A/N Hey ho! So last chapter was fun, I really got into the fighting. I have to say the next bit of stuff has been fuzzy, like I've been trying to bridge it to the end game. And thanks to some amazing brain storming at work I pulled off some good story(I hope) So hopefully with my big plan all together this will all work out.
And like always check out my other stuff if you feel like it. Just forgive my crappy editing(Which was non existent for awhile lol)
Also I'm sorry for re-releasing this, it had a ton of unnoticed errors in the second half.
"Nicole, where to next?" Tails was lightly panting as he asked. He was closely followed by Fiona, Blaze and Silver. Silver panted the hardest having the least endurance of the four.
"Continue to your right, then left, I would recommend not going right at the second turn as there is a blockade in that direction"
"Thanks" he said gratefully following her instructions.
Behind him his companions followed hearing a slight groan from Silver.
"How much further to Shadow?" he asked.
"Just a little bit further, I'm having you meet up, near the assembly area. If we want to shut this place down it will be in there" the lynx explained.
"What's your plan?"
"I have discovered the plant uses high explosive material, combined with the fuel for the airships and many other chemicals a simultaneous explosion would cause an uncontrollable fire, but burn the place down slow enough for us to escape if need be" she hoped that made sense.
"What's the window of explosion to collapse"
"Roughly ten minutes. That will give you all enough time to escape and Shadow to come get Scourge and I"
Tails liked it, it'd be close but nothing was ever easy.
"Don't forget about that data we came here for, get a fix on that?" Tails asked further as he took a left where she directed.
"That is why I'm sending you to the assembly area, not only are most of the large containers holding the explosive material in there but our mystery robot is there too"
"Great job Nicole, give me any heads up if things-"
"I must stop you, a new blockade has formed in your path, rerouting…" her warning made Tails stop forcing everyone else to do the same while Nicole made another course.
"Ok, to your right a few meters ahead of you should be a vent, you will need to take that, there is no alternate route. Since we took the main computer the robots have been working to lock down the building and closing off every normal entrance into the production floors. But they can't over the vents. It is your one choice"
"No worries, we'll get inside quick" Tails smiled finding the vent pretty easily and was working to unscrew it from the walls.
"Forgive me, I must tell Shadow to redirect course, give me a moment" she asked the channel changing.
"What's… going on?" Silver asked seeing Tails was done talking to Nicole.
"Place is getting locked down fast, only safe way through to our objective is through the vent system" he briefly explained.
Silver groaned "Great, what a time to have white fur"
Blaze looked to him "It will be fine, what's a bit of dirt over your wellbeing?"
"Guess you got a point there" he chuckled, he was just a little surprised that the princess had no problem with crawling around in filthy vents.
"Personally I think the only problem we'll really have is if the vent gets too thin" Fiona said as Tails ripped off the cover.
Silver then visibly thought rubbing his chin and asked "Ummmm… why do robots even need air conditioning?" This place was completely run by robots and any orders Eggman had were probably sent via transmission, so why?
Tails shrugged leaning the cover against the wall "If I had to guess the best I can they're probably to keep cool air circulating through the building. Heat can be bad for a building over time and possibly to the machinery. And obviously for the computers since they must be really hot"
"Whatever reason they exist we're still gonna use em alright?" Fiona said.
Tails peaked into the opening and turned on the light on his helmet to look inside "Seems we are. It looks clear" He crawled inside on hands and knees.
The fox was followed by Fiona. Blaze looked to Silver who just motioned to the vent "Uhh, ladies first?"
The cat eyed him oddly "Oh really, you want me to go first?"
"Uhhh, ya… to be polite?" he asked confused by her objection.
"Uhuh, and there's no other reason?" she prodded.
Silver just tried to defend himself further "What? A guy can't be chivalrous?"
She smirked "Oh, chivalry is it, well doesn't make help my suspicions"
He mentally smacked himself "Why'd I say it that way" he suddenly understood her meaning, crawling through a vent on hands and knees and he wanted to be behind her.
