Sonic SatAM: Ghost in the Machine

by Cyrex

A deadly new weapon takes the brave heroes of Knothole by surprise. When one of their own pays too high a price, the weapon itself begins to act strangely. Are they stuck between Doomsday and a hard copy? [Slightly AU]

8. Doomsday

Chapter 8: "Doomsday"

"Hey, Sal! Look who I found!" Sonic shouted, blasting to a halt near the Knothole cove, blades of grass flying up into the air from his sharp shoes.

The squirrel woman was gathered with a large group of rebels, including Dulcy, Bunnie, Antoine, and Rotor, and looked over to Sonic as her face lit up. "Sir Charles!"

Hopping down from Sonic's back, the roboticized hedgehog grinned as the young woman ran over and hugged him. He patted her back. "Good to see you again, Princess. I managed to crack some important data on the new Doomsday facility," he added seriously as they pulled apart, "but I'm afraid we're going in blind regarding patrols or other specific defenses."

Sally just shook her head, smiling. "Everything will help. We have a good strategy set up now, and did Sonic tell you about our new friend?"

"The robot, you mean? Yes, my speedy nephew mentioned him a few times," Uncle Chuck muttered wryly, giving Sonic a sidelong stare.

Sonic grinned meekly, scratching his spines. "Just a few mentions…"

"The whole way here."

Sally was controlling her humor by pressing her lips between her teeth. "I see. Well come on, let's start analyzing what you've found."

So they all hurried back into the meeting area, Sir Charles receiving a very warm welcome from everyone before he linked the data-disc to Nicole, and let her broadcast the maps he'd found into a holo-sphere for everyone to see.

As they analyzed it, Metic stepped up on the edge of the shaded area where they were meeting. He listened as they described a large, distracting assault from inside the facility, along with a focused, surgical strike by a smaller team at the heart of the place, to rig it to tear itself apart with explosives. If the objective was to destroy the facility, he could find no better alternatives, lacking up-to-date security protocols to help them get through any more safely.

Rotor paused the discussion with a raised hand. "So who's going in with the strike-team? It's the most dangerous part of the mission, I need to make sure all the gear fits right."

Sally looked around the group. "Dulcy has some firepower by her nature, so we'll need her. Bunnie and I are definitely on it. Sonic…?"

She wasn't at all surprised when he gave a firm thumbs-up to her curious glance.

Antoine raised his hand. "I will be going, yes. I can place ze explosives, I have been studying carefully how to be doing this…"

Their leader nodded to him, sharing a light smile.

And, finally, they saw a glistening hint of metal rise up behind the gathered rebels. Sally stood up, her eyebrows rising. "…Metic?"

Some resistance fighters parted, letting him be more clearly visible. "May I join this central assault team? My abilities seem best applied there… and I have caused much damage to the resistance. It might be more fair for me to take some of the greater risk."

Bunnie was privately impressed with his offer, previously assuming he would help keep Robotnik's forces distracted. And then she realized he was giving her a subtle look as he spoke, quickly focusing back on Sally when she seemed to notice it.

For Sally, it was a relief. "Honestly, Metic, I was going to ask you to do that if you didn't offer. Sonic is our hero, but your kind of help is most welcome."

Though the blue hedgehog obviously didn't like being compared to the robot, Metic only tipped his head. "Thank you for letting me help, Princess."

Uncle Chuck stroked his metal chin. "Then it looks like the plan is set, Princess. You all know time is against us. Are we going to strike tonight?"

With a grave look across the gathered army of resistance fighters, Sally nodded to Sir Charles. "We strike tonight, and we're going to take our world back from Robotnik and his roboticizer."

A confident battle-cry filled Knothole as Metic watched, his mechanical eyes tightening as his programming continued to shift subtly with new experience. His optics settled on Bunnie was she raised her metal fist with the cheer, young Tails hopping up and down near the edge of the inner-group that had decided the plan. If anything is torn apart… let it be Doomsday… And his optics flashed.

(Down in the shadows…)

Snively stood anxiously on a grated catwalk suspended in the midst of a chamber too dark to really make out. In front of him waited a large pod with numerous controls, consoles, and an expansive command-throne in the center, occupied by his nefarious uncle. The already half-mechanical tyrant sneered as he leaned back in his new seat, lacing his fingers together. "Marvelous, isn't it, Snively?"

"Spectactulah, sah… but is it wise to place yourself in the resistance's priority target, especially when they know it is not fully operational?"

