Deficiencies

I started running before I even hit the ground. No shots were ringing about behind me, but I didn't care, I just kept running, my mechanical legs now pressing onwards faster than I had ever run before, and soon I was neck deep into the dark woods, but even then, I didn't stop. I ran till at long last the wailing alarms and shouts had resolved themselves into pounding raindrops amid the rain-soaked boughs.

I sighed and looked around. I was in the clear.

That was, however, until I noticed Sonic keeping pace, following shortly behind was Amy, whose dress had been ripped in places by the thick undergrowth "Sal, we need to talk." Sonic shouted to me as planted the heels of his sneakers into the ground and skidded to a halt.

"About what?" I growled, my robotic body subconsciously gearing up for combat.

"Somethings definitely different about you," he mused, scratching his chin. "Your hair, you've changed it haven't you?" He quipped sarcastically.

"Not the time for one of your jokes; Sonic," I replied, my stance easing a little, but only a little.

"My gosh, Sal. It's still you in there. I mean you blink. That's how I know since the other bots don't do that. But uncle and you do. So, I know you're scared and all! But you have to stop!" In an instant, Sonic darted around me and blocked my path, arms spread to intercept.

I stopped my stance now in near full gear, ready for anything the blue hedgehog might attempt.

"This is all just a big misunderstanding. We'll clear your name, I promise." Sonic assured me, this should have surprised me, him talking instead of fighting, but deep down I knew that was who he was.

"Just where were you when the brains were handed out?! I'm not naive enough to think that'll work and you should know that. Out of the way, Sonic." I hissed at him, if I wasn't a machine, I would have sprayed spittle in my rage.

"Don't worry Sally, we know it isn't really you saying that." Amy blurted when she finally caught up. She was huffing and puffing and was adjusting her ruined rain-soaked dress even as she tried to catch her breath.

"And as for you Amy," I said, turning to face the pink hedgehog. "You just want me out of the way to have Sonic all to yourself, don't you?" I hissed accusingly.

"Hey!" Amy's face contorted in rage as she took a step back "Just how petty do you think I am?!"

"Very," I growled.

"Don't let it get in your head. It's just a robot Amy, remember that." Amy mumbled to herself as she flicked her wrists and materialised a piko piko hammer, catching it in her hands. "Come quietly so I don't have to use this, Robot. If you can read Sally's memories, you'll know that fighting me is going to end very badly." She growled at me as she readied her hammer.

"So, howzat, your outnumbered robot," Sonic said, rolling up his imaginary sleeves. "Betcha that processor of yours knows the odds ain't great. Especially since Sal probably knows I won't go easy on a bot even if it's wearing her face and I think that's what Sal would want too."

It didn't matter what I said now. They wouldn't believe a word that came out of my mouth...unless. The only way I'm going to be able to escape is most likely through trickery. So, I immediately fell to the floor and started convulsing and speaking in gibberish like those fake televangelists.

"S...Sonic! H…he…help m…me! Argh bleh! Garrrgh!" I gibbered, my vocoder mimicking the sounds of a seizure perfectly.

"Sal! You're doing it! W...what do you need? I'll get you free!" Sonic gasped.

I lacked any complex ideas and just needed to get Sonic away.

"Rotor's discombulator! Grah! Sonic screwdriver! Raghhh! Hurry, can't hold it off for much longer!" I screamed in false agony as I continued to writhe on the ground.

"Keep an eye on her Amy, I'll be back!" Sonic ordered the pink hedgehog as he bolted off, completely buying the act.

"Hey wait up Sonic, I think-" Amy yelled breaking her gaze from me.

Now's my chance!

That distraction was all I needed to spring to my feet and hurl a smoke grenade at Amy. As the fragile canister broke, a solid cloud of white smoke billowed forth and engulfed Amy. She swung wildly, but I had already bolted beyond the reach of her hammer and began ploughing through thickets and brambles. I heard Amy calling for Sonic as I left her behind.

I was just about to celebrate getting away when to my complete disbelief a red and black hedgehog seemed to emerge before me with a solid crackle of light and a strong hint of ozone that my sensors immediately picked up

"Chaos Control!" the hedgehog shouted as the air about him crackled and a solid spear made of what seemed like hard-light formed in his hands.

