Chapter Seven – Empire
Life in the Mutant Movement was good but Sally had a problem. Without being processed, all of the refugees from Mobotropolis was confined to Capital City. They were not allowed to travel outside of the city. Her brother, Elise had allocated accommodation for everyone and Sally's was extremely pleasant. She got the impression that she had be given VIP treatment because she was the Queen. The House of Acorn. Sally wasn't sure if she approved. But when she found out the all of the people also had decent accommodation, she felt better. She didn't want to given the best, if her people had to suffer was a result.
She got to see everyone regularly eating at the Great Hall. However, soup and bread, three meals a day, everyday, got incredibly tedious and repetitive, even if the food is delicious. Sally felt trapped and so did her people, she was keen to leave. Also she had not seen Sonic in a while. She hoped he had not been grounded. She giggled at the thought. No one could stop Sonic from doing anything he wanted. He was just too powerful but she did miss him. They used to have similar problems in Knothole with Sonic on the occasional times he misbehaved during the wars. He was that powerful even then. She sighed.
'Old habits, die hard!' She thought.
Sally caught up with Bunnie and Rotor, and explored Capital City. It was incredible, what Mobotropolis should have been. However, there was also something else the Mutant Movement did that Sally wasn't to happy about. They insisted that she had an escort everywhere she went. She felt that this intruded on her privacy but she was in debt to them for taking her people in. Her escort varied from day to day, sometimes it was one of the members of the Sky Patrol. But never Charlie. Sometimes it was a local, and sometimes it was one of her maids. Today it was her brother, Elise, who had taken timeout of his busy schedule to spend time with his sister. He seemed on edge and very distracted. It was obvious that Sonic was getting to him. She recognised the look on his face. The utter frustration. She went through all of this with Sonic back in Knothole. He's a pain, a total handful but quite often, the best soldier you've got. The champion. You have to put up with him. She mentioned all this to Elise. He seemed grateful. He was relieved it wasn't just him.
They slowly paced around the city visiting various shops on the way. As they wondered, they found themselves on the edge of the Central Platform. All of a sudden, there was a shout from behind them as something very large, fast and blue landed in front of them. Sonic landed with a thump on the Platform again, himself looking very frustrated. Charlie was hot on his heels, but some distance behind, his wings just couldn't keep up with Sonic's. Elise automatically moved between Sonic and Sally. Sally raised an eyebrow at this. Her brother stood his ground.
"Arn't you under house arrest?" He said calmly. Sonic whirled round and growled at Elise.
"So sue me!" He spat. "I got bored!" He was in a fowl mood. Sonic was very impatient. Sally smiled to herself. She had seen all this before at Knothole, but was glad that she didn't have to deal with Sonic nowadays, if he was bad then, today, he must be impossible.
Charlie finally caught up and landed beside Sonic, panting heavily. The irritating Blue Blur was now pacing the Central Platform. He was desperate to leave without an escort. Elise rounded on Charlie.
"Hey, don't have a go at me." He defended. "He just left, I couldn't stop him." He pleaded.
Elise was fuming but there was nothing he could do. Sonic was just too powerful. If the Mutant Movement wanted his powers then they had to put up with the attitude. Time for Elise to cut his losses.
"OK fine." He fumed at Sonic. "But where are you going?" He grilled. Sonic stopped pacing, his frustration almost turning to anger, he was that eager to get going.
"Uncle Chuck." He hissed. "I need to see him!" He panted. Charlie stared.
"Then why come here first? Why didn't you go straight there?" He asked.
Sonic looked at Charlie and the look of frustration on him melted away into one of utter mischief. It was a look that Sally was extremely familiar with from Knothole. Despite his size, wings and tail, Sonic was still the same, underneath it all.
"Hey, Sally!" He hollowed and then he smirked, the biggest smirk Sally had ever seen. She giggled. She couldn't help but laugh. She knew what he was going to ask, she had seen it all before. "Do you want a lift?" He grinned. He must have known that Sally too have been confined. Sally was ecstatic. On those wings, hell yes! She had been desperate for a lift off Sonic. He used to carry her everywhere during the wars, back in Knothole. The transportation method may have changed but it wasn't a reason to say no.
