" Chaos control!" Yelled the voice of Shadow as he activated his famous power, transporting Sonic, Rouge and Knuckles to the place Sonic had specified. What they saw was so incredible, It was hard to believe that no-one had ever found it before. Stretching miles into the sky was just on of Eggman's many bases , and though the paint was old and crumbling and although the place looked derelict, it was actually far from it and Sonic could tell that.

" Are you sure this is the right place Sonic?" Rouge asked, stretching her neck up into the sky to try and spot the top of the super structure.

" You doubt my knowledge?" He said, his cocky nature starting to show through once again. Rouge threw him a dirty look and he was reminded that he was supposed to be on his best behaviour. He opened his mouth to give a proper answer, but it seemed, Knuckles didn't want to wait for that for him to defend his brain power and set off the wheels of his chair, speeding towards the base as fast as they would allow him. But, considering the chairs were for people who could hardly move, not powerful echidna guardians who were in a hurry, its top speed wasn't really that impressive. Knuckles got fed up because of this , ditched the chair and started pelting towards the massive doors of the base at a creditable speed. When the others realised that he wasn't going to stop they too launched into a run, both Shadow and Sonic catching up in a matter of seconds.

Knuckles was about to reach the door, when something his own height and blue stopped in front of him, creating a small cyclone of kicked up dust as it stopped.

" Sonic you've done enough! Now move let me rescue my son!" Knuckles demanded in desperate fury, his focus now completely locked on getting into the base and getting out with Seth as quickly as possible.

" I could, but its pointless anyway. The doors made of a special mixture of concrete and steel, far to thick to get through. The only ways in a password and I don't know it" Sonic injected, showing his superior knowledge and cooler head over Knuckles. Rouge frowned, noticing he was still showing off, despite claiming he had changed. ' Inside, you'll always be the spoilt little boy' She thought to herself. She walked over and wrapped her arms around Knuckles from behind, hoping to calm him, it worked a little, but it didn't stop Knuckles yelling in his reply to Sonic.

" Then why the hell did you bring us here!" Knuckles demanded, baring his teeth in impatience. Sonic ignored his obvious anger and walked calmly up to the door, pressing a bizarrely present doorbell.

" I have a suspicion" he said, but didn't reveal anymore, smiling in a smarmy way when someone replied.

" What do you want!" Asked another impatient voice from a small speaker that sat next to the doorbell , obviously belonging to the ageing doctor. " I told you I cancelled my order for pizza!" He roared, grumpy as he always was. Sonic sniggered and said into the microphone calmly and confidently

" Hey egghead". There was a small splutter from the speaker, then the doctors voice changed to one that was suspiciously warm when he spoke again.

" Sonic! What a surprise! I suppose your here for Amy are you? Well come on in, I don't need her anymore, since she's being too stubborn to serve me" and with that the huge door clanked to life and slowly began inching off the ground, revealing an easy opening for the creatures standing outside. Shadow raised an eyebrow and Sonic grinned, saying

" Your too kind egghead" and started walking casually in, as if it was his own house. Knuckles pushed past him and started running down the corridor, Sonic seeing it as somewhat of a speed challenge and changing his speed to catch up instantly. But Rouge stopped both of them my screaming

" Hold it!". The hedgehog and echidna turned around and stared at her, waiting for an explanation as to why she stopped them both. She placed her hands on her hips in a dominating female way and said in a bossy voice " Didn't it occur to you that this was all a little too easy? Since when does Eggman just let us freely into his base like that without any resistance?". Knuckles turned around again and started running again

" I don't care! I need to find Seth!" He yelled back at them. Sonic just shrugged in his usual cool headed way that was starting to really annoy Rouge.

" Stop!" She ordered and once again Knuckles ground to halt, apparently not desperate enough to ignore his wife's orders. " I'm saying this is a trap. Isn't it obvious?" She said with attitude, a feeling of disbelief inside her at the two means seemingly obviousness to danger. Sonic folded his arms and kept grinning.

" Who cares?" He said and shrugged his shoulders again, infuriating Rouge anymore. Her eyes widening in anger and she was about to shout at him for not being careful, but Shadow injected his own voice and settled everything, speaking for the first time since they had arrived there.

