A Robotnik Empire of an undisclosed timeline has completely conquered that timeline's galaxy.
This version of Robotnik is ruthless and brutal, and utterly bent on conquering the multiverse.
His experiments in crossing dimensions however, are causing timelines to be altered or erased completely.
Admiral Miles Prower is brought up to speed on this, and decides that the best way to fight this threat is to form a team - a team of his alternate selves, who must surely be the most qualified to face such a threat.
He contacts as many Tails as he can, the odds of his inter-dimensional drones reaching their destinations low, and the vulpines who reach him are oddball and rag-tag. However, confident he can arrange his new comrades into a crew capable of fighting Robotnik and ending his multiverse-destroying schemes, he brings them aboard their new home - the HMSS Warspite.
Now they must bring the fight to Robotnik's forces, facing many dangers along the way... and perhaps find themselves in situations none of them could have predicted.
"Strange place to keep an archive." The young vulpinemimi said softly. He looked over at his cousin, then at the large statue. It consisted of a human woman beside a Keplerian fox male, both in naval uniforms, hands locked together. "Here where Grandfather and Grandmother were laid to rest. Hard to find."
"That's why it's a secret archive, innit?" Elisabeth Volkov sighed as she pressed a hand to the base. "There's a card slot somewhere." Feeling around, she noticed something different about where the year of death for their grandfather was inscribed. Pressing in on it made the stone rise up, revealing the slot they were looking for. She took off a lanyard and examined the tri-hexagonal design on the face of the card hanging off of it. "Mother kept this in the family for a reason." She inserted the card, a green light turning on beside the reader.
"Welcome to the Prower Family Archives." A female voice said. "This is the final resting place of Admiral-of-the-Fleet Lord Miles Prower and his wife, Lady Maria Robotnik-Prower. Your card has been identified as belonging to Artemis Robotnik-Prower but biometrics do not match. Stand by for interrogative scan." There was a pause before the voice spoke again. "Genetic derivatives match for a two generation gap. State your names for recording."
"Bertrand Timothy Robotnik-Prower." The male said. "But just Skye will do."
"Elisabeth Artemis Volkov." The woman followed. "No silly nickname."
"Noted." The voice said, as an image flickered into existence before them, consisting of a female Mobian lynx in a purple professional-styled dress.
"So that's where she went." Elisabeth remarked. "Hello NICOLE."
"Greetings." The lynx stepped forward. "What can the Archive do for you?"
"Mother said that we could initiate the Excalibur Protocol here." Elisabeth said.
"Do you have the passcode required for Excalibur?" The lynx asked.
"Six Zero One." Skye cut in.
"Very well." The lynx's green eyes began to glow. "Internet access established. Accessing personality core. Personality core examination suggests no damage or loss of integrity. Updating fabrication protocols. Recursive upgrade of personality core data completed. Please wait for fabrication."
"Why did they call it Excalibur anyways?" Skye asked.
"Well the legend of King Arthur suggests that when England falls under the gravest threat, he will return with the sword of Excalibur in his hand." Elisabeth answered. "Grandfather's not a king, no. More Lord Nelson than King Arthur, but he's who we need now."
"Need for what exactly?" A new voice broke in. A tall vulpine figure with gold and white fur emerged from an area where the light didn't cast upon it. He stepped forward into view, wearing a uniform that he had not worn in some time.
"Sir." Elisabeth bowed her head. "We are your grandchildren, I of your daughter, and my cousin Bertrand-"
"Skye." The male corrected. "Of your son, Sir Arthur."
"Yes I could tell that much from the ears," The newcomer tilted his head. "You have tails? Keplerian-Human genetic intermixing has come a long way, hasn't it? What have I been woken up for though? I was in for a nice long sulk."
"Well it's our duty to inform you that you've been reactivated as part of the Sovereign's Prerogative and given the rank of Admiral-of-the-Fleet."
"Yes, but why?!" The fox asked, raising his ears.
"Well, currently, Grandfather, Little Planet is the only area in space-time that exists here. Only because of your Archive. Any probe that launches from here stops working, stops existing even. Earth, Kepler-22B, all the intervening space, the colonies, everything is gone."
"Gone." The vulpinroid looked up at the statue before circling around and stopping. "I certainly know what that's like, having one's world erased. Fortunately though, I'm not the only thing here." He reached for a device on his belt and took it off, flipping it open. "Prower to Warspite. Three for site to site transport. Break time's over NICOLE."