Charlie was dumbfounded. He'd never been offered a lift from Sonic before. Why were these people special? Even Elise himself was stunned. Granted, Elise had not known Sonic long, only since he had awoken from his coma. But neither had ever seen to Blue Blur carry anyone or even make the offer. Sonic, Sally, Bunnie and Rotor all giggled at them, and before either of them could say or do anything, Sonic had ran round them and grabbed his old friends.
"Er...Sugar-hog?" Bunnie asked, thrilled at the idea of flying with Sonic but was concerned. "Can you carry three?" She frowned.
Sonic's giant smirk was back and Rotor knew the answer. If Sonic was strong enough to lift several tonnes, then he was definitely strong enough to carry three. Rotor pushed Sally and Bunnie onto the Blue Blur's back and jumped on himself.
"Yes!" He said urgently, and then said with a pant. "Sonic. Go!" He hurried.
Rotor could hear that the alarm had been sounded about Sonic's absence and Elise and Charlie looked like they were about to jump them.
Without another word, Sonic opened his almighty dragon wings and adjusted his tail He took to the air vertically, extremely fast and to Sally's surprise, incredibly smoothly. He beat his wings fast as they headed upwards, and when there was enough distance between them and the city, he levelled out into the easiest of glides. Sally was sat on his shoulder-blades, being extremely careful to avoid his quills sticking out of his back, with Bunnie behind her and Rotor at the back. Sonic was so big, that they all had plenty of room. His giant wings were spread out beneath them, motionless, only tilting occasionally adjusting for thermals. Sally noticed him give them a good stretch mid-glide. Being under house-arrest, must have meant no flying for Sonic, and aching wings, as a result. They were all silent as Sonic flew, all of them relishing the experience too much. Sally spotted Capital City beneath them, it looked small. Then she noticed, that they were leaving.
"Wait!" She said, finally breaking the silence. "Doesn't Uncle Chuck live in Capital City?" She asked. Sonic scoffed.
"No!" He teased. "He lives in Tower City. I live in Rainbow Falls, thats why you've not seen me this last few weeks, you guys have being confined to Capital City." He shrugged.
Sally, Bunnie and Rotor all looked at each other. Two more cities, all floating. Sally looked down and saw that they were following one of the branches of Capital City that extended off into the distance. It was a connections between the cities. She was stunned. But how big was the Mutant Movement? They asked Sonic. He sighed.
"The Mutant Movement is massive. It has three cities, Rainbow Falls, Tower City and Capital City, with a population of around forty-five million." He informed.
Forty-five million? Where did all those people come from? Sally and others believed that the wars with Robotnik and Snively claimed that many lives. Sonic felt their confusion and answered for them. He sighed again. It was along, drawn out sigh of a professional soldier who had fought to many wars.
"Their alive!" He said cooling. He paused.
They all frowned. Alive? What did me mean by alive? Sonic continued. He sighed again. He sounded like an old hog relieved to be telling a secret that had been weighing him down for years.
"Pretty much everyone on Mobius thinks I'm the hero of the wars." He paused. He gritted his teeth. "But I'm not!" He spat. His passengers all looked at each other again. Bunnie frowned.
"What do you mean..." She was about to ask but Sonic cut across her.
"Uncle Chuck is!" He said those words with both relief and pride. But Rotor gasped.
"Uncle Chuck?" He asked, confused. Rotor considered Uncle Chuck his mentor, but not the Hero of Mobius. Sonic was drained. Speaking to his passengers when they were on your back while flying, wasn't easy, he couldn't see their faces, and they couldn't see his.
"Yeah." He said. He turned his head to look over his shoulder as best he could, but only saw Sally. He faced forwards again and rubbed his eyes. He continued. "I know Uncle Chuck is hated the world over for inventing the Roboticiser and its true. The Roboticiser has ruined so many lives." He sighed, his audience deadly silent. "But what nobody knows about the Roboticiser, is that it originally build with a failsafe. No matter what happened to it, or who hands it fell into, it could never be used as a weapon to kill. Everyone who have ever been Robotised, survives, and is properly right here in the Mutant Movement. That's why our population is so big." They were all stunned. Sonic smiled. "In thirteen years of war, no one died." He proclaimed, with his hand up, saluting his uncle and then fell silent.
Thinking about it, Sonic was absolutely right. Everyone who was ever captured during either wars was robotised, which meant that they must still be alive and...potentially here. Sally put her mind back to the Freedom Fighters who got caught in the second war against Snively.
