"For the love of-?!"
Shortfuse was busy stumbling back up after being blasted into the nearest wall. An actual, physical wall this time. It had been going so well. He'd managed to regain his sanity and tackle one of the sons of bitches who was responsible for this mess and was about to punch the robotic daylights out of him. And then the a-hole managed to get in a lucky judo toss. For his part, Dragonbreath was standing triumphantly like a hunter from the Bronze Age, proud and tall after having caught his meat.
"How'd ya like that?" he said. "Didn't even need to use my fire! Though I can still warm things up a notch if ya want. Interested?"
As Shortfuse struggled to get back on his feet, he only had one thing to say.
"Please, sir, may I have another?!" He blasted over to Dragonbreath, eager to smash that Gaea damned robot's face in.
"Ya like that?!" He said. "Well, here's more!" He belched out out another blazing blast from his mouth, but Shortfuse plowed right through it like a monster truck. And within seconds, he was practically up close and personal. He then grabbed Dragonbreath's arm and gave it a good, firm yank ("Come to papa!"), wrenching it straight off of his body and leaving nothing but a lump of mangled cords and broken circuts.
Despite everything telling him he should have done otherwise, Dragonbreath did not scream in pain. This was probably because he literally could not feel pain. He could have imagined himself being in pain, imagine what it must feel like to have an entire arm wrenched off, but it wasn't the same thing. What it didn't stop him from feeling was complete and utter shock at his whole arm being torn away in a single instant. So much so he couldn't say a word.
"Who's laughing now, Arm Fall Off Boy?" Shortfuse then used Dragonbreath's arm like a club, whacking him as though making a home run and sending him flying to the other end of the room. He then hurled it like a javelin straight into his cybernetic cranium and impaled him straight in the noggin. He began to short circuit, flailing about at such rapid speeds that one could swear he was having a conniption. And then, without any warning, he came to a complete and sudden stop. Total shutdown.
"Heh. Good thing you were a robot. If you weren't, I'd get chewed out till doomsday." Though in truth, he hoped that Eggman and his cronies would be able to rebuild him. Sooner than later. If only so he'd have another punching bag.
"You know, I hate to ask, but could you quit it with the light show for just a minute, seriously?!"
Amy was trying to keep some distance between her and her pursuer. The upside was that with her laser crossbow, she more or less had an infinite amount of ammo and so could fire as many bolts at Lightmare as she wished. The downside was that Lightmare had a similar advantage. Only in her case, she was able to fire off balls of searing energy that would wreck Amy if she ever got hit. A backup ability in case her nightmare-inducing powers failed her, she supposed.
Amy kept on running and gunning, dodging the whispy, floating balls by the skin of her teeth. None of her arrows were able to land so much as a single hit. Either Lightmare moved one of the balls right in front of the arrows or she dodged them wholesale. It was a back and forth game of dodging and shooting on both of the girls' parts, and they would have been lying if they said they weren't in any way starting to feel a bit ragged.
Amy was desperate to stall for time. Having a moment of serendipity, she stopped right in front of the empty corridor and began to play the part of the distressed damsel to the best of her ability.
"Okay, look. You've got me. Nowhere to run. So why don't you just get it over with? Isn't that you wanted anyway?"
Lightmare scoffed. "Is that what you take me for? Believe it or not, I don't wish to kill you. In fact, I don't even wish to be here."
Amy blinked and rubbed her eyes, as though she couldn't quite believe her ears. "Say that again?"
"I wanted to be a Priest. That is what I truly wanted above all else. But instead, I am here. Trying to endanger lives instead of saving them. And having to deal with complete and utter morons to boot." She briefly glanced behind her, indicating Axel and doing so with nothing but contempt.
"Then why aren't you doing that?" said Amy. "I mean, Eggman goes against everything every Gaea-fearing Mobian beliefs in, as far as I understand it. You know that, right?"