"Nevermind, I'll go first" he suddenly tried to fix his mistake. He quickly took the lead and crawled inside.
Blaze just carried a commanding smirk and chuckled while mumbling "Ah, make em work for it" she quickly followed afterwards and the duo caught up to the two foxes.
Tails finally heard back from Nicole who explained that Shadow was travelling through ventilation as well. She rerouted the two groups so they'd meet above production area.
Because of his extra armor the vents felt a bit smaller for Tails then everyone else "Damn it's tight in here"
"That's what he said" Fiona chuckled.
"Even for you that's low hanging fruit" Tails said.
She hummed "Ya maybe, but still you got to admit you walked into that one"
"…. Ok yes"
Nicoles voice came over his earpiece "Ok, you should see Shadow any second now" as she said this the sound of machinery got much louder as they probably passed by wall into the production zone.
Like she predicted in another minute Shadows head poked around the corner ahead at an intersection point and looked left then right. The intersection opened into a larger box so they'd all be able to talk. In the middle was a grate they could use to drop down if they wanted.
"Hey Shadow" Tails said squeezing into the more open space.
"Good to see you are all ok" he replied.
Tails stepped aside so everyone else could pass by. Fiona slipped through and kneeled next to Tails as Silver came through next. Like the goof he was his hand slipped on the rim and he face planted on the metal floor. Luckily for all of them the machines working away below them drowned out the noise he made.
When he recovered Shadow just smacked him in the back of the head "Sorry" he said rubbing the back of his head.
Blaze slipped out last "Nice one Silver" her comment making him blush a little embarrassed.
With that they left the poor kid alone and looked to Tails whose mask lifted up. He was about to speak but Nicole broke in and spoke to all of them.
"Ok now I've revised the plan a little. Unfortunately there's no way to remotely blow up all the containers at the same time. "What I have found though is that materials here can be used to make some make shift bombs. We need to build four for each tank. We activate them at the same time then put them inside the tanks, on a timer of course, and get out. Sound like a plan?" she hoped they could do that.
"Just how complicated are these bombs?"
"Pretty simple really, pretty much pipe bombs, mostly just to ignite the chemicals inside the tanks. You'll need some tubes and a way to seal them, a way to detonate it, either a long fuse or a remote trigger if we're lucky. And finally a concoction of the chemicals found in the plant which I will explain when the time comes"
Even for Silver it seemed simple, almost like extreme arts and crafts.
"Ok, any ideas for any of that?" Tails asked.
"For tubes, there's actually some being made right now. They are small and easily handled. They're supposed to be the outer casing of robots legs or arms but will fit our purposes. Pick them up at the end of the line before they are taken to the main assembly line. I will direct whoever goes for those"
"I think I can do that" Fiona offered.
"Excellent, second we'll need caps to seal each side, totally honest it could be anything as long as it fits well enough to keep the concoction inside.
"Blaze and I can probably do that" Silver offered, luckily Blaze didn't protest.
"Great, we'll need a detonator of some kind, either a remote trigger and igniters for the bombs or somehow make a fuse that will last long enough for us to escape"
"If it's tech related I'll handle it, I could make some make shift stuff" Tails offered.
"Perfect, so I guess that leaves the most dangerous job for Shadow, you will need to make the mix. The chemicals are somewhat in the open so it will be dangerous" Nicole said with a worried voice.
"I'll find a way" was all he said "Just tell me how to mix it when I need you and we're golden"
"Alright, so I guess we have all of our jobs. Be careful, I will be tending to Scourge unless you need some subtle support" the lynx said signing off.
Tails took over "Alright, everyone get on with it, and like she said be careful"
The vent in the middle of the box was taken away and the Mobians dropped down to land on girders. They must have been there to support the roof and hold stuff up like lights, but for them it was a way to get around.
Silver, Blaze and Fiona hopped down first but Tails stopped Shadow "Hey if you can't find a way my stealth could always make it easier"
"Worry about your own job, I think I have an idea" Shadow said hoping down.