I ducked, just in time to watch a solid shimmering rod of pure chaos energy embedded itself into the soggy mud-soak ground ahead of me and erupt into a super-heated cloud of dirt and steam.

Maybe one in a hundred thousand Mobians are born with the ability to manipulate chaos to perform supernatural feats and of those, fewer than one percent had powers that qualified them for the top bracket. The Mobian before me seemed to be one of them. Still, I had never heard of one being able to shoot solid bolts of raw chaos energy or casually violate several laws of physics like this.

I decide to call him 'Red' and I think he'll forgive me if I didn't get his name while I was trying not to die.

As I stared dumbfounded at my new foe, he decided to make the first move. There was no pomp or as he 'skipped' through the air in a series of short hops, his fist extended in an attempt to knock me over.

Rolling to the side, I barely avoided his first attack pass.

Spinning round, I faced my opponent who came to an abrupt stop before marching steadily towards me. It was clear he would exchange no words, only pain. He barely even flinched when I lobbed the last of my home-made smoke grenades. The hedgehog merely caught the device mid-air, so delicately that its fragile innards failed to rupture and tossed it harmlessly into the woods.

I blinked and the next thing that my sensors registered was that he had me by the arms. So tightly, that I couldn't even bring my ring blades to bear even if I wanted to. I struggled against my assailant jerking myself one way then the next to get loose. But 'Red' merely tightened his grip, manhandling me like a toddler.

"Hey, you, who are you!" I heard Amy shout and abruptly the air about me shimmered and I found myself alone with Red in another part of the forest.

Clearly, he didn't want anyone interfering with his kill.

"Aaaaargh!" I grunted as he squeezed my arms harder.

I'm not actually sure whether I feel pain or whether I'm just remembering what it's supposed to feel like. Either way, the sound of my joints straining and those red flags popping up on my Heads-Up Display are real enough.

Okay, I had to be smart about this. I could put in more force than any normal Mobian could because it didn't matter if I damaged myself. I yanked back and pushed my entire body weight down. The phantom pain soon became nearly unbearable but I powered through, knowing my mind was lying to me on just how much force I could apply.

Don't think like a normal person. You need the force that lets mothers lift cars off babies and children drag their parents out of burning buildings. Put more in. You have more.

I pushed harder.

'Red's' eyes bugged out in surprise as I shift his arms inch by inch. My feet scraped on the ground as he recovered from his shock and he promptly began channelling chaos energy into his arms. That left me with an opening.

Kunk!

Something inside my foot cracked but 'Red' remained standing. Just what was this monster? A kick in the nards ought to have put anyone down. His only response was a pained wheeze and flinging me through the air as though I were a mere drink can.

I landed with a loud crash amid some brambles.

(FIGURED YOU NEEDED SOME HELP) I froze. Okay, I had definitely heard NICOLE say that, only . . . there hadn't been any sound. I mean, I heard NICOLE's voice, but I didn't really hear it.

A digital hologram of a vaguely familiar looking lynx in a simple plaid dress seemed to materialize into being on my HUD. I blinked, trying to clear my vision. "You're not real," I muttered when my attempts to rid myself of the ghostly image proved to be in vain.

(I'M OFFENDED YOU THINK I'M A HALLUCINATION AFTER ALL WE'VE BEEN THROUGH TOGETHER) the holo-lynx grumbled, looking rather offended.

"Enough with that snarky attitude. Can you help?"

(CONSIDERING THAT BOTH YOU AND I WILL LIKELY BE LOBOTIMISED IF WE'RE CAUGHT I WOULD OF COURSE HELP. HOPEFULLY, THIS WORKS...STANDBY) NICOLE mentioned sarcastically and seemed to hover in mid-air in a lotus position, eyes closed.

'Red' marched closer as I staggered to my feet.

I blinked once again as I found myself with the dizzying sensation of seeing 'Red' simultaneously face-to-face and through a cracked red-hued lens from somewhere amid the tall grass.

"What's going on?" I mumbled aloud.

(I USED SNIVELY'S BACKDOOR ACCESS CODES ON THIS TOTALLED SWATBOT. YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO REMOTE PILOT IT. TRY AND MAKE THE SHOTS COUNT.)

"What's going on is that I'm going to pay for that," the hedgehog mumbled.

I concentrated on the damaged SWATbot and found myself looking through its cracked visor from where it lay almost flush with the ground.