Robotnik's metal hand shot out with surprising speed, yanking the startled subordinate over the consoles on the tyrant's forward left, letting his glowing optics glare into the smaller man's widened eyes. "Do you see where you're standing, Snively…?" Robotnik asked in a dangerously low, softened voice.

Considering his feet were dangling over the catwalk, Snively wasn't sure what to say. The grated metal where he had been standing wrapped all the way around Robotnik's new pod, and pathways led off into the shadows beyond some untold distance. "…Inside your masterpiece, Doctor Robotnik?" the smaller man finally decided to say, hesitant sycophancy in his voice.

The tyrant's sneer returned, and he let his nephew fall flat on his back outside the pod. "Exactly. If any of those resistance fools even make it to me, I have implanted all of the advancements in my recent leaps of genius into this personal combat exo-suit. If that blue fool somehow manages to destroy Doomsday around me, he will wish he'd died in the attempt for all the suffering that will rain upon him."

Gloating for a moment more, Robotnik focused back on the smaller man with a dismal glare. "Now get to the central command console. I don't want you in the way this time, Snively."

Picking himself up at last, the subordinate marched away on one of the outer catwalks with a dark look on his face. "Oh I won't be in your way much longer, sah… Not if you keep this up…"

Behind him, the pod closed over Robotnik with a silver and orange casing around a sharp visor of clear diamond-glass. The sealed pod then started to sink below the ringed walkway, and down into the shadows below, Robotnik's haunting laugh the only thing revealing his continued presence in the darkness.

(The beginning…)

Clouds of putrid smog broke around Dulcy's confident dive, Sally, Sonic, Bunnie, Antoine, and Metic holding onto her long back with determined focus. The Doomsday facility loomed up over a plain of catwalks, low-set buildings, and constant patrols of swat-bots. Sally pulled Nicole from her boot, and opened up a map in the air just over the dragon's right shoulder. "Alright. Remember, Dulcy. Once the other teams start the distraction, we need to dive between that junction of catwalks on the South side of the facility."

"I've got it, Sally, don't worry. I've been practicing."

The princess smiled. She, Antoine, and Bunnie had large backpacks, utility belts, and armored gauntlets on their arms (only one in Bunnie's case, her robotic limb too thick for one) over their normal attire. The backpacks held the explosives they would be using, and also held the chemical-bomb balloon-makers in the lower part of the metal-armored pack. The gauntlets helped with launching and holding bombs or balloons, and the belts stored further explosives and mission equipment.

Staying high in the air, Dulcy started to circle the facility as smoke started to rise from the outer edges, below ground level of the facility's surrounding plain. Klaxons blared, and the armies of swat-bots started to swarm outward.

After following the activity from the sky for a few moments, Sally looked to her computer again. "Nicole, give me position data for our teams."

"Processing, Sally."

Red dots appeared on the top-down map-view of the facility-area, all of them slowly but steadily moving into the center, directly under Doomsday itself. Sally touched her right ear with her left hand, holding Nicole more comfortably in her right. "This is Resistance Leader, report."

Voices came filtering back around blasts, plumes, and laser-fire on the other ends.

"New chemical-bombs work like a charm."

"Making progress to drop-point, Princess. Heavy concentration of forces are slowing us down."

"We're also making progress, ma'am, but I'm worried."

"We're fightin' for it, but he's right. This is going a little too smoothly."

Sally nodded to herself, Antoine paling a little more as he listened along with the others. "The traps will be inside, most likely. Just get to the tower-base itself, hold as long as you can, and evac at our signal if you can hold that long."

A volley of confirmation waved into her transceiver, and let her hand down from her ear. "Soon now, Dulcy."

The dragon just nodded this time.

There was twenty further minutes of steady progress. Down in the industrial complex surrounding Doomsday, rugged Knothole fighters threw chemical-balloons around corners, set off charges, and scattered around enemy attacks. It was urban warfare at its most chaotic, made worse by dark halls, plentiful cover, distracting shapes in the pipes and wires, and the distorted cries of melting robots as the balloons hit their targets, or smoke and flame from the bombs going off.

The wolf tribe's noble leader dove into a role, planting her back darkly furred back against a wall that was part of the tower-base. "Get back here, you welps! We have to hold this position!"

Her fellow wolves started to pull back to her position, tossing balloons and grenades into ever-dwindling numbers of swat-bots. She touched her ear with some relief as they did. "Princess, this is Lupe. We've reached the tower-base."

