Welcome back to another chapter of Their World! Last time, Sonic and Peter were on yet another patrol. However, it seems that they've run into a robot-related disturbance. What happens next? Read on to find out!
But before that, I just want to thank you all again for the overwhelming positive reception that the fanfic has recieved over the past year, coming in at 18 favorites and 21 follows! This is a pretty huge milestone for me and all of your comments have been delightful to read! Just... Thank you, guys! I can't thank you all enough!
gwb620: Thank you! Here's another one!
Zeldris1: Thanks! Between you and me, more heroes might not have chance of showing up at this stage, but who said anything about villains? ;)
WBA239: Indeed, an Eggman attack spells trouble for our heroes, and it seems that one might be looming on the horizon! Let's see how our heroes deal with this possible threat!
Chapter Seven
"Oh, boy."
Sonic exhaled, a hollow, dread-filled sigh escaping his lips as he stared up at the Buzz Bomber hovering in the air in front of him.
In a way, the Mobian figured that he couldn't be very surprised at this new turn of events. It made sense that Robotnik would make yet another attempt to finish him off. He had apparently sent Metal to go after him, and as much as Sonic often mocked the moustachioed villain, Eggman seldom ever did anything by halves.
"Is that-?" came Peter's higher-pitched voice from his side.
"Yeah," the hedgehog confirmed, just as the wasp-like robot pointed its stinger at him and opened fire.
The hedgehog-human duo were spurred on to action, hopping out of the way to avoid the blasts of energy that the Buzz Bomber fired.
"Why is it only firing at you?" asked Spider-Man, who had strategically perched on a nearby wall.
"Eggman has a list of foes and I just so happen to be priority number one," responded the blue hedgehog, sliding across the dusty floor to avoid another blast of lethal energy.
The robot swiveled in the air to turn to Sonic, in the process turning its back on Peter. That was a mistake the automaton wouldn't live to regret, however, as the spider-kid's eye lenses briefly narrowed in concentration before he leapt into the air.
Two weblines were shot at the ground at the sides of the Buzz Bomber, and that was the only warning anyone got before Peter propelled himself feet-first into the Badnik. The human's attack suceeded to devastating effect as the 'bot was faceplanted into the ground, immediately breaking apart on contact.
"Nice job," Sonic absent-mindedly complimented before zeroing in on another issue:
The may have only encountered a singular Badnik, but it couldn't be the only one.
"So, this city is basically your usual stomping grounds, huh?"
"Yeah," came the response.
Sonic hummed. "Don't wanna mess with your routine or anything, but we're gonna need to do a city-wide patrol- scale the perimeter and all that. I have a hunch that Egghead's plotting something big."
Spider-Man's eye lenses widened as he met Sonic's stare.
"Like, an invasion?"
Sonic nodded grimly. Dr. Eggman's numerous Badnik invasions were not exactly uncommon in his world, and the hedgehog had a very bad feeling that the Buzz Bomber they'd agressively recycled was only one of hundreds. He'd seen it before; if left unchecked, Eggman's robots would cause a lot of damage. Property would get destroyed. People would get hurt.
It was at that moment that the bracelet on his wrist pinged. It was at that moment that the bracelet on his wrist pinged. Brows furrowing, the hedgehog answered it, for there could only be only one person calling:
"Needles, where are you? I know you need your daily voyages to who knows where but I need you at the tower ASAP-"
Rolling his eyes at the nickname, Sonic responded "I'm in Queens with Peter."
"You're with the kid?"
"Yep. Say hi, Pete."
"Mr. Stark, we've got a situation," Peter responded instead.
"Situation? What situation?"
The cerulean hedgehog answered this time.
"We encountered one of Eggman's robots. From what we can guess, it might not be the only one."
"Yeah, that's kind of why I'm calling," spoke Tony over the line, "Did you two deal with it?"
"Yeah. It was actually one of Egghead's weaker bots."
"Good. Meet me at the tower when you can."
"Got it," affirmed Sonic. Stark gave a grunt before hanging up. Both of the remaining heroes nodded at each other.
"Guess that's my cue to leave. Think you can hold down the fort here?" asked the Mobian hedgehog.
Peter just smiled and gave a reassuring thumbs up. "I've got this."
Sonic grinned back, holding up a fist. The spandex-wearing superhero bumped it without hesitation before promptly firing a web above his head and using it to ascend to the top of the roof.
"See ya later, Underoos!" called out the azure hedgehog, giving a mock-salute.
The kid had one for him this time, "You too, Needles!"
A deadpan expression overtook the Mobian's face as the human swung off, laughing. It didn't last, however, and he found himself shaking his head fondly as he gazed at the kid's quickly retreating figure.
As Sonic eventually took off in a sprint in the opposite direction, he mused to himself that, with regards to its heroes, Earth did a pretty bang-up job after all.
When Sonic arrived at Stark Tower, Tony was waiting for him in the lab, arms crossed and all business. The sound of rock music had been reduced to a duller whine, which was unusual of the man. Several holograms surrounded the inventor, the light from them tinting the human's skin a light blue.
Over the half-week he had spent in Tony's tower, he'd gotten to know the human much better; Tony Stark was a former CEO of Stark Industries. He had given the job to his fianće Pepper- Sonic had gotten the pleasure of meeting her during his stay and she seemed really nice, if a bit wary at first. He also happened to be one of Earth's most high-profile heroes, the Armored Avenger Iron Man. He was of, course, a technological genius- and a very snarky one at that- with a penchant for rock music, coffee and cheeseburgers.