Tails decided to trust the experienced hedgehog and followed his friends down, finding the first three had gone their own ways. He activated his stealth and moved out.
In the main computer room…
"Ok got a plan going, we'll be out of here soon" Nicole said looking to Scourge. He'd somewhat adjusted the way he was sitting to be more comfortable but he was clearly trying hard to stay awake.
She frowned seeing that and sat beside him "Come on Scourge, I know you can stay awake" it didn't really matter, he really didn't have to do anything. Shadow would teleport them out and they were safe in here.
"It'd harder than it looks" he said weakly.
She sighed feeling a little useless to him right now, there wasn't much she could offer to him. No water or anything, mostly just her presence.
He grunted shifting his position again trying to sit against the wall straighter.
She noticed and tried to help but he grunted out "I can do it"
Her hands stopped midway and slowly went back to her lap feeling quite useless. She began to fiddle with her hands a bit and eventually played with one of her ponytails.
Scourge noticed, he found himself watching her silently. Not like there was much to do.
"So…. I hope your injuries aren't too bad" she broke the silence her eyes looking to him, but not really turning her head.
"I'll be fine… been beat in jail far worse" he shrugged but the said "Except maybe the back… guys usually never went for the back, never want to risk paralyzing the guy you're beating on, that's when they become useless"
"What'd they have you do?" she guessed the way he said that meant he had experience.
Scourge hated talking about his time in prison and he almost lost himself, but he had quite literally nothing better to do and she'd been somewhat nice to him despite all the bad things he'd done and his temper.
"Didn't really ask me to do much, sometimes I was told to shut up, sometimes I was told to get into a fight so they could shank a guy while nobody was paying attention… and generally just because I was an easy target to beat the crap out of" he sighed.
Despite Nicole agreeing he deserved his time in prison she couldn't help but frown "It's amazing you got out in one piece"
He shook his head "Nah, one day they got to too rough and someone pulled a blade on me, cut me up a few times… mostly just my arms since I used em to block" he pulled up one of his sleeves to reveal several cuts along his arm.
"Although they got one in" he lifted away his jacket and pushed back some fur around his stomach to reveal a stab wound scar.
"And you survived?" she asked somewhat in disbelief, getting beat, cut up and stabbed wasn't something you just walked away from.
"Nope, guards were on them pretty quick when the shank was pulled out… not fast enough to stop him in time" he mumbled "I was sent to the infirmary and was patched up. Was out within a day…. Got my ass kicked as a reward… only lightly though, since I didn't complain to the guards and get people in trouble" he looked away feeling quite vulnerable. Fiona knew about the cuts on his arms, it was hard to hide those, but the stab was concealed by his fur so she hadn't learned about that one.
"It must have been terrifying" she said shocked at what she heard.
"Ya…., when Fiona broke me out I was a shadow of my former self, nearly permanently. I'd basically become everyones bitch at that prison, a coward, afraid of even speaking to her incase someone thought I was making a gang to take over leadership of the inmates. She was able to snap me out of it though" he sighed reaching back to rub his back finding it hard.
Nicole almost didn't notice "Here, let me help" she was too quick for him to protest this time and gently rubbed his back and got a sigh of relief from him.
She smiled hearing that "Better?"
"….Ya…" he said.
She smiled and looked away nervously "Perhaps I could doing something like that when we get back?"
He looked to her surprised "Uhhh… sure… I guess"
She smiled again, her teeth coming to view. After that she just sat down quietly now enjoying the silence, she was waiting for either him to start talking or when the team needed her help.
With Silver and Blaze…
"So we should get some kind of cap, right?" the white hedgehog asked, looking around from his vantage point.
"Yes, if possible we might want to find something to fasten them on, like… tape" she quickly thought next to him.
"Or glue!" he said pointing to a small vat of industrial glue.
"Why does a factory making robots need glue?" Blaze asked.