Up on Dulcy's back, Sally smiled as she looked at Nicole's map. The red-dots were almost all gathered around the Doomsday tower's base. "Great work, Lupe. Everyone, hold as much as you can, but retreat as needed." After hearing confirmations, she looked up at Dulcy's head. "It's now or never, Dulcy."

"Then hold on!"

Even Sonic gave an alarmed shout as the dragon suddenly snapped into a diving roll, ripping down through the air while coming around the tower. Bunnie's ears were flailing over her head. "Dulcy, darlin', I sure hope you practiced this!"

Smiling confidently, the dragon just kept diving and spinning. With a snapping rush of wind around hard metal, Dulcy ripped past two catwalks, still spinning, and slammed her wings wide, completing an inverted loop that let her fly straight along the ground toward the tower after diving toward the surrounding facilities away from it. Antoine and Sally both gave a sickened moan, holding on for dear life, and even Metic muttered, "That was unsettling."

Dulcy slowed herself down further, and eased to a stop, dropping lightly onto her feet just a few meters away from a guard-wall of the tower-base. "Hah! I told ya I could do it!"

Sincerely impressed, and equally relieved, everyone hopped down from the dragon's back. "Well done, Dulcy," Sally added. "Sorry we got nervous."

The tallest freedom fighter winked. "Thanks for holding on so tight."

It let a mild laugh cross the small team, Metic quirking an optic ridge at their humor in such a situation. He followed without comment as Sally marched up to the wall, pulling a filled balloon from her lower back-pack. "Metic, Bunnie, make sure this stuff doesn't get on your metal parts."

"I think we can manage it, Sally-girl," the cyborg replied with a mild smirk, giving the robotic a side-long glance.

Metic flicked his optic-ridge again, but there was a mild humor in it as well.

With a faint grunt, Sally let the balloon fly, and Sonic grinned as it smashed against the wall. With a rushing wave of greenish mist, the wall simply opened a gaping hole for all of them, easily large enough for Dulcy.

Antoine steadied himself. "And we are going in, yes?"

Sally smiled a bit at her handiwork. "Yep. Come on."

Sonic quickly came up beside Sally, Dulcy and Metic on the rear-guard, and the team moved inside. Dimly lit, black metal halls, resembling alien landscapes save for the industrial pipes and exposed wiring awaited them. Antoine was keeping his jaw clamped against rattling teeth as he glanced around anxiously. Sally had Nicole out, and led them with a steady, brisk pace up into a few higher levels, around turns, across junctions, and all the while looking out for patrols of swat-bots.

After a few minutes of ominous traveling, Sally paused, everyone looking ahead to whatever had stopped her. Several meters in front of them, the hall simply ended, opening out into an unknown, thick darkness. Bunnie raised a light source from her belt, and shone it through the large opening. The flooring continued on for some undetermined distance, and no walls or a ceiling were visible. "…Awful big room…" the cyborg muttered anxiously.

Sally nodded. "We've reached the first of the two core chambers. I just wish we'd seen some more security before this. It has to be a trap or a decoy at this rate."

Metic spoke calmly. "There is a great deal of power being routed through this part of the tower. My scanners detect it some distance ahead of us, possibly beyond this immediate chamber."

"Trap then," Sally, Sonic, and Bunnie said at the same time. Antoine blanched, but Dulcy giggled, and Metic just stepped up with them at the front.

"Allow me to walk ahead of you," the robot said with his usual calm. "I can withstand more, and my loss would not be as damaging to morale as any of you."

Hearing him so coldly analyze his importance to the resistance made everyone glance at him self-consciously, but Sally said, "I would appreciate it if you led, Metic, but not because we can afford to lose you more easily. You can handle better than most of us."

"As you say it, Princess," he answered with a faint nod, and then walked forward.

Sonic gave Sally a supportive smile, and they fell in with the rest of the team behind the robot, walking into the shadows of the chamber beyond. As soon as their feet touched the flooring beyond the hall, lights burst to life around the circular edges of the ceiling high above, revealing a roughly spherical, cavernous chamber with surprisingly intricate walls holding pipes, openings, vents, layers of buttresses and catwalks, and mechanical arms along the ceiling itself.

Dulcy yelped, snapping her tail out of the way as the hallway behind them vanished with a bang and rush of an incredibly thick blast-door. Metic hadn't moved, but everyone looked from the back door, across the room, to the opposite end instantly as another bang sealed the only obvious exit with a copy of the blast-door behind them.