Sonic had also learned about how Tony became a hero: Stark had used to make a living off of creating weapons of mass destruction, living an equally destructive lifestyle to boot, filled with alcohol, wild parties and strange women.
It had all changed when the inventor had been kidnapped by a terrorist organization called the Ten Rings and forced to make weapons in a dark and dingy cave in the Earth country of Afghanistan. Shocked and indignant at the injustices that were being done using the very weapons he had made to protect people, Tony had created his first suit of armor and broken out, destroying the terrorists' entire stockpile of his weapons in the process. From there, Stark would go on to cease making WMDs and turn his life around, becoming the Iron Man.
In all honesty, Sonic had a pretty deep respect for the man. They found kindred spirits in each other, snark-wise, and besides that Tony really knew his stuff, being exceptional in just about everything from tech to heroism. In addition, it took real guts to have gone through all that Stark did and decided to turn things around, to do something about it. Despite hiding it all under a mask of sarcasm and egoism, the hedgehog could tell that the man genuinely cared for the well-being of others.
In a way, the existence of the Iron Man was a proverbial slap to the face of a certain Dr. Robotnik; Stark was another super-genius with a high IQ and resources, this man actually devoted it to helping those around him instead of cooking up world-domination plots.
"-Took you long enough," stated the man. Sonic raised a brow but didn't comment.
"What's up?" asked the Blue Blur instead. His shoe nudged the disamembered limb of an Iron Man suit as he approached the man.
"Well, we've got good news and not-so-good news," the genius began, "The good news is, I've re-run the schematics and I've got a good way to get this teleporter working."
The hedgehog perked up a tad bit as Stark continued:
"Long story short, I figured that the fake emerald you used was most likely a storage unit or generator for the Chaos Energy you utilized to perform your teleporting move- Chaos Control, was it?"
Sonic nodded.
"Right, so the best option is to locate a similar enough kind of energy that you can actually use for your souped-up light shows and make a machine that generates enough of that energy to send you home. Loads of the good stuff coming through a middleman that can actually stomach it."
The man's upper lip then twitched in a funny way. "Or rather, it was."
"Was?" asked Sonic, confused.
"Quick question, how much Chaos energy do you get exposed to regularly?" asked Tony, in lieu of answering.
"A lot, actually- the Chaos Emeralds get involved in like, almost every adventure."
"Exactly, and given how those shiny rocks allow you to perform a heck of a lot more than party tricks including turning yourself into a golden version of you that's apparently invulnerable, there's a good chance that your body has absorbed some of the energy due to long-term exposure to it. Kind of like, say, radiation, minus the outcome of being fatally poisoned or on rare occasions, turning into a big green rage monster."
Sonic hummed in thought, putting a hand on his hip before finally responding.
"Makes sense. Chaos Energy is everywhere, in plants, animals, people, and so on-, and a finely attuned Chaos-user can sense the degree of Chaos Energy in people or objects." The Mobian smirked and began to tap his foot on the floor. "Or at least, that's what 'ol Knucklehead back at home says. Plus, Tails has made Chaos Emerald detectors before, so you'd just need to know what to search for."
"-And I'd need to extract it- from one of your quills maybe- and whip up something that generates enough of it for you to use. Not too hard."
Tony lightly smirked at that and Sonic raised his eyebrows in amusement.
"Wow. Ego much?"
"I made my first Iron Man suit in a cave with a bunch of scraps, kid. This is just another Tuesday."
Sonic opened his mouth to snark back about how it was not, in fact, Tuesday, when another thought came to him.
"What's the bad news? You didn't say," asked the blue hedgehog. Tony's countenace became a tad bit more serious at that.
"I recieved a call from James Rhodes- he's an Avenger and a friend of mine who's in the military, and he stated that there were sightings of mysterious bogeys with no discernible origin. Think it has something to do with your robot situation?"
Sonic pursed his lips in thought. It most likely did have something to do with Eggman after all- it made no sense that he'd only send a singular Badnik unit after him, nevermind a weaker type of Badnik that went down in just one hit.
"I have a feeling it does. The tin-can Pete and I recycled was one of his mass-produced ones. Figures that he'd send more after us."
Tony's expression was grave. "Here's the thing, these bogeys have been appearing on a global scale, and they're visibly increasing in number. Also, they're not going after anyone, either- they're all heading somewhere."
The where was left unsaid.
The Badniks were coming to the city of Manhattan.
They were coming to Sonic.
"Yeah, well, if Egghead had actually tried something, he'd have announced it to the world by now. He's not exactly subtle."
Tony nodded. "So we have how long to prepare for a possible robot invasion?"
"A few days. Maybe a week, tops."
Stark stood up and produced a sigh, one that spoke of world-weariness and exhaustion. Frankly, Sonic felt that way too.
"FRIDAY, submit the extractor specs to the processing unit. I'd like a working unit ASAP."
"On it, boss," spoke the ever-dutiful AI, "Should I process the Needlemouse suit specs as well?"
Tony paused for a moment before shrugging. "I don't see why not. And while you're at it, make sure that all available Iron Man suits are up to code."
"Got it, boss."
Perplexed, Sonic looked up at the ceiling and back at the man.
"What are you doing?" asked the hedgehog, curiously.
Tony Stark sent him a steely and calm, yet fiercely determined gaze.
"Preparing."
That's it for now! It seems that everything's beginning to come to a head now! See you next chapter!