Lightmare briefly looked towards the ground, as if she couldn't bear to see another living soul. "If it were just me, I wouldn't want anything to do with him! He's an abomination, an unholy heretic! I'd gut him myself if I could!"
"Then why are you working for him?" Amy said. "How come you're trying to help him blow up a whole large chunk of the island?!"
Lightmare clenched her fist, as though she were near attempting to strangle someone. "I'm not working for HIM! I'm working for my father. This is merely a loan."
"A loan?"
"The point is, it isn't so simple. I owe my father. More than you know. And so, this is something I must do! Even if it pains me to do it. Don't you have something you believe in? Something worth fighting for?"
Amy took a moment. Did she have something worth fighting for? Why was she here anyway? Was she really doing all this just for a chance to be with someone who might not feel the same way? That couldn't have been it, can it? So why was she here?
"I don't know," said Amy. "But I do know that I'm here. And that as long as I'm here, I'm going to do all I can to help. Speaking of which…"
Like a quickdraw, Amy let one of her arrows fly. It caught Lightmare off guard, enough so that for a solid split second, she didn't know what to do. And that was all she needed. While Lightmare was ducking the arrow, Amy was dashing straight over and in seconds made it.
Having closed the gap, it was time for Amy to do what she knew best: Be as forceful and annoying as all get out! Being no damsel, she knew how to take care of herself. 'Any girl needs to know a little self-defense', her father said. Though this was far more than a little.
Amy let loose a punch, then a kick. Then an elbow smash. Then a toe stomp. And that was just the start. Having little time to form her guard, Lightmare did her best to block, but the sheer ferocity of Amy's attacks was INSANE for someone without super speed. Or any powers to speak of. There was something to be said for the art of self-reliance.
That said, Lightmare still had a duty to perform. Managing to gather her wits, she summoned another ball of hard light and aimed it straight at Amy's noggin. Only to see it blink in and out of existence after being sliced in half like paper.
"The wind? But that could only mean—"
Lightmare was lifted straight into the air by a current of seldom seen proportions as a deft hand raised two close fingers upward with a flick. Within seconds, she was so high up that if she were the joking sort, she would say she could see her house from there. However, seeing as this was not the case, all she could wonder was if her loyalty to her father was worth it.
Within seconds, that same deft hand did the same as before, only this time lowering her fingers down and out. Another gust formed, blasting Lightmare down to the hard, cold, metal floor below and making a very shapely imprint in the process. She groaned as though she were nearly knocked unconscious and struggling to stay up, but she soon learned that perhaps it would've been best if she had been rendered unconscious to begin with. Amy lept over to Lightmare's noggin and tapped it with the brunt of her laser crossbow. The result was just light enough to keep it from causing any brain damage and just hard enough to finish the job and send Lightmare into la la land.
"See how she likes it," said Amy. She then looked towards her savior. Standing a few feet to the left was none other than Tekno. She was still slightly out of it, but she was recovered enough that sending out a couple of currents was still nothing to her. "Thanks, Tek'. You okay?"
"Managing." A hand was placed on her forehead as if to hold in the pain. "You?"
Amy's smile flipped upside down in the time it took to blink. "Fine. Fine. It's fine. I've just got some things to think about. That's all."
"Saw something, didn't you?"
"Yeah. You too, huh?"
"All of us probably did. Either way, now not time. Later."
"Yeah. Sides, Johnny's still fighting Axel. And then there's the vibrations." As if she had spoken of the devil, a small tremor started to rumble throughout the base. It wasn't quite on the same level as those outside, but it was there.
"Can finally feel it!" said Tekno. "And if we feeling it here…"
"…then who knows how bad it is out there," said Amy.
"Must finish this fast."
"Agreed."
"I'm not going down so easy this time!" Leaping away from the control panel, Axel thrust his right arm out at Johnny. It quickly whirred and turned like a well-oiled machine, transforming into a top of the line laser machine gun. "Right. Let's see what you've got." He let loose a rapid barrage of small energy pellets. Each of them was incidental on their own, but a hail of them at such rapid speed was another deal entirely.