Antoine moaned. "Zis eez becoming a bit old, I am thinking…"

"Right there with ya, Ant," Sonic muttered darkly, pulling Sally and Bunnie a little behind him as he braced his legs.

Metic was still in front, standing without response as a cold, familiar chuckle filled the chamber in an echoing cacophony. A floating holo-screen appeared at the far side, angled against the top of the chamber, looking down on them as Robotnik's darkly pleased face flickered into view. "Welcome, my little friends. I just couldn't resist giving you a front-row seat for the introduction of my latest design for the Doomsday destruction pods."

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "So step on it, Butt-nik! We haven't got all day down here!"

Robotnik leaned his dark eyes into the screen. "For once, hedgehog, we agree completely." His darker voice vanished with the screen.

"Stay back!" Metic warned, his right claw snapping at his comrades.

Everyone tensed, and then looked up as three shapes blew out of the sides of the chamber, high in the air. Two from the left, one from the right, trailing clouds of noxious, blue-black gas, metal spheres of layered, intricate design spun and revved between each other, slamming into the far walls at sonic speed. Ripping down in front of the resistance fighters, they halted with unnatural ease, the gases fading to the sides, and snapped open.

Three tall, thin, blue-black Metal Sonics flashed their optics at the group, vents all over their bodies still leaking fumes of the organic-melting chemicals.

"Oh stars…" Bunnie whispered weakly, easing back a step.

Sally's eyes were widened horribly, and Sonic just twitched at the sight. Dulcy braced, grimly determined, and Antoine actually pulled two balloons from his pack, one in each hand, his expression furious.

Metic, however, was just looking up at the central, forward robot. "Sonic?"

"Yeah, Metic?" the blue hedgehog asked, his voice still tense.

"You can blast through that far door within a few seconds. Take the others and continue the mission. I will deal with these."

Everyone focused on the robot again. Sonic started to shift his legs for a run, but asked, "Are you sure?"

"We can help ya, sugar-bot. You're not alone out here," Bunnie offered warily.

Metic only then looked back, focusing on Bunnie. "It is possible I exist for this. Go." His faceplate vented, and his optics flashed as he looked back to the three Metal Sonics.

Sonic grabbed Sally's hand. "Grab hold! Dulcy, follow!"

The princess, Bunnie, and Antoine locked arms instantly, Dulcy blasting into the air. Sonic shot off, blurring around the three robots, only to skid to a halt near the far door, letting his friends down, and leap up into a buzz-saw, digging violently into the blast door.

The robots started to turn around, their optics flashing and gas venting from their bodies, but Metic braced his legs back, one claw to the ground. His optics flared, and his three razor-fins roared to life. "Targets acquired." All of his old combat programming locked into place, wholly supported by his new priorities this time.

Without even glancing back again, the three robots focused back on him. The leader's optics quirked with dark humor. "You ready ta juice, chrome-dome?"

Metic narrowed his optics ominously. "I don't juice. I grind."

Bunnie looked back to see white energy engulf Metic as a sphere, and the four robots exploded into a violent cloud of skittering, jerking metal, filling the other half of the cavernous chamber with sparks, flashes, and sheering walls. She couldn't help a softer smirk, almost like the ones she gave Sonic. "No offense, Sugar-hog, but sometimes he really does remind me of you."

Sonic finally leapt off, the blast-door crashing down into the next chamber, which was also darkened from view that moment. "Ah, he's alright after all. Now let's juice!"

They locked arms, Dulcy bracing, and ripped into the next chamber.

Metic slammed into the left-side wall, looking up into the center as the three robots rolled after him. "You will not harm the princess, nor Bunnie, nor any resistance fighter."

"Watch us!"

He was engulfed again, and blasted into the central rolled-up robot. Robotnik's machine was sent flying off, slamming into the far wall, but Metic, rolled up and engulfed in power, stopped in mid-flight, twisted, and shot down into another of the three, batting it down into the floor before landing himself.

All three recovered, and streaked after him. Metic ran up the right wall, reaching the center of the ceiling, and rocketed down. Two had followed him, one remained on the ground, but the two on the ceiling missed as the one on the ground dove aside. The center of the chamber exploded in sheered, warped metal.