"Well you're not wrong. All that's left is Little Planet and I don't want to guess as to how we even exist without planetary rotation or even a star to radiate heat and the like here." The vulpinroid sighed. "I certainly don't want to try to jump from here, Warspite was never meant to jump space-time on the surface of a planetary body. The gravitational effects so close would shred it like so much cheese. But I can do the next best thing. NICOLE?"
"Yes Admiral?"
"Do we still have drones?"
"Yes, Admiral. And we have enough raw material for fabrication past our current stores."
"One drone for every timeline that we have mapped. I want you to send drones to each one and specifically search for one individual in those. No younger than six-years of chronological age. Link me to the respective drone once contact is made."
"Who am I searching for?"
"Me. Or the closest analogue."
"Dammit!"
The two tailed fox shouted as he threw down the pencil he'd just been using. This is Dr. Antarius Prower, world renowned physicist, mathematician, and astrophysicist. The calculations for his latest work had just proven to be incorrect, and his anger had overflowed.
"Why does none of this work? It's been over a year, and still no progress!" he shouted.
The veins on his forehead bulged, his teeth clenched, and his brow furrowed. He looked behind him. Strung up on cords hanging from the ceiling of his lab, there was a large robot, built in the image of its creator.
It was painted mostly dark orange. Its eyes were light blue, but not operational at the moment. Its muzzle was made of steel, glinting in the light. It had long, bulky limbs with large red-and-white feet. For its twin tails, there were long pieces of metal, their edges sharp as a razor. On the back, the robot had two scaled-down RS-68 rocket engines. Perfect for high-speed flight. This robot was very powerful, with the ability to lift ten tons, and punch at the force of a speeding freight train.
The two-tailed fox's face relaxed, and he exhaled deeply. "I shouldn't be stressing out this much. I need a drink of water." Dr. Prower stood up from his chair and stretched his muscles. He was tall with thin limbs, and two very fluffy tails. They wagged gently as the fox walked into his large kitchen. He blinked hard and yawned. Looking out of his window, he saw that it was starting to get dark.
"Man, I've been going at it all day. I'm beat." He grabbed a cup, filled it with water, and downed it in one large gulp. Walking into his living room, he called out into the room. "FoxHelper, turn on the TV, please."
The TV made a chime sound, and its screen lit up. The news was on.
"Thank you!" he said.
"You're welcome, master. Anything else I could do for you?" asked a feminine robotic voice.
"No thanks. And what did I tell you about calling me master? I'm no higher than you are. You can just call me Antarius."
"Noted. I apologize." The robotic helper said.
Dr. Prower just waved a hand and sat on the couch. Grabbing the remote, he flipped through the various channels, trying to find something entertaining to watch. Finally, he settled on a documentary. "Flying Battery: The Airships of World War One". "Huh. I could get behind this. FoxHelper, can you get me a soda?" he asked.
The cup holder by his side sank into the depths of the couch, and moments later, came back with a soda can sitting on top of it. He grabbed it, opened it, and drank.
About half an hour into the documentary, a strange shadow passed by his window. It moved quickly.
"Whoa, what was that?" The doctor asked himself.
The shadow passed by once more, and hovered in one spot. Suddenly, a weird object dropped into Antarius' line of sight, scaring him.
"AH! Who are you?! What do you want?" he asked the object.
It made a beeping sound. "I've come to this universe by order of Admiral Lord Miles Prower. You have been summoned at once to his Lordship's residence. Come with me." said the mysterious object.
Antarius took a moment to think. "Wait. You said this guy's last name was Prower? That's my last name…"
The object moved up and down. "Indeed it is. Please move with a purpose."
A green beam shot out of the object's front side, opening a large warp point in Dr. Prower's living room. The inside of the warp point moved and pulsed with a white glow.
"You want me to go inside there? Is it safe?" he asked.
"Yes, it is very safe. Please, step forward."
Antarius quickly reached next to him and grabbed a brown backpack. He slung it over his shoulder and entered the portal, leaving his house, and his world, behind.
Sherlock Prower.
His mind was his most powerful weapon, his abilities regarding deduction and overall analysis of the situation at hand was sometimes mind blowing. He could look at a room, see every single detail of it, and instantly recognize who has made it in what location and time period. He never knew if he was born with it, but the most difficult thing, controlling his abilities, was a struggle for Sherlock, as his ultimate goal was always to take care of his loved ones, even though he never really liked to express himself in front of people.