"Tails!" She suddenly spat out.
It broke all their hearts when the little fox got caught, despite all of Sonic's best efforts at the time, and he had long been considered dead. Sonic laughed.
"Yep. He's here." He smiled. "King of the Air Hockey Circuit." He added with a giggle.
Air Hockey? Silence reigned. Sonic continued.
"Remember how he loved Dirt Hockey in Knothole? Well here, it's Air Hockey. Here the game is played inside a large rectangle of floating stands, the seating for spectators, creating a mid-air pitch in the middle. With goal post fixed at either end, the aim is to get the puck into your opponents goal. All players must fly and if you miss, then the puck falls into the net below, giving a penalty. He's the best in the business and with three tails, his triple helicopter is the most manoeuvrable out on the pitch. No one can out-fly Tails, especially on a Hockey pitch, not even me." He paused. He knew the others were staring. "Being part Dragon, I'm too big to play Air Hockey, too clumsy on the small confined pitch, so Tails pretty much flies rings around me." He grinned. "Air Hockey. Its massive. Extremely popular. Tails is, arguable, more famous then me around here." He added.
Sally and the others were all struggling to believe this, when they heard a noise from behind them. Rotor turned around.
"Sonic?" He said. "I think we're..." But Sonic cut across him.
"Being followed!" He said. "Yes, I know. It's Charlie and the Sky Patrol. They have been following us for some time now." Then he growled. "Their welcome too, I'm not stopping for them." He hissed.
Sally smiled. Stubborn till the end. That was her Sonic. With every time she saw Sonic, she was falling more and more for him, even with his red eye issue. It just didn't phase her. They would deal with it as and when. He was so different and, despite everything, still the same. A strange mix that Sally was only just getting used to. She wasn't surprised that Sonic had spotted his pursuers far earlier then they did. He was always was on the ball a lot faster then they were. You could never sneak up on Sonic. Sally watched as one of the six amazing planes of the Sky Patrol came to fly along side them.
It was Charlie. The chestnut Hedgehog made no attempt to pull Sonic over. For two reasons, one, he knew better and two, Sonic was carrying passengers. He genuinely had no idea what would happen. The plane Charlie was flying had a very unusual design, but one was was very efficient in the air. Highly manoeuvrable and incredibly fast. It was based around the cockpit. The pilot was strapped in a special seat, with access to all of the controls, sat inside a glass sphere, which was able to revolve three-hundred and sixty degrees in any direction. The wings of the plane were made of a single metal plate, a simple triangle shape with glass sphere in the middle and was too able to revolve in any direction as well. You needed a strong stomach to fly this plane, as motion sickness was a major problem. With a single jet engine on the back and wheels on long legs that could be folded away for landing, this plane was as fast and as manoeuvrable as Sonic himself, especially with an experienced pilot behind the helm. Charlie was the best and Sonic knew it, resisting the urge to challenge him.
Shaking him off, Sonic swooped below the clouds and something very large and grey, came into view.
Tower City.
Sally thought that the name was fitting to the stark contrast it had to Capital City. It consisted mainly of a cone shaped Tower, circular, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, it all held aloft on some of the largest propellers, she had ever seen. There was very little at ground level, an small thin pathway running around the edge of the Tower, except the the two connecting corridors that links all of the cities togethers. One coming from Capital City (The one they had been following) and the other heading to Rainbow Falls. The corridors entered and exited the city at an forty-five degree angle to each other and between them was a runway and a hangar fitted, jutting out from the Tower. Sally wondered whose they were, until Charlie answered her question when he started his decent to land there. It was the home of the Sky Patrol.
Halfway down the Tower, there was a kink in it, with doors all the way along, for Mutants to enter and exit with having to land and go in at ground level. The entire metallic Tower was covered in windows and constantly flashing lights. As her eyes headed up the Towers towards the lightning rod at the top, she noticed that the Tower was surrounded by a massive aerial assault force of flying battleships. Nine battleships in total. All stationed here, ready to leave at a moment's notice. They looked like Robotnik's old battleships. In fact, Sally nearly mistook them as such until she noticed that they had all been reconditioned and refurbished.