Metic didn't even pause, suddenly appearing with one of the robots, slamming it into the left wall with his feet while grabbing hold of the head. As the robot still sunk into the metal of the wall, he hopped off, planted his feet wide beside the attacking robot, and wrenched it out with his claw, letting him crash straight into the other Metal Sonic that was diving into Metic as a razor-ball. The clang shook the chamber, those two dropping, but the third speed-rammed Metic out from beneath them, slamming him into the back of the chamber, above the torn-open door.

Rolling around with the Metal Sonic, Metic was grappled from behind. With a sharp jerk, Metic slammed his own back into the wall, pinning the other robot there, and then his optics flashed as his razor-fins roared violently. The other robot squealed as its front and neck were sheered badly by the revving blades, and then gave a disturbing crunch as Metic used his body to leap into the center of the room, meeting the other two robots like mad pin-balls, all three striking and scattering back against the walls with a metal-shattering impact.

Metic rolled down into the floor, amidst the torn metal from his dive-bomb earlier, and glanced to the back door, still sealed, and up to the three robots gathering ahead of him. The others would need an exit, but he had to destroy these three first. He braced, revved, and rejoined the battle.

(Meanwhile…)

In the chamber beyond, Sonic slowed to a stop just as the lights burst to life. It dwarfed even the previous chamber, and lacked any clear floor, almost completely spherical. Catwalks filled the many levels along the walls, and there was a strange construct down in the bottom nadir of the room, like some kind of small building with a central tower and blocky wings to either side.

Sally whipped Nicole out. "Scan chamber, and give us bomb-placement data, Nicole."

The computer blinked and whirred quietly in her hand, then a fresh map of the large chamber appeared in a holo-sphere, with blinking green dots. "All structural support-points I can detect are indicated by green on the map, Sally."

All of the support-joints were located around the edges of the chamber, especially in the center on either side. Sally looked to their blue hero and Dulcy. "Get us to the middle level. Bunnie, Antoine, it's those forks of four or more metal beams. Place a charge on each one, especially on the right center."

Everyone confirmed. Dulcy took Bunnie and Antoine up on her back, flying to the right, while Sonic took Sally, and blasted to the left.

"Ah, ah, ah," Robotnik's voice thrummed through the chamber. "Now you're being rude little guests, freedom fighters. I'll have to teach you some manners…"

And then the mass in the center started to rise, the floor pulling apart around it as huge arms lifted out from the shoulders, which had been the 'wings' of the building, and more armor-plating folded into view. Soon, a towering, humanoid robot resembling Robotnik himself was planting its massive feet on the re-sealing floor. Robotnik's empowered voice shook the chamber even worse than before. "It's the end game, heroes."

Sonic was already focusing on the huge robot, Sally just sharing a meaningful smile with him before she ran to place her bombs. The towering machine's shoulders opened, and missiles filled the air, raining to either side. "Dulcy! Let's blow those things to kingdom come!" And he ripped into the air as a saw, skittering through the missiles like some crazed child with an etch-a-sketch, making them explode before they could even reach the catwalks.

The dragon shot away from Bunnie and Antoine as they worked toward the center on the right, blasting flame and ice through the air from her cavernous lungs, dropping or blowing the missiles up in swaths. She and Sonic started to rip around the entire chamber like some apocalyptic arena, the massive robot swinging with dangerous speed and accuracy, firing missiles, energy-blasts, and even launching more of the deadly Metal Sonic robots.

Sally set more charges, and started to sprint for the center on the left. Risking a glance down into the center, she saw the Metal Sonic robots landing and running around to catch her, Bunnie, and Antoine, their optics flickering strangely, blinking faster and faster as they got closer. "They're bombs!" she yelled as powerfully as her petite body could force.

Bunnie risked a glance around Antoine, hearing Sally's yell across the huge chamber, like a shout across a canyon. She grabbed the fox man, and yanked him back with her. "To the center, Antoine! We don't have time to decorate the walls!" They both sprinted on.

Sonic and Dulcy both wanted to rush down and fend off the speeding robots, but they were constantly held in the air by barrages of missiles threatening to annihilate the entire chamber before they could all escape. Sonic unrolled, running across a missile, and leapt toward another. "Agh! There's just too many!"

(Meanwhile…)

In the first chamber, Metic landed harshly from another mad storm of impacts and ricochets between four rolled-up robots. The three Metal Sonics landed ahead of him, the damaged leader walking toward him first.

"You're not so tough, chrome-dome. We'll have some fun with your friends. Especially the princess."

Metic's razor-fins revved again. "Unlikely, but I have no more time to play with you."