" I believe what Sonic is saying is that he knows there is a trap. He also believes that whatever Eggman has put together in this short period of time is not enough to combat the four of us together" he explained, clearing up the whole situation and calming Rouge in the process. She looked like she was thinking for a second, then turned to Shadow and said

" Your even smarter than I thought" she said, sounding admiring. He simply smiled slightly, while Knuckles fidgeted, eager to go. " But we still have to be careful" she interrupted, seeing Sonic open his mouth to brag about his approved strategy by Shadow. Sonic pouted a little, but didn't say any more words, then nodded in agreement and the four finally set off again, Knuckles clearly happy that they had done so.

There was no resistance on their way through the almost identical corridors. In fact, they would have easily lost there way if flashing arrows hadn't been put up, with signs saying ' This way to your friends!' Posted below them. Rouge rolled her eyes at both the doctors and Sonic's incompetence, as every time Sonic saw one, he laughed and remarked " The old doctor must be getting impatient!" Then launched himself forward in a new dash, determined as Knuckles to get to Eggmans trap.

Finally, they reached a wide, circular room. There wasn't anything special about it, but, after running down 20 identical corridors, the four creatures welcomed the change in shape and size of the room. Plus, it seemed that it was a dead end, as there were no more arrows and no way out of the room other than the way they had just came in. Sonic grinned and stood cross armed, tapping his foot and waiting for some action. Knuckles looked hyped, his fists held in front of him and ready for a fight. His eyes wide and intent, flicking around the room.

Then, the door behind them slammed closed and the unmistakable evil laughter of the old doctor echoed off the walls of the high tower they had wondered into. Rouge rolled her eyes once again as the doctor drifted down from the ceiling, still using his floating chair and still as predictable as ever. Sonic smiled. Knuckles growled and readied himself. It was almost like a reply of what would have happened all those years ago, which was probably why Sonic was grinning from ear to ear.

" I see you found your way here, hedgerat! But after all these years, you must have gotten rusty, because you've once again been tricked!" The doctor predictably announced, as the lights died and left them only the lights from the doctors flying vehicle for them too see by.

" Whatever" Sonic said dryly, obviously so far unimpressed. " Just bring out your latest robot so I can trash it!" Sonic teased, remaining unworried despite the lack of light. The doctor sneered, slightly annoyed by Sonic's responses.

" What about your precious Amy? She's locked in one of my charming little cells and not looking too good. Aren't you worried about your little son?" The doctor injected, sneering and leaning over the edge of his vehicle, causing it to tilt slightly in the air. Sonic felt a flash of worry but tried to keep his game face on. But, despite his best efforts, Sonic's smile slid a little and the eager doctor caught onto his slight change in expression. His sickening smile widened and he boasted " I knew it. You had a soft spot for her all along". Sonic was about to argue back, but Knuckles, getting ever more impatient, interrupted by roaring in a gravely and throaty voice

" Eggman where's my son!". His teeth groaned together when his demand was finished. Eggman's smile disappeared and he turned his gaze to the echidna..

" All in good time my thick headed friend. But first..." He said, pausing and tilting his head down to view the unseen controls on his flying chair. He fiddled with a few and a door opened to the left of the group. Eggmans smirk returned with a revenge and he waved his hand in the direction of the door, his attention back on Sonic. " Amy is through there, just keep going straight. Now go get her! Go on! Go on doggy!" He said, putting on a mocking tone and clapping as if Sonic really were a dog. The hedgehog was not amused my his cruel joke and shot him a quick look that said ' Your really not funny at all' and shot off down the corridor, leaving Shadow, Rouge and Knuckles to defend themselves without even a word of good luck. Rouge huffed angrily at his behaviour.

" Forgive me. But I care for Amy as well. And I feel that Sonic is going to get in over his head if someone doesn't keep an eye on him" Shadow said apologetically, turning to go. Rouge nodded and said in an annoyed voice

" Well at least your giving us a reason for going, unlike him". Shadow nodded in thanks for her acceptance and went to run off, but stopped, reconsidered it and turned over his shoulders, saying

" Good luck rescuing Seth". Rouge smiled and nodded and with that Shadow was gone and just the two parents were left. Eggmans grinned and watched Shadow go, which didn't take long considering the ultimate life forms speed, then turned his attention once again to Rouge and Knuckles.