'Where did they get them from?' Sally thought, the 'they' meaning the Mutant Movement. But then she remember what Sonic had mentioned earlier - 'Sally may have got Mobotropolis back after the war but the Mutant Movement got the technology.' It was incredible. Each of the battleships was a large and heavily armoured aircraft with a red, yellow, black and white coloured hull and an open deck. Each side was covered by a large plate of armour, and on the front was a pointed bow. On the rear was two massive engines. Each battleship was about three-hundred metres long, and had the possibility of housing thousands of soldiers.
All the battleships has three symbols on them, the double 'M' of the Mutant Movement. Three Fox tails attached to together at the centre (definitely the symbol for Tails) and a symbol of a creature that looked part Dragon and part Hedgehog. Sonic. All of the ships where heavily armed except for one, which was covered in a forth symbol, a red cross on a white background. The Hospital Ship. It was the only ship to differ in colour to the others, mainly white, to stand out as none volatile.
They all stared as Sonic descended into the city. All were amazed and fearful of what they were seeing. Bunnie gasped.
"The Mutant Movement isn't a faction, it's an Empire!" She gulped as she realised something. "Sugar-hog?" She stammered. "What are you guys preparing for?" She asked,
Sonic sighed. He hadn't noticed the battleships. He travelled so often to Tower City that he just didn't see them anymore. He had be concentrating on aiming for one of the doors half up the main Tower. Bunnie's question snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Well, if the Mutant Movement doesn't defend Mobius, they who will?" He sniggered. But Bunnie didn't believe him, none of them did. Sonic was hiding something, the question was, what? It seemed a very large army for a simple defence mission. There was something more going on.
They began to descend even faster now as Sally saw Charlie land, exit his plane and enter the Tower at ground level. Sonic folded his wings back and began to dive. He seemed eager to move. But it was too fast, as the doors to the Tower only opened just in time. Sonic opened his wings to brake hard, but caught them on the sides of the doors as then opened. The landing was rough and they all ended up in a big heap on the floor. Not very graceful. The room they landed in filled the entire floor of the Tower. Made entirely of metal, it was bare except for a large amount of wiring across the ceiling and an extremely large console in the centre of the room. It rose from the floor to ceiling and was several metres wide. It was the largest computer Sally, Bunnie and Rotor had ever seen.
As Sonic got to his feet, he saw where they were all looking.
"Thats the Mutant Movement's Mainframe Computer. It controls everything!" He said, waving it off as nothing. Then Rotor remembered.
"That's where Uncle Chuck lives." He said, excitedly. Sonic smirked.
"And Nicole!" He added, as he looked around rather confused.
Where were they?
This room was usually a hive of activity every time he visited, so Uncle Chuck and Nicole were conspicuous by their absence. They all looked around, for any signs of their whereabouts. Rotor spotted an pile of sheets to one side, and realised that it was Uncle Chuck's body recused from Mobotropolis. Sonic had returned it to him, but Rotor guessed that the old Hedgehog hadn't decided what to do with it yet.
Sonic was getting more and more frustrated. His anger flared. He had broken a lot of rules bringing Sally, Bunnie and Rotor here, the least Uncle Chuck could do was greet them on arrival.
But nothing.
Now Sonic temper really flared, but then he lost it. He felt his eyes turn red, his will change and his control lost. Fearful of the worse, he was left completely helpless, but fought back with everything he had.
But then they came.
Wires and chains descended from the ceiling, and as if they had minds of their own. They went for Sonic. Unable to help, Sally, Bunnie and Rotor watched in horror as the chains and wires attacked and wrapped themselves tightly around a struggling Sonic, lifting him off the ground. They worked quickly as if they knew that Sonic's sheer power would mean that he wouldn't stay bound for long. He would break free.
As Sonic anger flared even more and his red eyes were on fire, a wire came down with a twist sprocket on it with a dangerous foot long spike. It aimed straight for the back of his head.
Horrified, Sally ran towards her helpless friend, as the spike was stabbed straight into Sonic's head and twisted into placed. He recoiled.
"No!" She screamed. But someone screamed.
"Sally!" They said.
She stopped immediately. It was Sonic, coming from...behind her? She whirled round to find him stood there, looking exactly as he did six years ago, with the white gloves, and red and white shoes, but looking somewhat see-through. The hologram was back. Sally was panting.
"I thought you were...?" She gasped, she just couldn't bring herself to say it. Sonic grinned inanely.