Their optics narrowed and flashed. Metic braced, and they shot after him, but the freedom-fighter robot just leapt straight into the air. The leader's damaged systems made him skid out rather than stop like his two 'brothers', and he gave an electronic squeal as he crashed into the blast-door at the original entrance to the chamber.

Metic whirled into a ball, blazed with energy, and suddenly snap-rammed down into the right robot, ricocheting into the left as the right flew into the right wall, and ripped back into the damaged leader. The two on the sides ripped craters through the metal of the walls, but the leader was torn apart on impact, exploding violently as the blast-door warped backward, and finally collapsed down into the hall beyond.

With a light spin of deceleration, Metic landed at last. The two robots pulled themselves out of the walls as he walked directly between them, facing forward. "Coming or not?"

Their optics flashed once more, and both of them, sparking and damaged, flashed to meet him. Metic just flickered, appearing two meters ahead of his previous location, and his field of energy protected him form the shower of shrapnel that came from the two robots crashing at super-sonic speed. They exploded in a ring-wave of rent metal, Metic just letting his arms relax for a moment. He glanced down to the side. "You really should pick better priorities."

And then he blazed with light, ripping toward the central chamber beyond, where the final battle was raging.

(The battle…)

Dulcy arced up through the air on the right side of the chamber, blowing volleys of missiles apart with each exhale as she swirled with her wings. Sonic was slicing the missiles on the left apart, letting them explode in his wake as he rolled toward the back wall, ripping this way and that with seemingly impossible speed.

The bomb-Sonics were rushing up the catwalks that instant, however, closing on Sally, Bunnie, and Antoine on both sides of the arena. On the right, Bunnie and Antoine finally reached the center, the fox just planting more explosives on the first set of important junctions. Waiting there, however, was a large console system, with Snively gawking at the cyborg woman where he stood.

"Well what d'ya know?" Bunnie managed darkly.

"Mademoiselle!" Antoine yelped abruptly.

Even Snively's eyes flared as Bunnie twisted, and saw the flickering eyes of a bomb-Sonic ripping toward them.

"Antoine!" Bunnie yelped sharply, and grabbed him by the scruff with her furry arm, yanking him back as she brought her left around in a block.

Snively screeched. "Not me!"

And the bomb-bot suddenly dove his head into the ground, exploding violently. The catwalk flew apart, part of it snapping Bunnie out into the open air with a grunt. Antoine reached for her, but she was flying too fast. "Bunnie!" he yelled desperately.

Almost at the same instant, Bunnie's face falling as she fell through the air, Sally looked back just as a bomb-Sonic reached her. Her exclamation was cut off by a shout of pain as the shock-wave ripped the catwalk up beneath her boots, and sent her flailing out into the open air. She cried out as she started to fall.

Sonic twisted through a missile, and shot back toward Sally like a blue streak through the air. Dulcy dove for Bunnie, trying to blast more missiles apart as she did, but was descending too slowly. Antoine reeled back, plastering Snively against his own console with a violent grimace. "Shut it all down! NOW, I am saying!"

Snively stuttered. "I-I can't! Only Robotnik has the codes! I can only moderate the power flows!"

Bunnie started to glance down over her shoulder, her eyes watering as she saw the ground rushing up too fast for her own good. …I just hope the others pull it off…

And then cool metal clamped around her legs and shoulders, startling her to look back over herself, her face flaring with relief and almost wanting to laugh. Metic had caught her, and slammed down into the right wall with his legs blurring violently. "You didn't think I'd let you get hurt again, did you?" the robot asked with some dry humor as he glanced at her side-long.

Bunnie just kept laughing, hugging him around the neck. "But we gotta get back to Antoine! I've got more bombs to place!"

He skidded around. "Understood." And he shot back across the chamber, toward the secondary control station with Antoine and Snively. Missiles and energy blasts tried to stop him, but ripped from side-to-side and sped on, never letting them touch the cyborg in his arms.

Sally yelped as something slammed into her, but then she almost sobbed with relief as it turned out to be Sonic himself, landing to a run toward the front of the chamber, missiles exploding behind him as juked left and right.

"Can we get the heck out of here yet, Sal?" he asked with his usual bravado, as if the missiles raining down them were of no concern.

The princess smirked. "Not yet. I have to place a few more bombs, or we can't be sure enough it'll work."

He swirled around, speeding toward the center on the left. "Got it!"