But he had some weak points as well, some would probably say fighting, but no, he was quite experienced in the field. One of his weak points was the loss of two of his close friends. and the departure of his family. He never wanted to discuss the reason…
As for another weak point, was his low stamina.
In fighting and in self-defense, it was something that he excelled at, but when it came to running or any overly excessive activities, it wasn't his cup of tea. Speaking of tea, that's exactly where one of his adventures began.
It was quite a disturbing morning, clouds, thunder, and an overall amount of darkness, Sherlock was sitting in his armchair, crossing his legs, and trying to sit in a comfortable position, as he drank his usual morning tea, the voice of his Landlord spread through the room…
"Sherlock! It's great to see that you are awake! Is everything alright? More tea?", the two-tailed fox glanced his view away from the newspaper.
"Not at all Mr. Smith, all good…" Sherlock's voice began to trail off as he returned his gaze to its original position.
"Is everything alright, Sherlock?"
Without a word, Sherlock got up from his armchair, and grabbed his stick, as he spinned it around, "There is this feeling i have Mr. Smith, something is approaching, and you know when i feel it, it usually occurs…", Mr. Smith slowly nodded in agreement to the fox's statement.
Sherlock started to move around the room, he began to think, as he always did.
"Shut up!" Sherlock suddenly spoke in a sharp voice.
"I did not-", Mr. Smith tried to speak but was soon cut off by Sherlock.
"You are thinking and it's annoying me!"
Mr. Smith sighed and just headed down-stairs, as he was quite used to Sherlock needing his personal space.
The fox sat on his armchair again, crossed his legs, and watched the thunderstorm looming on the horizon
"What could it be…", he started to look everywhere around him, books, newspapers, and an overall mess around Sherlock's sight, he was never used to cleaning, he needed everything where it was, even if Mr. Smith didn't like it.
"C'mon, use your brain, damnit…", he started to tap on the wood slowly as he began to feel tense, and in an attack of madness, he stood up and yelled, "AH DAMN THIS ALL!", dragging everything off that was on the desk near him, he quickly inhaled and exhaled as he collapsed back in his armchair.
As he tried to calm himself down, the papers that were laying down on the floor started to move, forming a minor storm, and then an enormous source of light shined through.
"Sherlock are you al-", Mr. Smith stood there, watching the portal that generated just in the centre of the room.
"Quite unusual…", the fox put his coat on, "The game, Mr. Smith, is on…" he ran towards the portal that vanished after Sherlock disappeared, leading him towards a new adventure...
Miles was dying.
It was honestly not the worst thing the eternally childlike fox had experienced, though he supposed "dying" retroactively stopped being "dying" when you were still alive at the end of it. But there, drifting in the void, feeling things far more real than he was nibbling away at his existence… He was almost looking forward to the end. It wasn't as though he'd expected to survive anyway, and the endless digestion was dull, to say the least.
Miles sighed into nothingness, a pointless reflex here. The breath crystallised into an icy helix around him, shaped by things he couldn't see as they crowded around him, drawn by the warmth of his time, so alien to this place outside the curves. He breathed in once more, and the helix drew back into his lungs as though it never left.
He had led them once, endless eons ago, their unwitting harbinger in his endless trek across time and dimensions as he saved his world and doomed countless others in his ignorance. What end could be more karmic? They'd have to find themselves another harbinger, and he would finally pay for more lives than there were stars in the sky.
Not that there were stars here.
Except one.
Miles stared at the sole glittering point in an expanse that lacked the concept of light as much as the concept of dark, growing larger and more substantial until it engulfed the region before him. A metallic probe, corroded by untold eternities, drifted before him, caught in the well of his time.
"Hello, little one." Miles reached out to touch it, the surface of the probe clearly visible through his faded fingertips. "What are you doing here?"
One eye flickered pink for a moment and he breathed again, fine ash crumbling from his lips as the stress of chronos control agonisingly destroyed him from the inside.
But there was no such mercy here beyond the curves. He breathed in once more, tutting to himself as his body reformed, sifting through time as corrosion was replaced with gleaming newness and tortured circuits returned to having never failed in the first place.