Johnny pressed a button on his weapon and let loose his force-field. The bullets dissipated against it into the ether, the shield too strong for them to stand against it. With those bullets flying, there wasn't much of a chance for Johnny to use his weapon. Not that he had to. He pressed another and, with the shied still on, he hovered in the air and barreled straight towards Axel like a jet. Axel tried to stop the rain of bullets, but it was too late. The forcefield rammed into Axel like a truck, sending him crashing into the nearest wall. If he hadn't moved to the side before firing that barrage, it would've been the cylinder he'd been bashed into.
Johnny switched off the forcefield and jetted back over to Axel. Whether he was confident or suicidal, Axel wasn't sure. Either way, he was ready for him this time. He readied himself, stood his ground, and held out his two hands as if waiting for him to make a move. As soon as he struck, he'd be ready to catch that weapon of his two-handed and turn the tables. And if it were anyone but Johnny, it might have worked.
Except no-one else was Johnny. And Johnny had different plans. As soon as he was just short of Axel's grip, he flew straight backward while still directly facing front and landed. As soon as he did, he fired a powerful energy blast of his own, just short of its' full devastating might. At that distance, a full blast would've killed him. Instead, at this level power, Axel would've merely been sent packing and the day would've been saved, with much rejoicing.
But there was one thing Johnny didn't know about Axel. Which at that moment was particularly pertinent. He had gotten himself one hell of an upgrade.
"That all you got?!" Axel nearly pounded his chest before rushing for Johnny. Johnny turned his force-field back on just in time for Axel to come rushing in, but he had to wonder if it was enough. Axel was pounding on his forcefield like bludgeoning something with a sledgehammer, and as each blow was let loose, Johnny could feel his forcefield weakening just a tich. If he didn't do something soon, he was a goner.
And yet, it would seem that he might have had to bear with it a moment longer. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the last member of their little group to recover from the dreams: Sticks. In a rare act of sanity, she was keeping any and all noise to a minimum and was tiptoeing her way to the control console, albeit crawling like a cat while doing it and smiling like the dickens. Seeing as how Sticks had absolutely no grasp on how technology worked other than that it was cool, she was the worst possible choice to shut down the cylinder. But in case Johnny failed, she was still decent enough as a backup.
Johnny knew he'd have to stall while also keeping Axel's gaze off of the console. All Johnny had to do was pay attention to his blows, figure out which one was the slowest and hardest to recover from, and exploit it to hell and back. It was like watching a recording, observing every minuscule detail measure for measure and using it to one's advantage. Which Johnny did.
In a moment of weakness on Axel's part, Johnny saw his chance. Just as a double-fisted bulldozer of a hit was about to come slamming down, Johnny barreled over to the right. Axel's fists hit the metaphorical dirt, but as the dust fell, Johnny had himself another breakthrough. Right then and there, Axel was defenseless, and Johnny wasn't about to let another lucky break slide by. He flew right atop Axel, landed right on his head, and placed the top of his weapon over Axel's large gaping mouth. "What the-?!"
Johnny wouldn't try this one on anyone else, but seeing as Axel was now a heavy-duty cyborg, he was sure he could take the easy way out. He pressed a finger on his weapon and let loose a blast of energy that went down Axel's throat and filled his entire body like a shockwave. Every single nerve of his body was filled with a single instant of sheer, shrieking pain before going numb. Axel was a tough cookie, but this was something else. He fell to his knees, his eyes blank and smoke fuming from his mouth. And then he crashed to the floor.
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall." Johnny had no time to waste. He rushed to the control console. Now that Sticks was no longer needed as a backup plan, he had to keep her from doing something completely and utterly stupid. Sure enough, she was just about to set the cylinders to self-destruct status entirely by accident. Not that Johnny knew this, but it wouldn't have surprised him if he did.