" I suppose you wanted to know where you son is" he said in a casual tone that was far from appropriate for the situation. The incorrect tone pushed Knuckles even further along the edge and he ground his teeth together.

" Where is he!" Bellowed and demanded Knuckles, raising his clenched fists in challenge. Eggman smiled greedily and excitedly, not wanting to wait any longer to reveal his latest scheme to them and at last announced

" To see him, you must meet my newest assistant". Knuckles knew that was coming, but still couldn't help but explode when Eggman spoke. Rouge looked at him in concern, felt worry for her son, hoped that whatever Eggman had planned was not too much for them too handle. Knuckles, still slightly weak from the energy drain he suffered a few weeks ago and Rouge, rusty from years of retirement from fighting. The two weren't in the best shape, but then, the same could be said for the doctor, so it was anyone's game, or so they thought.

" Just bring out whatever heap of metal you have in store and let us crush it" Rouge said impatiently. Knuckles shot here a worried glance, wondering if she should be fighting, especially if what he had been told earlier was true. He didn't want a second of his children killed. Rouge caught his glance and shook her head. Knuckles wasn't sure what to make of the gesture, but assumed Rouge wanted to fight for her son, their son. He knew he wouldn't be able to stop her even if he tried.

Eggman said no more and simply pressed one button on his console instead, then manoeuvring his craft to latch onto the wall so he could watch the fight in the air from a safe distance. The door to their right opened this time. The sound of hydraulics could be heard from behind it, but there was dark behind the door, so whatever robot lay inside was a mystery. Knuckles raised his fists, bent his knees, ready to jump. He took on his classic fighting stance and readied himself. Rouge took off and hovered in the air a few meters above the ground, hoping the increased agility this gave her would be enough.

As the door reached it's top and stopped sliding, the sound of scraping metal was silenced, replaced by nothing. Rouge and Knuckles tried to peer into the dark, but could see nothing. They shot each other quick, questioning glances. Then, from within the black, a sound of a piston was heard. A robot leg lifted itself into view, then another. A moment later a body shifted itself into view and finally, it was present in the eyes of the two parents.

Knuckles couldn't believe his eyes. Rouge didn't want to believe it. The robot stood around 7 ft, double the height of Knuckles and Rouge. Intimidating, but nothing compared to some of Eggmans other giant colossus. It's feet, just round disk with three mechanical toes, nothing remarkable about them. The same went for the legs, long tubes, two for the first part and two for the second part, much like the structure of a human skeleton. Next it's chest was a few plates of armour, hiding what was presumably more human skeleton like structure. It's arms were bent low, wire providing hydraulic power. It's stance was bent, like a gorillas and it had twin machine guns mounted on it's shoulder.

But this wasn't what was remarkable about the robot, not by a long shot. Plenty of Robotnic's creations had machine guns, far more than this one had. Most were better armoured. Most were giants compared to this one. Most even seemed to have a better paint job. These things were not what made the robot extraordinary, not by a long shot. In fact, it was it's head, or rather, what was in the place of his head, that made it extraordinary and terrifying, at the same time.

It was Seth.

Not that the robot itself was called Seth. It's name was longer and rather un-name like, although it's innicials did spelt the word ' Lee'. It was the fact that, replacing the robot's head, was the little creature itself. A platform provided the robot's shoulders, which was Seth's standing point. He was pinned cruelly by his wings to a type of harness that extended out from the platform, looking like it had been specially designed to hold him in. His tiny arms and legs wires were wrapped in wires, some actually embedded into his skin. Finally, a mask had been placed over his face. It muffled his jaw, making him unable to open it by himself. Wires were snaking there way in and out of the masks outer surface, making it quite obvious that underneath the masks plating, they were connecting with Seth's skull.

It was unmistakably cruel, heartless, desperate and disgusting. But worse than that...

It was the one kind of robot Knuckles and Rouge couldn't possibly fight.

Authors notes

Yay! Im back from holiday! Im tanned and off school and ready to write! Woopie! I've actually had this chapter ready for ages, but I found I simply couldn't find a good ending, but here we are, tell me what you think. Updates should be quicker from now on.