"Perhaps you came looking for me?" Miles peeled the metallic casing off the side of the probe with a frown, folding it into a makeshift screwdriver as he pulled components free one after the other.
He tapped his chin with another diaphanous finger.
"Bet you came the long way round if you did."
It was an extraordinary little thing either way, to survive stumbling into this place as well as it did. Miles peered at its electronic guts with interest as they spilled in waves all around him, the first novelty since he'd arrived - or, more correctly, left.
As best he could make out, this device was designed to traverse time and communicate across it, something he, with his timeline twisted upon itself tightly enough to causally lock any event he witnessed firmly in place, would never have dared to attempt. Too easy to see something he wished he hadn't, with no way of fixing it short of a paradox or trying to trick the universe and himself. Ignorance wasn't just bliss, but a necessity for Miles to retain his free will.
But what was this but an opportunity? Whatever the motivations of its owner, as Miles knew with every fibre of his fading being, to see is to be seen, and once he knew where it had been... this was a lifeline.
Miles coiled his fingers through wire, feeling feeling as he breathed ash once more, looking when the probe had come from.
He would have laughed, if his lungs hadn't been rebuilding. The probe had indeed been chasing him after all. Again and again he destroyed himself, feeling synapse crumble and reform as he burned eternity into his mind…
"Well, it's been fun." Miles raised one last transparent finger in salute to his transdimensional tormentors before he stepped into everywhen…
And out onto a painfully familiar landscape, twin timelines clashed uncontrollably, at once clad in smog and twisted metal and filled with a shining utopia of his own creation. Miles stared up at an artificial sky and breathed his first true breath in millennia, ghostlike frame slowly gaining substance once more as he basked in the saturated time of Little Planet.
"Can't say I've missed this place." He stretched out, temporally and physically, cricking his back as he accustomed himself to the rigours of a causal existence. "But let's get onto more important things, shall we?"
Miles turned to the deconstructed wreckage at his feet, plucking a component free and lifting it up to his lips, clearing ash from his throat before he spoke.
"New phone, who dis?"
When Cane woke up from his dream and opened his eyes, darkness surrounded him like always. He could feel the warmth of the sunlight shining brightly through the window, and he could feel the comfortably soft texture of the fabric around him. That was enough to tell him that yes, it was indeed time for him to wake up.
Cane got up, changed into his daytime clothes, and headed downstairs. Despite being in the dark at all times, when he was in his home he could see better than anyone.
Unless, that is, someone changed the location of his furniture.
"Damnit…" Cane muttered under his breath as he rubbed his leg, feeling the object he tripped over. It was the couch that got pushed out of its home and into the unknown. Must have happened during yesterday's activities. Cane pushed the couch back to where it belonged based on the markings on the floor. He then went to make himself a cup of morning coffee while the happiness of a Saturday morning dawned on him. He smiled, thinking of what he could do to make the most of this weekend. His week was full of interviews and meetings, all wanting to know how he started a successful career despite his disabilities. Cane recalled of the times when he would struggle to walk around in his own home, when he wanted to draw blueprints blind, trying to fix dear ol' T-pup without being able to tell whether he was playing with a conductor or a battery, and thinking that a fox could learn how to echolocate. Those were tough times…
But now, things were so much better. He could not only do most day to day activities without needing to see, but he had his special tool now. The Vulpis™ was technically not his creation, in fact it was created by Wave, but the technology was his. If an electronic device had the capacity to handle the program, he could connect his neural system with a machine through the Vulpis, a small stick that looked more or less like a laser pointer. If he was connected successfully, he could operate the machine basically with his mind. Unfortunately, not all creations could handle something as complex as the Vulpis, so it was mostly limited to things that he and Wave created. Not to mention that the machine needed the program installed for it to work in the first place. Strangely enough however, his coffee maker could handle it. So that's a plus.
Cane returned to his now fixed sofa and plopped down with his drink in hand. He enjoyed the moment of pure silence until there was a crash followed by the sound of breaking glass. Cane stood up quickly and got on top of his seat, not wanting to get hurt by sharp glass shards if he couldn't even know where they were. He also heard the sound of something mechanical approaching him. It landed in his hand, and he could feel the shape of a drone, with all its blades intact. He felt the metallic cover on its center with his palms, and ran down the sides of the machine as carefully as he could. The first thought that came to his mind was that this was a bomb, but Eggman has gone senile quite some time ago. But that didn't mean the evil genius was now incapable of building such things.