"Gimme that!" Johnny nudged Sticks aside and then proceeded to try and shut down the cylinders himself. The problem was twofold. Not only was he not the most adaptable to tech, but he could also feel the vibrations rearing their ugly head. If he didn't do something soon, they were all goners. The question was, what?
"Uh, Johnny?" said Sticks. "Is your stomach grumbling?"
"No, it ain't. Why?"
"Cause I'm sure I heard somethin' grumbling. In fact, I think it came from…" She turned around and pointed her finger at Ahem Akbhar, still lying down on the ground as though he were dead. That is to say, he had been. Only now, that wasn't exactly the case. It was subtle and faint, but if one listened carefully, they could hear a low moan of pain and disgrace, like losing a poker game. And it was coming from none other than Ahem. Throw in a couple of twitching fingers and it was clear he was finally starting to come out of it.
Sticks gasped as if a vast array of horrors had just been unleashed. "Do ya know what this means?! It means that that Gaea has spoken! This Mobian's gotta be castrated and skinned alive and roasted over an open fire before sundown or else we're gonna be turned into mole men! No-one here actually likes mole-men, right?"
"Don't remind me." Johnny aimed his weapon at Ahem as he came to, making sure he had him exactly where he wanted hin. And all the while, those vibrations kept getting louder and louder.
"Wha— Gadzooks!" The first thing Ahem noticed was a large weapon staring him in the face, as though it were about to vaporize him.
"Mornin'," said Johnny. "Now, I think you might be wondering what I've got here. This little doodad will bring down just about anything with a click of a button. One little poof and it'll send you a big whoppin' blast that'll send you flying to kingdom come. I know you SAID that you wouldn't mind getting blown to bits, but let's see if that holds true." He was bluffing of course, but what Ahem didn't know wouldn't kill him. Or them. He hoped.
Ahem started to sweat like a piggy, though it didn't seem to be out of fear for his own life. Not entirely. "Do you really think you can fool me? You're bluffing."
Johnny blasted a spot just to the right of Ahem, who flinched like a child out of habit. "Try me. And just so you know, I'm in a REALLY bad mood." That much was true. "So let get's right to the point. You want to help me shut this thing down or not? Cause if not…" His finger edged closer to the button, moving up and down as if Johnny couldn't decide whether or not to fire. Or at least that's the appearance he gave.
"Alright, ALRIGHT! It's true that I don't mind dying a glorious death, not as long I take this whole blasted planet out with me. But this is far from glorious. I suppose I'll have to settle for a black hole or some such. I'm sure I can whip something up."
"Just help me shut this thing down. Also, you try and summon up that Plasmus monster or whatever it is and you're a dead man."
"Plasmus? Believe it or not, I wouldn't even try. I don't know how you know of it but, well, let us say it was an early mistake. Plamus is uncontrollable. That button is the only thing that keeps him in check. If I let it out again, it may very well kill me, and that is NOT how I want to go out."
"Are we gonna do somethin' already?" said Sticks. "Cause honestly, I'm startin' to get bored. Sticks doesn't like being bored. Cause when she gets bored, she starts eating sticks. Actual sticks. From trees. Don't know how I'm still alive, to be honest."
"Tell me," said Ahem, "was she dropped on the head a child? I"m legitimately curious."
Johnny's finger again neared the button. "Turning the machine off. If you please."
"Right. It's quite simple. You see that small red button next to Plasmus' labeled 'T.O?'
"Yeah?"
"That means 'TURN OFF.' Self-explanatory, isn' it?"
"How do we know you didn't just tell me what button to press to blow us all to kingdom come?"
"You don't, do you? But even more than that, I am a man of my word. At least while I'm still around, I might as well have SOMETHING to live by."
"Noble sentiments." The sarcasm dripped from Johnny's tongue like cyanide. Nevertheless, he didn't have much time to waste. The vibrations were getting stronger and stronger. If he so much as wasted a single second—
"LET'S DO IT TO IT!" He raised his pointer finger high into the air and slammed it down on the button like bringing down a hammer. The button glowed a bright red and let out a single shrill beep that nearly burst everyone's eardrums to shreds. Almost, but not quite.