"Direct-Neuro Interface." He said, simply, indicating to the sprocket in the back of his head. "Its how I access the Computer Network..." He was about to say more but was harshly cut across.
"Sorry to gate crash this party, but he's putting up a fight!" It was Uncle Chuck, finally showing himself, as see-through as Sonic. A hologram. He was extremely busy around the main console.
He looked exactly as he did before he was robotised, all those years ago. A Mobian middle-aged Hedgehog who bares many physical similarities to Sonic, such as blue fur (although Chuck's is a few shades lighter than Sonic's). He had a thick, grey moustache that obscures his mouth, as well as similarly thick, grey eyebrows, arching over his blue eyes. He was wearing maroon coloured, slightly pointed shoes with two dark yellow straps and and white cuffs, and white gloves.
They all looked up at Sonic's tethered body. The eyes were open and glaring red, and was wriggling like mad trying to break his bonds, but he just didn't have the strength. Bunnie frowned.
"If Sugar-hog's out here, then who's in there?" She asked, the one question they all wanted to know. Uncle Chuck sighed.
"Sorry about the cold welcome but I needed to rattle him." He said, indicating Sonic. "I needed to find out what was really going on!" He spat.
Sonic huffed. He was throughly unimpressed. He had been tricked. But then he back away, as he heard his own body roar. Now he was extremely frightened. But he wasn't in there, Uncle Chuck had removed him, his mind was out here. Uncle Chuck was panting.
"These readings are off the chart!" He gasped. Sonic began to panic. Readings for what? It was his body at stake here.
"What?" He spat, frustrated. Uncle Chuck looked at him.
"The Power Rock! It starting to corrupt. Its trying take control your body, even when your not even in it!" He stammered. Sonic was dumbfounded. What did Uncle Chuck mean by the Power Rock? He needed it. It was his life-force, his power-source, his heart. If it corrupted, then Sonic wouldn't stand a chance. The darkness would take him.
Uncle Chuck was well aware of this. He sighs and turned to Sally, Bunnie and Rotor.
"Sorry to cut your visit short." He said. "Though it is really good to see you all again, but I have to work on this, I have to run more tests, its really important. I have sent for Charlie, he'll take you back to Capital City." He ordered.
There were major objections. They had travelled a long way to come and see Uncle Chuck, and now they would have to leave. Sally was not happy.
It was at that exact moment when Charlie walked in. Nicole suddenly appeared out of nowhere to help Uncle Chuck. Another hologram. She took the form of a brown Mobian Lynx, the ends of her ears were black, and her face features a stripe along the bridge of her nose as well as one under each eye. Her eyes were green and she had medium-long black hair with splits at the ends that she wears down. She wore a shoulder-less, sleeveless and purple dress with split tails, decorated with a small broach. She had black trousers, white gloves, and shoes, the gloves featuring round gold cuffs while the shoes had silver cuffs and toes.
With Sonic's dire need, it meant that Sally wouldn't get the chance to talk to her. Even so, she didn't want to go and leave Sonic behind. She'd decided that they would face this together, and even though Sally's touch would calm Sonic, it was not what Uncle Chuck needed right now. He wanted to measure how far the corruption in the Power Rock had extended, which meant letting it take over and having them all there, was not helping the situation.
Sonic didn't want them to leave either, he was very frightened, but he agreed with Uncle Chuck that it would properly be for the best.
"You will see me again!" He stammered as Charlie guided them out of the door, down the tower, towards his plane. "I promise." He added. It was a promise he intended to keep, though he didn't know when, as it crucified him watching them leave.
The journey to Capital City were very uneventful as was the rest of their stay at the Mutant Movement. Sally didn't see Sonic. No one did. She missed him, but if anyone could solve Sonic's problem, Uncle Chuck could, but it did leave her worried. Did she now love him even more because she'd found out he wasn't perfect? Sally suspected so and hoped one day to see him again. As worried as she was about Sonic, she had her own responsibilities, to her people.
Elise, her brother, who had been second in command, now stood up to the task of Leader. Sally was impressed, he was as good as Sonic, even better, in some aspects. Elise was far more accomplished at negotiating.
Soon it was time to leave. Winter was over. The Mutant Movement had been good to Sally and her people, but their ways of living were just too different and it left Sally feeling rather homesick.
As her people queued up to get onto the transports to leave, she looked around Capital City and decided, that yes, she was indeed ready to go home.