With Dulcy arcing back into the air, blasting missiles apart as she went, Antoine saw Bunnie safe in Metic's arms. He rounded back on Snively, his eyes glimmering. "Only ze power, you are saying, mm? I think zis will be enough. Overload eet."

Snively twitched. "B-But I can--?" he yelped as Antoine held a grenade up between them, his thumb on the dead-man trigger already.

"Overload eet, or I will make us both regret being 'ere, nes pa?"

Snively continued to twitch, but nodded, and Antoine let him scramble over the controls, driving the safety protocols off and demanding outrageous amounts of energy from the generators.

Metic skidded to a halt with Bunnie a moment later, letting her down. Bunnie marched up to the fox and stuttering servant, blinking. "Antoine, what's goin' on?"

The fox smirked. "A little insurance policy, you might say, yes?"

Seeing the power-readings and overload warnings all over the console, Bunnie started to laugh. "Darlin', you're a genius! Metic, help me place the rest of these bombs anyway!"

The robot nodded, and took her back in his arms, blurring around the catwalks above and below the work-station.

Sonic and Sally ripped to a stop at last, Sally dumping her back-pack onto the catwalk, touching her ear. "All resistance fighters! Evac! We've done all we can, get out of here!" And then she nodded to Sonic.

Robotnik cackled. "Do you think those toys will stop me? Try again!" And suddenly the huge robot snapped its arms to the sides, unleashing storms of arcing beams of energy through the chamber. Sally and Sonic hit the catwalk as their closest bombs were blown into the air by the raking energy beams, detonating out in the open without damaging enough of the chamber's structure.

Sally slammed her fist into the catwalk. "No! I can't believe that… After all this…"

Sonic rose up in front of her, helping her onto her feet as he looked out across the chamber. Metic had already yanked Bunnie, Antoine, and even Snively back to the entrance to the huge chamber as the bombs were all knocked off and destroyed out in the air on their side as well.

Reaching to his ear, Sonic spoke rapidly. "Dulcy, fly back to the door. I'll meet you there with the others. You're gonna get Sally, Bunnie, Antoine… and I guess Snively on your back, and get ready to get out of here!"

Dulcy started to dive toward the entrance. "But what about Robotnik?"

Sonic smirked, and spoke again. "Metic, you up for some double-teaming?"

"Just tell me what you need."

Sonic picked Sally up, the princess startled and looking at him with urgent curiosity regarding his apparent plan. The blue hedgehog said nothing more in that moment, ripping back to the doorway himself, missiles exploding all around him, finally skidding to a halt as Dulcy fire-blasted the last volley behind him, wrenching into a harsh landing-stop herself, just across Metic and his little group from the escaping pair.

Sonic stepped up with Metic as more missiles came rushing down at them. Dulcy lowered down, Antoine yanking Snively with him to join the two ladies who climbed onto the dragon's back. With a faint glance to each other, Metic and Sonic suddenly shot off, blasting into the air, and ripping back through the missiles, arcing all the way toward the huge robotic suit of Robotnik.

"I think we've got two heroes now, Sally-girl," Bunnie offered quietly from behind the princess.

Sally smiled gently. "I think you're right."

The two hedgehogs slammed into the massive robot's arms, and started to dash and flicker all over its form. The missiles started to curve inward, but the few that still flew out toward Dulcy and the others were quickly dispatched with arcing, buzz-sawing leaps by one or the other.

And as they ran, both of them ripped weapon systems apart, cut through armored plating, and started to wrench servos and hydraulics. Snively clung to Dulcy's back, but moaned, "We have to leave! The power-system is already going critical!"

Sally looked back at him with a strange combination of alarm and relief, then focused on Antoine, who nodded to her. She grinned, and then touched her ear. "Sonic! The whole place is gonna blow. They rigged the power core."

Sonic smirked as he ran down the huge robot's back. "Then we gotta juice. Metic! I've got a plan…"

The robot himself was blazing up the front of Robotnik's huge construct, and listened carefully to Sonic's idea. "Understood."

The black-metal hero ripped down across the huge machine's flank, rushing out of sight, and Sonic himself skidded to a halt on the top of the thing's chest, grinning as he held his spread pose into the visor. "Hey, Butt-nik! Are all your machines this ugly, or just the ones you model after yourself?"

A furious roar came through the visor just before it snapped open, and the tyrant himself lunged out, grabbing Sonic by the neck. "This is the end of you, hedgehog!"

Sonic calmly pointed his thumb over his shoulder, angling down. "You sure about that last bit?"

