blinked.
Robotnik started to laugh… low and ominously. "The hedgehog got lucky this time, Snively. Can we recover anything from the site?"
The smaller man picked up a databoard. "Unlikely, sah. Most of the canyon came down on top of the wreckage."
"No matter, we shall simply rebuild." Robotnik rotated the chair back to the large screens, replaying the fight, one only cycling Bunnie's dismemberment. "I've found the hedgehog's weakness, Snively." The tyrant started to sneer. "His dear little friends…"
(Author's Note)
Thanks for the positive reviews. Good feedback always makes writing a story more enjoyable. The type of drama I'm going for is really established with this chapter, combining some very serious trauma with the characters we know and love, showing how they respond under very real stress. I hope the results depicted are satisfying for other fans.
Thank you for reading. I hope you continue to enjoy the story. If anything in the story turns you off, a review stating why would be greatly appreciated.