Silver thought rubbing his chin again "….. I don't know, who cares, it's there so let's use it"
Blaze nodded getting up from her sitting position "Ok, you get the glue, find a container or something and use your powers to scoop it up and carry it, really don't want to have to pry you off a bucket because you got super glue on your hands"
"Uh…. Ya… good idea" he honestly was going to use his hands.
"I'll find some caps… oh and Silver, please be careful" she said quickly before finding a path using the machinery to hop down. Her cat reflexes making it look like a dance.
Silver watched for a moment to make sure nothing happened before floating himself down to the floor behind cover.
Looking around to see if anyone found him he looked around for a container he could use, in all honesty all he needed was something small, the glue was strong so only a little bit would be needed for each bomb.
His search was quick and easy but getting it was harder. His bad luck had a few eggbots patrolling nearby. He ducked behind cover just before they saw him and peaked around the corner. Since they were patrolling all he really had to do was wait for them to continue. His prediction was correct and he used his powers to pull the bucket to him.
"Alright step one over" he mumbled and made the short walk back to the glue vat. This time no eggbots were nearby so he quickly used his powers to scoop up some glue and flew back up to the ceiling when nobody was looking.
He put the bucket inside the intersection in the vents where they made their plan and looked out for Blaze to make sure she was ok.
He looked off into the distance and saw Blaze fine and maneuvering her way through the production area. She had eight caps and found a path back up safe and unseen.
"I assume you got yours?" she asked.
"Yup, it's waiting back at the meet spot" he pointed his thumb backwards "I'll keep a look out for the others"
"I'll join you in a moment" she stored away her stuff and both sat on a girder looking out along the massive production zone for any sign of their friends.
Silver then asked "So how you think it's going so far?"
"I believe we are doing well despite Scourges injuries. I believe we will succeed" she smiled.
He nodded in agreement "We should celebrate after this"
She made an amused huff and smiled "Oh you think so, well I think even Tails will agree taking this place down is worth some fun"
"Wonder what we could do" Silver pondered.
"We'll figure that out later" Blaze said trying to get him back on the mission.
"Oh right… but, I know there will be music, I'll show you my moves" he smirked.
"Oh I'm sure you will" she teased giving him a playful skeptical look.
He chuckled "You'll see, oh. You. will. See"
Their chuckles died down and Blaze pointed out to a smaller production line that branched back to the main one "Hey there's Fiona"
She was just picking up the four tubes they needed and soon snuck away safely and found her way back up.
"Hey you miss me?"
Silver shrugged indifferent "Only a tiny bit"
"Hurts my feelings" she rolled her eyes with a smile and stored her stuff with the rest.
"Anyone else show up?" the fox asked.
Blaze shook her head as the fox sat with them "Not yet, no sign of Shadow or Tails yet"
"Not surprised about Tails, and Shadow is quite stealthy when he needs to be" she said not worried.
They nodded, all three glad luck was on their side so far.
Suddenly all three saw a green flash far down the line, everyone thing inside the flash froze up. After a minute everything started up again, the stop caused a few problems, like stuff that was not stopped and still coming started to either fall over things ahead them or machines were out of sync now.
"Must be Shadow, I guess he froze time with his powers" Silver said.
"He can stop time?" both females asked.
"Only in a localized area, it takes a lot of energy to do too, especially if the field gets bigger or he holds it for a long time" he explained what Shadow had told him.
The females nodded and Fiona said "Well he messed stuff up, gonna be patrolling this area harder now" she sighed "I truly hope that was his one option"
Within minutes Shadow appeared below them and had a bucket of the mixed chemicals. It looked heavy so he wasn't gonna jump around with it and waved wanting Silver to lift it with his powers for him. The younger hedgehog did that and Shadow was soon up with them.
"Jeez Shad, could you have caused anymore problems?" Fiona asked sarcastically.
"It's all I could think of, shut up" he growled defensively.
She rolled her eyes with a sigh "Well that just leaves Tails"
"Someone say my name?" he appeared next to her.