"Wowza!" said Sticks. "I think my brain nearly turned to guacamole. Literally! Wonder if my brain's tasty…"
By this point, the others had finished their opponents' off, and Manic had just begun to return to consciousness. "Oy. Hey, what did I miss?" Just then, right as the vibrations seemed to reach their apex before crossing into unstoppable territory, something miraculous happened: They stopped. Completely. They all stared at the cylinders. Sure enough, they had come to a halt. They stood still like tall, imposing monolithic statues, but as of now, that was all they were.
Amy breathed a sigh of relief, but Tekno held up a finger as if to give her a reality check. "This is not over just yet. Trust me on this." She then offered to give Amy a lift which she humbly accepted. With a current of wind behind her, they all flew over to Johnny and Amy, with Shortfuse and Manic landing shortly after.
"Looks like the gang's all here," said Johnny. "Everyone okay?"
"Yes," said Tekno. "Though the whole experience was most… disorienting."
"I'm fine," said Amy. "Me and Tekno managed to take care of Lightmare. It wasn't easy though."
"Speak for yourself," said Shortfuse. "That bot or whatever went down like nobody's business. You'd think he'd make them a bit tougher, just sayin'."
"As for me, I guess I'm okay," said Manic. "Think my hair's still a bit frizzy though. That's when happens a big-ass monster goes and zaps you."
"Good," said Johnny. "Me and Sticks are fine too. More or less. So that just leaves one thing unaccounted for." Johnny whirled around towards the console. Several feet away was Ahem Alcubus, doing his best to tiptoe his way to the console and start everything up as though none of this had ever happened. He pointed his weapon right at the little scientist, and everyone else did the same. He had already heard him creeping up behind but knew he'd have more than enough time to deal with him. And so now, he dealt with him. "Again. Not in the mood."
"Uh, ah, ahem. Olly olly oxen free?"
"Oh, pipe down!" Sticks promptly leaped into the air like a wild barbarian and delivered a swift kick right into Ahem's jaw before delivering an even swifter one straight to the balls upon landing. Needless to say, he didn't say much after than that. He slowly collapsed to the floor, all while holding his groin in a desperate and futile attempt to ease the pain.
"So what do we do now?" said Manic. "Sure, we may have saved the village and a whole chunk of the island, but as long as this place is up and running, they can just do it again."
"If nothing else," said Tekno, "I should be able to deactivate the console. I may also be able to sufficiently meddle with its' inner workings so as to render any future attempts to use or reactivate it ill-advised. At the very least, it will be that much harder for them to use it."
"On top of that," said Amy, "now that we know it's here, we might be able to work something out with Harvey. Get someone to monitor it twenty-four/seven. As long as we keep an eye on it, it shouldn't be a problem."
"So you say," said Shortfuse. "Either way, it still leaves us with one problem; what we do with the peanut gallery?"
Everyone looked around the room. Lightmare was still unconscious. Axel was exhaling fumes. Dragonbreath was a mess. And Ahem had just gone down for the count.
"I do not think we'll have to worry about Dragonbreath," said Tekno. "Although," she said to Shortfuse, "I am not sure you truly had to go that far."
"He's a robot," said Shortfuse. "Sides, they can always rebuild him later."
"I suppose," said Tekno. "Still, sentient life is sentient life. Or at least it is to me."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyway, the scrapheap's down, but what about the others? What are we supposed to do with them? I mean, there's always the obvious solution, but something tells me most everyone doesn't wanna go that far."
"Well, I don't think we'll be able to hold the big one over there." Amy looked at Axel, taking both his girth and his 'enhancements' into account. "From what I've seen of the brig, I think it can hold anyone around normal size and with decent firepower, but I don't know if he fits the bill. And if he gets out, he'd be able to tell Eggman where we all are easy-peasy."