Robotnik focused down around the blue resistance fighter, and his eyes flared as Metic braced down on the ground in front of the huge machine. The former killing machine's optics blazed with red light, the lids narrowed, and his razor-fins revved. Energy engulfed him, and he rocketed off the ground, slammed clear through the huge machine's chest, and ripping out the far side, streaming liquefied metal in his wake, unfurling and looking back at his handiwork.

With a roar of frustration and desperation, Robotnik slammed himself back into his control pod. The entire facility was already shaking, the supports buckling with alarms flaring everywhere, computerized voices warning of imminent structural collapse and energy explosions.

Metic slammed down to his feet on the ground, Sonic revving down onto it himself on the other side, and the two of them blurred back to Dulcy and the others. The huge robot crashed down into the back wall, Robotnik still raging as his escape pod failed to activate.

Turning to the others, Metic raised a small piece of hardware, dangling from sparking wires in his hand. "The escape-capsule override."

Everyone gawked, astonished and completely relieved at the surprising bonus of success. Then Metic nodded to Dulcy. "Sonic, get on Dulcy's back as well. Dulcy, hold onto my shoulders," he said, walking around in front of the dragon, toward the shattered blast-door.

Sonic hopped up with Sally, blinking as the entire facility started to collapse around them. Dulcy clamped her claws onto Metic's shoulders, and held on tightly. "You sure we can do this, Metic?"

He nodded. "Certain. Let's grind!"

His body locked forward, his legs shattered with motion, and the energy that engulfed him as a sphere of light suddenly blazed around all of them, creating a storm of power with him at the front. Metic shot off, pulling his friends through the facility as it crashed down around them. The entire central chamber suddenly tore itself apart as the power-generator beneath it went critical.

The last thing Robotnik knew was a blinding flash of light, and heat too intense to bare. His final construct was vaporized as the center of the facility simply vanished in a column of energized particles.

Zigzagging around crashing pylons, catwalks, and entire chunks of the doomsday tower, Metic ran his friends clear out of the industrial complex, and skidded to a smooth halt on a cliff-side just beyond it, letting everyone down as his energy faded.

Sally, Sonic, Bunnie, Antoine, and even Snively hopped down, watching as Doomsday collapsed into itself, the entire area crashing to pieces and pitching smoke into the air like a weak candle.

The resistance fighters, every last one of them, came out of hiding, rising up on the cliff-sides around the plain, and when they all saw Sally and Sonic with their team, a thunderous cheer filled the countryside. Lupe grabbed her nearest pack-mate, the two dancing around. Bunnie grappled Antoine and Metic both in a powerful hug, sparing Antoine her more powerful limb, and Sonic turned to Sally with a gentle smile. She smiled back, and suddenly kissed him. It startled the hedgehog, but he relaxed into it just as fast, both of them blushing happily when they pulled apart.

Antoine laughed lightly. "Well eet eez about time, you two."

Sally giggled, Sonic laughing at the fox.

Snively stepped further over to the edge as Dulcy hollered her own cheers, and raised an eyebrow at the wreckage. "I must admit… I didn't expect this all to end today…"

Sally looked over at him. "…I know Antoine pushed you into it, but you really helped us today, Snively. Do you still want to, or do we need to be careful of each other?"

"I imagine…" he trailed off, turning around with a mildly pompous air about him, "that you will need someone to help you open up all of the secured files in the city if we're going to restore it to the old Mobotropolis?"

The princess smiled, nodding, "That would be greatly appreciated, Snively."

He bowed. "My lady."

Sonic smirked. "So how come you didn't turn on the old fatso sooner, Snively?"

"Well, I was trying to usurp him. That's not really an option now, so survival works… And it will be a bit more pleasant with you lot than that old fogy anyway."

Bunnie smirked. "Well what are y'all waitin' for? We've got a victory to celebrate!"

Everyone cheered again, and Sally sent out the call. It was time to go home.

(Author's Note)

No, no, it's not over just yet. We have matters to finalize in the story yet. However, this was the final battle. I hope you enjoyed it, and found it appropriate. It was tricky balancing out Sonic and Metic, but I hope the idea that Sonic brings things to the table that Metic can't, and vice-versa, got across. If Metic still appears to be a 'Gary Stu' type semi-OC, I apologize, but it's a bit late to change it.

So, thank you for all the positive reviews and feedback. Please stick around for the final chapter (yes, next one is the finish), and I hope you've enjoyed this story. Thank you for reading.

--Cy