Cane sat down on the couch again, and placed both feet on the cushion so that he wouldn't hurt himself by accident. He placed the object between his legs and ran his hands all over the thing to find a lever or something he could pull or press. He found what he was looking for, a button with braille written under it. It was as if it knew a receiver of this thing would be blind. He read the dots which said "From one Miles Prower to another. I need your help".
Cane thought of the time where his past self met with himself, so this must have been something along those lines. He took a gamble and placed his trust on the machine, and prayed that he wouldn't be blown up. He pressed the button, and waited for whatever it intended to do to him. A bright light that wasn't visible by Cane engulfed him, and just like that he was gone.
When he came to, he was completely lost now. He had no idea where he was, and he didn't even have his umbrella with him-no, he did. Everything he kept around with him, including his satchel was on his body. He placed his hand on the floor and reached out, trying to get a better idea of where he was. He found the probe sitting next to him, and brought it closer to him. He heard some vague noises that sounded like English coming from it. He placed it near his ear and whispered, "Hello?"
"Ugh… Storms. I hate storms…"
Miles 'Nuts' Blazkowicz, Night Sentinel, space marine and demon hunter, stared miserably through a thick, armourglass window at a raging grey sea, thunder crashing and flashes of vicious lightning slashing the skies above. His stomach roiled as the deck of the UAC Aircraft Carrier Contender plunged below, and he forced back a wave of nausea. He flinched slightly as another whip of lightning flashed above. Funny that the now thirty year old, highly experienced demon hunter could still succumb to his childhood phobia, even if his outward reaction was too small for his present company to notice easily.
To compensate, the marine turned and offered a wolfish grin to the human just over his shoulder. "What's the matter, dude?" he chuckled, enjoying the man's jolt of surprise, "Never met a walking, talking, two-tailed alien fox-guy before?"
The man, bald and bespectacled in the manner of many UAC personnel, wore an expression of curious fascination as he regarded the strange alien. Seated at his console, the man took a quick look over his shoulder to see if his captain were watching, then leaned forward and offered a hushed reply. "Who… are you?" he whispered, eyeing the fox with fascination.
Miles, more usually referred to as 'Nuts', shrugged his thickly armoured shoulders. "Just a guy who got lucky…" he replied, before leaning close to the intern and offering a grinning row of sharp teeth. "REAL fucking lucky!"
The intern, utterly unsure how to deal with the furry alien, grinned nervously. Before Nuts nodded pointedly over his shoulder, and he scooted back to his station with a quick glance. The man cleared his throat.
"I knew it was here…" He said, as though he had been working away this entire time instead of consorting with strange fox-men from the stars. "Sir!" He said louder as his captain appeared over his shoulder, "Weather is disrupting the signal, but I should be able to teleport him… uh, I mean them… onto the rig's main deck!"
The captain offered a very scrutinising look to the fox-alien sat on the console nearby, who offered him a cheery wave.
"Doctor Hayden…" The captain raised a finger to his earbud and turned away, finding himself irritated by the alien's condescending smirk, "We are… ready to launch the package, sir…"
"Guy sounds like he knows a lot about 'packages', huh?" Nuts leaned toward the intern and gestured at his captain, who offered the alien a scowl… and the intern a look of disapproval as the younger man snickered.
"Whenever you're ready…" the dark, ominous artificial voice of Doctor Samuel Hayden, former head of the UAC and leader of the Armoured Response Coalition, replied from his present vessel - the Praetor Suit of one William J. Blaskowicz III, otherwise known as the Unchained Predator, the Hell Walker, the Ultimate Scourge of Evil, the only one who could stand against the armies of Hell… the Doom Slayer.
The Slayer himself finished sharpening his arm-mounted blade, giving the weapon an approving look before sliding it back into its sleeve at a thought. The heavily armoured human stood, hands balling into fists as his helmeted face lowered, a glare of intent barely visible through the translucent visor.
"We cannot gain control of Urdak without the Seraphim's help..." Hayden continued as the thick blast doors to the Contender's bridge hissed open, and the Slayer stepped out with heavy footfalls. Crewmen and women paused and stared in awe as the mighty demon slayer himself, written about in ancient Argentien tomes and Hellish lore, stomped across the centre of the bridge with sheer rage and power radiating from his very being.