"GAH… hey don't do that!"
He just laughed "Anyway, I got some remote detonators"
Blaze then said "Well that leaves just our mystery robot to steal it's memory"
Tails nodded "I think I know how to make these into bombs, I'll hang back and finish it off, one or two of you can get the memory" he passed out a hacking device waiting for someone to take it.
Shadow took it and said "I'll take it out, I'll hack it fast and get out quickly" he then disappeared in a black blur.
"Ok with that done, I'll make the bombs" Tails got past the trio and climbed into the vent to get to work.
"I'll… leave you two alone" Fiona smirked to Silver as she left.
Silver blushed a little and nervously asked "So… celebration plans?"
In the vent…
Fiona crawled through the opening and saw Tails already at work.
"Things seem to be going smoothly" she smiled sitting down near his working area.
"Seems so, you didn't encounter any problems did ya?" he said using the parts he found to make remote triggers and syncing them with his suits systems.
She shook her head "Not really, just the usual sneaking and junk"
"Good to hear" he smiled taking off his helmet so he could see properly and his gloves so he'd have more precision.
Fiona took the gauntlets and helmet and began studying them herself. Putting on the gloves she found them to be snug and quite comfortable. An obvious amount of care must have been put into them.
She put on the helmet next and found it didn't fully fit her head. It was mostly apparent from her ear placement not being perfect with the holes. She quickly forgot about that seeing the HUD in the eyes and looked around.
When her eyes went to Tails it pinged him as a friendly with a green symbol, then identified all the stuff he as working on as potential threats. The only item bringing up any actual danger were the chemicals.
"Wow this thing is cool" she said speaking through the visor filter.
"Ya, thanks. Took me a long time to set it up. I still find ways to improve the intelligence in there. At first it couldn't do much, just simple vision modification, like magnification, night vision, heat vision. All that stuff. Now it's pretty much like a video game I used to play, scans for weaknesses in armor, path prediction, and a bunch of other stuff. It is truly one of a kind"
Fiona smiled hearing him explain. It definitely was one hell of a piece of hardware.
She slipped it off and placed it back where she found it along with the gloves and asked "So how long do you think it will take to make those bombs?"
"Give me half an hour or so"
Nodding at that she was glad to get a bit of a rest, but feared staying in one place would eventually get them in trouble.
She stayed quiet and held her tail. She picked through the fur and untangled it. All the while Tails quietly worked. Just outside they could hear Blaze and Silver talking about celebration plans making Fiona want to see if he wanted to do that.
"Hey those two are talking about having a party or something after this mission, what ya think?"
Tails paused for a moment then smiled "Ya I don't see why not, this definitely warrants some rest and relaxation" he got back to work for a moment then looked to her again "I know it may sound odd to have in my base but I think I got a karaoke machine somewhere, jeez wonder if it still works?"
"If it didn't you'd just fix it" Fiona smirked.
Tails chuckled hearing that "Ya probably… actually… most likely" he got back to work again.
"I bet Shadow has the best singing voice" Fiona jokingly said.
He laughed trying to keep it down "If he's a good singer I'm the king"
Fiona chuckled nervously hearing that "Considering everything that's happened you might be the most fit for it. Hell imagine the odds if there was a list of people to lead and somehow your name was on there and everyone else above you died and the succession comes to you… wouldn't be too hard to see considering you were good friends with Sonic and Sally"
Tails shook his head "I truly hope that's not the case"
"Why, don't feel comfortable?"
"Well I was always shy, I improved over time though. Mostly kept to myself by choice. But I've already told you this whole leader of the team thing is already stressing me out, I can't imagine running the last of the Mobian population in such a fragile state" Tails shivered thinking about it.
"Don't worry I got experience as a queen, I mean despite all the wasted time on Moebius I was queen" she smirked laying on her side, propping her head up with her arm and threw on a british queen accent.
"I'm sure being a queen on Moebius is much different then one from here" Tails said trying to not look at her as her new position was quite nice to look at.