She took a look at Lightmare and made sure there wasn't so much as a twitch. "As for Lightmare, we might be able to toss her in, but I don't know if we'll be able to stop her from using her powers. She might be able to send us all into la la land at a moment's notice. Unless we could find a way to neutralize her, she'd be more of a liability than anything else. But as for the doctor…"
Speaking of the good doctor, Ahem Alcubus had just started to awaken from his enforced slumber. (Again.) Everyone slowly turned their heads towards him as though they were one giant hive mind on the same page. "Hey, what are you all looking at me for?"
Manic promptly aimed his ring at Ahem, encasing him in a solid, floating green bubble that was impossible for someone with his meager strength to break out of. "Hey! What do you believe you're doing?! HOW are you doing it?! This is an outrage!"
"Yeah, he'll be fine," said Johnny. "We'll still have to keep an eye on him, but I think he's something we can handle."
"Same," said Amy.
"Agreed," said Tekno. "I do not believe he will be able to cause any real harm nor make any sort of escape in the slightest. As long as we make sure there isn't any sort of tracking device installed on him, there should not be an issue. And there is a potential wealth of information we could retrieve from him."
"My thoughts exactly," said Amy.
"Same here," said Johnny. "So I guess all that's left is for Tekno to rewire that console and then we're gone."
"Already?" said Sticks. "But I wanted to see the mountain golly-wolly gobstoppers from hell! Standing butt naked in the Hilltop zone while doing the polka is the only to see them!"
Shortfuse's eyes began to glow brighter than ever as though they were about to set someone on fire. "WE. ARE. LEAVING. NOW."
"Alright," said Johnny. "Let's just make sure everyone's prepared and then we're out of here. After Tekno's done with the console anyway." With that said, Manic began ensuring his bubble around Ahem was escape-proof while Sticks made sure was in tip-top condition. As for Shortfuse, he was content to stand in the corner like a shadow while Tekno opened up a toolbox next to the console and got to work. And that just left Johnny and Amy.
"So," said Johnny. "Hell of a day, wasn't it?"
"I guess," said Amy. Actually, it kind of was. I think I might've learned some things about myself that I'm almost scared to admit."
"I've had a lot of things I've been scared to admit," said Johnny. "Even after all this time thinking about Lily, I'm still not sure what she would've wanted. Not that she'd ever ask me. And I'm not sure what I want. It's only now that I'm bothering to really think about any of this."
"Yeah," said Amy. "Still, at least you don't seem to blame yourself anymore."
"Maybe. I might not be sure about what Lily wanted, but I think I know what she wouldn't want. And she wouldn't want me to be mopin'. I'm not sure where I'm gonna go from here on out, but at the very least, I'm gonna try and find it. That's all I can do."
"Same," said Amy. "I thought I knew what I wanted. I really did. But now I'm starting to wonder if I only thought I knew what I want. That's something I'm going to have to figure out."
"Guess that gives us somethin' in common. And speakin' of things in common, you really kept it together today. Kept a cool head. Thought of things even I wasn't thinkin' of. Which just makes me even more sure of it."
Amy blinked. "Sure of what."
"Well, when Sally was tellin' me bout our mission, she also said somethin' else. Said she was thinking of appointing some field leaders. I can't say she doesn't have a point. And she said I was her first pick."
Amy wasn't sure why Johnny was saying this to her, but she still did her best not to give the impression she was completely and utterly clueless. "Uh, well, that's great! Fantastic! Super!"
"And she also asked me to recommend someone who I thought would be a good fit for the second slot. I couldn't answer her then, but now I think I've found just the one."
"Uh, good! That's good. But—"
"You're it."
Amy stood still. So still that one could wonder if she had somehow frozen in place and become a statue. She stood in that exact pose for what seemed like forever, as though you could pinch her peek and she'd have that same smiling if somewhat befuddled expression on her face. Until at long last, she spoke.
"Come again?"