"You broke the seal when you awakened the Icon of Sin from their world…" Hayden went on as heavy metal guitars slowly began grinding, "The balance between their two dimensions has been broken, with the demons now in control of Urdak…"
The Slayer, impossibly powerful and utterly unstoppable… stomped to a halt as he approached his little friend.
"Hey, Green!" Nuts said happily, his eared helmet tucked beneath one arm, "Is R2D2 giving you some kind of ominous monologue in there?"
The Slayer appeared still as a statue for a moment, the surrounding crew gasping at the fox's derogatory attitude toward their saviour Hayden… before the human raised a thumbs up, and the fox alien grinned.
"Your attitude continues to be… abrasive, fox…" Hayden growled through the Slayer's helmet speakers, the once-mortal AI clearly unamused by Nuts' antics.
The fox grinned before he slid his helmet onto his head. "All part of my charm, Artoo!"
Hayden grumbled from the Slayer's speakers as the Hell Walker himself chuckled.
The now helmeted and fully-armoured fox, twin-tailed and just shoulder-height to the mighty Slayer, fell in step with his teacher as the marine continued his approach to the transportation portal, shotgun clutched in one hand. The fox's own weapon, a chunky customized plasma rifle, materialised in his hands from his armour's fourth-dimensional storage system.
The intern from before grinned as he watched his hero, and the smaller form of the fox-alien 'Nuts', approach the transportation portal as its parts snaked from the deck and slotted together, forming a ring of iron within which a roiling hole of rippling blue dark energy began to form.
The intern licked his lips as his fingers danced across his console. "Portal ready in three… two..."
The deck crew couldn't help but stand and gawp as the Slayer and his twin-tailed apprentice, standing tall with weapons ready, exchanged a quick fist-bump as a maelstrom of flashing and snapping blue energy smashed into existence within the portal. You could almost hear the Heavy Metal guitars begin to riff as the two space marines hefted their weapons, and with a mighty clack of the Slayer's pump-action combat shotgun, lunged into the abyss.
Blinding light. The intense sensation of being stretched across space. And then the cold, hard steel of man made underfoot, and the pattering of rain against the armoured carapace of his suit. Those were the things that Nuts felt as he stepped through the portal alongside his mentor, before the grating noise of Samuel Hayden's voice bothered his ears again.
"The destruction of the Kahn Maykr was a necessary step in saving Earth from the demons…" the enigmatic former CEO of the UAC droned on as the two armoured individuals materialised before a shambling trio of possessed humans, "But it came at a price…"
"Oh yeah?" Nuts raised his plasma gun and sighted one of the possessed, as the zombified human tumbled over a paint can and faceplanted the ground. "What price was that? Listening to you fuckin' yap?"
The Slayer simultaneously blasted the fallen zombie into pulp with his shotgun, while raising a hand to silence Nuts. The fox lowered his visor, offering mute apology to his mentor.
"The UAC…" Hayden continued over the pair's voice channel, "Won't hand over the Seraphim without a fight…"
"Oh, noooooo…" Nuts spoke up again, "The last thing we want is a fight..."
"Please keep your tongue to yourself, fox…" Hayden grumbled in reply, as the two armoured warriors pounded across the VTOL landing pad they'd found themselves on. As they approached the main structure of the rig, a swirling red portal rippled into existence… and spat out a grotesque, morbidly obese creature merged with steel and pipes. A mancubus, a tank-like monstrosity with flame cannons for arms. The thing bellowed in ravenous hatred, raising its bio-organic weapons and spewing hellish flame. Smaller creatures, glowing eyed and covered with gnashing teeth and slashing claws, poured out after, streaming toward the space marines with vicious intent.
"Oh hey, a welcoming committee!" Nuts quipped, twin tails already spinning into a whirl, "How 'bout we shit on their doormat?"
The Slayer offered no reply, simply boosting into the fray with his combat shotgun pounding, while Nuts streaked into the air. A stream of white-hot bolts of energy blazed from the vulpine's weapon, vaporising chunks from the fodder demons that charged the mighty human. Nuts flitted in the air like a very angry and heavily armed hummingbird, the systems of his self-built Tornado Suit enhancing his already potent flight abilities. He delivered a stun bomb to a particularly bothersome Hell Knight, and finished the creature off as he landed boots-first on its shoulders, shoving his arm blade into its eyeless skull. The fox grinned as he equipped his favoured close-combat weapon, a shotgun with a triple rotary barrel, and began blasting away at demons as he boosted around with his twin tails, too fast for even the quickest of the monsters to keep up.