"You might be right there" he definitely was right, she hardly did anything.
"What exactly was it like being queen there?" he asked being somewhat curious.
Her free hand scratched behind her ear trying to remember, I had only been in the position a short time since Scourge got himself arrested and someone else took over. He had never taken the time to go back and get his throne back, more focused on revenge on the people who betrayed him and to finally defeat and kill Sonic.
"Well…. Most of the time it was both of us indulging in the power we had. Never much actual ruling… someone mentioned he was being just like his father, partying and having fun with his riches instead of actually doing anything… that guy went to the hospital for comparing him to his father"
"Damn… guess he's got some dad issues, good now I won't bring that up"
"Ya should have mentioned that awhile ago to be honest" Fiona nervously chuckled.
"No worries" he smiled finishing off the first bomb.
"You gonna sing?" she asked after a small silence.
He stopped and took a deep breath "Why, you wanna hear me?"
"Maybe," she smiled innocently.
He wasn't quite sure how to take that "You won't make fun of me?"
"No way, I promise…. Maybe" she sheepishly smiled.
Tails just sighed shaking his head "Maybe I will" he shrugged.
She lit up "Really, maybe I will too" she offered, she could tell it was hard for him to be so open, so she was also gonna probably make a fool of herself.
He smiled "I remember you sang once, you had a nice voice, I'm sure it will still be just as good"
"Really? Didn't think I was that good" she blushed.
He just nodded looking back down at his work to hide his face "Ya"
Fiona smiled and turned to lay on her back and rest. She was about to close her eyes when the metal box shook a bit. She jolted up to a sitting position but was glad to find Shadow crawling inside from his mission.
"So I guess you got it?" Fiona asked.
"With ease" he said handing the hacking device over to Tails, the fox placed it in his pocket and continued working.
Shadow sat quietly in the corner keeping to himself and Fiona rested like she planned. Blaze and Silver outside kept talking the entire time.
Just under Tails' predicted time he finished "All done, we can finish this"
"So we just place them under the big chemical tanks, run, blow it up, and the fire will be uncontrollable and melt the metal until the place collapses?" Fiona recapped the plan.
"That's it, thanks to the detonator we can blow it whenever we want" Tails reassured. During his scavenging he'd tried his best to find a detonator over a timer or fuse. A lot of things could go very bad in the short time it would take to get out, and a fuse or timer could catch up to them extremely fast.
The trio slipped back down where Silver and Blaze had been sitting and soon were ready to head out and finish this.
The four tanks were spread out along the assembly line, guards were near all of them, they must have known it was a weak spot. What was scarier was that maybe not all the guards were visible. Since Shadow and Scourge had fought those two new stealth bots it was in the back of everyones mind that they could be anywhere.
Tails looked to his teammates and passed out bombs to them all.
"Ok, because I have the stealth suit I'll take the furthest tank, or the most heavily guarded. Whatever we end up seeing"
They all nodded, nobody protested against it, he had the most stealth so it only made sense that he would take the hardest job.
"Silver and Blaze, you two stick together, Shadow you do what you do and Fiona…" he hated sending her alone.
"I'll get it done, don't worry about me" her face was stern she wanted to participate and help the team just as much as the others, even without powers she had to prove she was useful to the team.
Tails then said "And remember to keep your earpieces on, never know when things could go bad or need to talk to Nicole" they all nodded agreeing with that.
The five then split up heading their own way.
Fiona crept in the same direction she'd gone to get the tubes. She used the mechanical arms as steps. Last time it was fine but she slip and fell. Just barely grabbing on before she got out of reach.
She dangled from the constantly moving arm and tried her best to avoid moving or making any noise. She looked down at her belt where she hooked the bomb onto and was glad to see it was still there.
Still hanging she tried to reach and get a hold or anything but sadly the constant movement made it hard and made her hand slip before making a proper grip. Her other hand was slowly losing its grip so she tried to think of a plan.