The hedgehog marched obliviously into its/my view. Diagnostics readouts suggested was most likely one of Sonic's victims as its legs were missing. Luckily, I didn't need them, just it's fully functional arm cannon which I manoeuvred into place as though it were an extension of my own limbs.

"Any last words, robot?" he asked drawing back his fist for a roundhouse punch.

Tseeew! Tseeew!

At that range, powered or not the hedgehog stood no chance of avoiding the pair of stun-bolts. My sensors picked up the scent of sizzling flesh and my assailant staggered clutching his side before dropping on one knee.

My second video feed died as the SWATbot's battery ran flat.

I knew that the hedgehog would recover soon and I couldn't risk any more encounters like this Luckily, someone owed me a favour and now was as good a time as any to cash it in. I made for Knothole and started climbing a tree whose branches overhung the surrounding fence.

The tree creaked under my additional weight but otherwise held steady and I had just about made it to the overhang when without warning the tree trunk beneath me erupted into a shower of wood splinters. With a full third of the tree vaporised, the once sturdy oak crashed onto the fence, depositing me unceremoniously on the other side along with a sizeable pile of foliage.

(THAT DIDN'T SLOW HIM DOWN AT ALL!) NICOLE exclaimed.

"I need to shake him off. Can't let him follow us into the village like this."

(ALRIGHT, GET ME OUT. WE CAN USE THE PROJECTOR TO DISTRACT HIM FOR A BIT.) I slid NICOLE from my boot pouch which had morphed into a permeant slot in my foot in the course of the roboticization. (KEEP HEADING FOR THE VILLAGE. I WON'T HAVE THE BATTERY TO KEEP THIS UP FOR VERY LONG.)

NICOLE's projector lit up as I ran and the air about me shimmered as NICOLE generated four separate images of myself, fuzzy and indistinct, sending them in four separate directions. Hopefully, with the rain and some distance, my assailant would be fooled.

Kruk!

A solid shimmering bolt of chaos energy struck the most distant image before exploding in a superheated cloud of steam. I ran behind it for cover and NICOLE dispelled the remaining illusions.

The air about me shimmered once more. (HOPEFULLY, HE THINKS THAT HIT DID US IN. I'M PROJECTING AN IMAGE OF OUR SURROUNDINGS. IF HE LOOKS CLOSELY, HE MIGHT SEE A SHIMMER. KEEP MOVING, I CAN'T KEEP FOR LONG), NICOLE gasped, the strain visible on her holographic projection.

Behind me, I heard a loud thump as my opponent landed on the ground, undoubtedly inspecting his 'kill'. I kept running ahead toward the familiar collection of huts and makeshift shelters that was Knothole and eventually reached the outermost huts.

(THINK WE'RE IN THE CLEAR NOW.) NICOLE gasped, her 'voice' strangely faint.

"Stay with me NICOLE, we're almost there," I mumbled as I came to a stop before a clothesline which still had a soggy cloak which had been left out in the rain. I hesitated for a moment before wrapping the cloak about myself, realising that stealing someone's laundry was probably the least of my concerns.

(NEED TO REST FOR A BIT SALLY. I THINK YOU CAN HANDLE THINGS FOR A WHILE) NICOLE mumbled, a nightcap popped onto the exhausted holo-lynx before she curled up and vanished from my vision. The physical NICOLE in my hands went into power-saving mode, its screen going dim.

"NICOLE!" I cried aloud before I crashed onto my knees outside a familiar door.

We all need to let our emotions out at times. I had been so helpless... I can't even think of it now without a flash of fear. At that time, it was all I could do to keep myself from screaming again. A low keening whine erupted from my vocoder as I cradled NICOLE and it was many minutes before I had my whimpers under control and I managed my emotions back to something resembling composure.

A barely visible light came on inside the hut "Sally...are you out there? I heard you crying."

"I ... I really need your help," I mumbled.

I heard footsteps which stopped at the threshold of the door "Alright, keep calm. I've got the first aid kit I mean just in case you're hurt."

"Uh, I don't think I'll be needing that anymore," I replied.

"Oh, you're not hurt. That's good to hear. Come on in, you must be positively drenched. You're always welcome at our home but what brings you over at this hour?"

I sighed "What you're going to see is going to alarm you. But-."

The door opened and there stood Lupe looking half-asleep and dressed in a nightgown.

Her eyes went wide.