The duo cleared the deck in moments, sharing a brief nod of acknowledgement, and ran off in pursuit of their objective.
"Nng… hold still, you little bastard…"
Clinging to a support beam, the fox reached into his armour's fourth-dimensional storage space. He had switched out weapons for his assault rifle, the chunky weapon outfitted with a tactical scope, zooming in and carefully popping targets that approached the Slayer as he crossed a bridge. The vulpine set his sights on a particularly bothersome imp, the spindly little thing offering him uncannily accurate balls of fire.
"Aaaand…" He squeezed the trigger and the imp's brains exploded, the thrashing and headless body tumbling over a guard rail into the roiling sea below. "Goodnight!"
"Having fun?"
Nuts' ears perked at the sound of a fair, female voice gained his notice from beside his perch on the support structure. A smirk tugged at the side of his mouth and he briefly glanced to regard the owner of the voice. "Yeah," He replied, "As a matter of fact, I am!"
Beside him, laying prone just as he was, a pink female hedgehog of roughly his age lay on her stomach, kicking her legs and peering through a large pair of binoculars. Nuts couldn't help but chuckle. She was wearing obnoxiously pink camouflage fatigues, as well as a hat.
"Ten o clock, high…" The hedgehog said lightly, as Nuts sighted his weapon again.
"Yes…" the marine replied as he popped another imp, transforming the thing into a splatter of gore and guts with a high-caliber round, "I got him, Miss Obvious…"
"Only trying to help!" The hedgehog lowered her binoculars and grinned at Nuts. "You know you enjoy my colour commentary!"
Nut didn't reply, instead rising to his feet and boosting over to another platform. He briefly paused in mid-air to retrieve a few grenades from his matter storage system and toss them into a rabble of Possessed on a deck below. He dashed sideways through the heavy rain and smacked down onto another raised structure, sighting his rifle again just in time to spot, and pop, an approaching Gargoyle. The winged demon in question transformed into giblets that landed wetly against the metal.
Again prone, the marine sighted his weapon and scanned for targets.
"Remember to breathe…" the voice of Amy Rose sounded in his ear once again.
"I know how to use a fucking rifle!" Nuts snapped at his hallucination, before delivering a succession of bullets into the demons that dared approach the distant Slayer. The human barely noticed, but was able to more effectively focus on the heavier demons while Nuts kept the fodder off of his back.
"Yeah, I know…." the Amy 'ghost' replied with a giggle as she offered a mock salute, "Just keeping you alert!"
Nuts ignored the illusion as he sighted through his rifle scope, popping off another couple of fodder demons.
"Three o' clock low…" 'Amy' yawned as she leaned back against the damp steel of the refinery wall, "Gargoyle…"
Nuts switched his aim to the position and, sure enough, one of the acid-spitting winged demons was crawling beneath a clutch of pipes, presumably with intent to creep up on him.
"Hmm…" Nuts hummed, "Clever girl…" He pulled the trigger, and the thing died with a horrific screech and a splatter of gore. The vulpine activated his suit's communications systems and pinged the Slayer. "Hey Green…" He said, wiping a giblet smear from his visor, "Everything's just coochy up here… how is it your end?"
"The Slayer is performing perfectly fine…" Came Samuel Hayden's typical grumpy reply, along with the sounds of grunts, gunfire, and demons being blasted into shreds. "Maintain your position and hold the deck until our return…"
"Whatever you say, Artoo!" Nuts responded, cutting off the channel before the doctor could reply. He raised himself from his prone position and leaned against the facility wall, checking the ammunition reserves of his weapons as his twin tails wrapped around his legs.
"Okay there, trooper?" Amy, still clad in her pink camouflage, settled herself down beside the marine while he reloaded his rifle.
Nuts chuckled. "Just peachy…" He scanned the deck below for enemies, finding nothing but a few Possessed ambling around like drunks, before he regarded the hedgehog fully. "How about you, Ames? It's been a while."
Amy smiled and clasped her hands around her knees. "Pretty good…" The illusion replied, "Do you ever miss Sonic and Tails?"
Nuts shrugged. "I guess…" He finished loading his weapon and performed a sweep of the deck through his rifle scope. "It's been a while since we saw them last… maybe after this campaign I'll see if I can get some R and R? I wouldn't mind spending a weekend with the guys…" the marine butted his weapon against his shoulder and pulled the trigger, transforming an imp into a mess of body parts with the high velocity bullet.
"Just a weekend?" Amy responded, giving him a nudge on his shoulder pauldron. The corrupted arm beneath ached with the exterior contact, though Nuts decided not to think about that too much. "You aren't getting any younger, Miles…"
"Uh, excuse-the-fuck-me?" Nuts responded, frowning at the hallucination from behind his visor, "Are you calling me old?"
'Amy' grinned mischievously. "You can't fight this war forever, Miles…" she said lightly, "You aren't the Slayer…"
Nuts didn't reply, simply staring into space where the Amy ghost wandered around in mid-air, inspecting her pink combat boots. "What else would I do?" the vulpine shrugged, clutching his rifle beside him, "I don't know how to do anything else except fight…"
Amy kneeled down before him, shimmering in the rain. "You used to be so much more than just a weapon, Miles…" She said soothingly, "Remember?"
Miles swallowed, his throat dry. "Yeah…" he replied grimly, "Emphasis on 'used to be'..."
The marine frowned as his hallucinatory friend cringed, clutching her head as though suffering from a migraine.
"Hey, Ames?" Nuts grunted as he climbed back to his feet, "You okay?"
"There's… a disturbance…" the illusion replied, her tone too pained for Nuts to consider how bonkers it was to ask the hallucination of a dead person if they were 'okay', "Something… I don't know…"
Nuts attempted to find a response, the rain running down his visor… and paused as Amy's eyes glowed a fierce green, and she wore a look of horror as she gestured behind him.
"Miles!" The hedgehog-woman shrieked, "Look out!"
Nuts turned… and reacted just in time as a huge glob of boiling blue flame streaked past him. He swore loudly as he readied his weapon, and grimaced as his eyes landed on a trio of horned, cyclopean spherical monstrosities.
Cacodemons. Bloated creatures, with huge fanged maws and gnashing teeth, pressure monsters deployed by the armies of Hell with only one instinctual drive - to feed.
Nuts boosted directly toward them like a green-armoured missile.
The marine whipped out his plasma gun, snarling as he delivered a stream of superheated energy into the first Cacodemon, causing the thing to explode in a blossom of gore and giblets. His weapon overheated, and he switched out to his assault rifle as he flitted through the air like an angry wasp, avoiding the broiling flame the creatures spat at him. He sniped the next one through the eyeball… after missing and peppering it with high velocity rounds. The monster screeched as it died, deteriorating rapidly as its form lost cohesion in the mortal realm.
Nuts' weapon clicked. Empty.
He grunted in annoyance. Luckily, he still had one trump card in his sleeve…
Well. Both sleeves, technically.
Stowing his empty rifle in his storage system, the marine raised his fists… and twin serrated blades emerged from the gauntlets. He leaned forward, boosting toward the surviving Caco with furious intent.
He stuck himself to the monster like a bug, clambering over the scaly deformed flesh, and began plunging his blades into the beast. The demon screeched, spinning blindly as he plunged his right-hand blade into its eye and removed the organ with a plop.
He grunted as something metallic, small and bleeping to get his attention, bounced from his helmet. He didn't pay it much mind. Or the spinning green portal from which it emerged.
"Agh!" The marine growled, gripping onto the flailing Cacodemon as though it were a bucking bronco, "Woah there, girl!"
The demon had little control as it careered toward the portal… and the pair vanished into the interdimensional void.
Nuts gripped onto the thing as best he could… shuddering as it slammed into solid ground. He snarled as he leapt from the thing, raising his blades and stabbing it over and over until it became an unbreathing, unmoving pile of flesh and organs. He breathed heavily, glaring at the demon with unbridled rage, unaware of his surroundings.
"Well…" came a small voice from nearby, "That was quite an entrance…"
Nuts spun around, only now realising he was in an entirely different place than he had been moments before… and his eyes landed on a small, twin-tailed fox, who observed him with amusement.
The marine cocked his head. The fox looked like his past self… but was shorter. And his proportions were different. He ran a scan through his helmet systems. Definitely not his Tails. "Do I know you?" the Marine growled.
The fox considered for a moment, and then appeared to deflate. "If you have to ask… then probably not…" came his reply.