The fox realized the arms were going in a pattern and thought maybe she could use that. Her acrobatic skills might finally come in handy since her escape in the forest years ago.
She had only another thirty seconds at best before her grip gave out so she focused on how she'd get this done. With her movements in mind she swung her legs forward and back like she were on a swing. The extra movement wasn't helping her grip but she was almost ready.
With perfect timing she swung forward as the arm swung in the same direction. Letting go at the point of most momentum she sailed through the air and just like she predicted the next mechanical air swung towards her as it moved to the next part on the line.
She got a grip of the it with both hands and silently cheered "Yes"
Pulling herself up she got back in a safe place and sighed in relief. The bomb still on her belt she walked along the arm with her expert balance and jumped on top of a furnace, most likely to heat metal for shaping. Her boots protected her from the heat and continued on.
Now was the hard part though, half way to her target there was no more elevated positions in that direction. Last time she did this for her last job she went to the right continuing along the line where there were tons of things to stay above ground. Now it was mostly open floor with some stuff laying around she might be able to use as cover.
There wasn't an easy way through the area without being seen so put a finger to her ear "Nicole do you see me on any cameras?"
A short pause was all she heard until the lynx's voice finally came "Sorry, was pre occupied with something" she sounded a little nervous but quickly got back to normal. Her humming was heard until she said "Yes I see you, what do you need?"
"See this open space ahead of me filled with guards, got a way to get me over there and back?"
Nicole started humming again as she worked and said "Ah yes, I think I do, give me a moment to bring it over"
"Bring it over?" Fiona asked confused.
In less than a minute a crane moved in front of her.
"This is your ride" Nicole said cheerfully.
"Excellent Nicole" she took a few steps back and ran forward and jumped catching the side. She mentally thanked herself for scavenging these gloves since they had built in grip.
She climbed on top of the container and stayed low, she really hoped none of the eggbots would notice and assume it's normal work.
Luckily for her it was taken normally and the container lowered into a designated area. It was much closer to the tank and had far less guards in the way now. As the container lowered she swung to the opposite side and hung from the side to avoid being seen and once reaching the floor hopped down and crept to the side to look around.
Peaking around the corner she saw five eggbots nearby, and one swatbot.
"Great, just what I need" she wasn't even thinking about the hidden threat yet.
"Ok, how can I do this" she whispered to herself.
Fiona debated if she could actually roll the cylinder through the crowd under the large silver vats. They had to be atleast ten meters tall and seven meters in diameter. It would make one hell of a bang.
The idea was swiftly left behind seeing as there were too many in her way, it would probably be seen or she could just straight up mess up and miss.
She gasped remembering, reaching in her pocket she had tons of EMP grenades now that her ammo was on bandoliers. Only problem was that she'd have to get out fast, the other guards would notice as soon as their fellow guards were down.
"Looks like I got to pull a blitz play" she sighed and contacted Nicole again.
"Nicole, you aren't busy again are you?"
"I…. no I am ready, what do you need?" she said nervously again apparently her bringing it up made her nervous again.
"Ok, I'm gonna rush the six bots in front of me and throw an EMP grenade, when I do have the container you grabbed, or a new one meet me at the top of the chemical vat, I'll need a swift exit"
"I understand, I will have another container waiting, just give me the signal when you run"
"Good…. Ok…." She took a deep breath, activate grenade… GO!
The fox darted from her cover charging her enemies and tossed the small silver device ahead of her. All six eggbots aimed and prepared to fire until the small device pulsed and they fell over being shut down.
Fiona just raced past them and pulled the bomb from her belt and threw it under the giant metal container. Now came the extra hard part. The big vat was next to a wall at the back so Fiona hoped she could pull off some wall jumps. Even for her going up something this tall was gonna test her skills.
She was thankful to see a crane carrying a container approaching.
Hearing metal feet coming around she ran as fast as she could to the wall and jumped. Her feet hit the wall first followed by her hands which all pushed again with her all her strength to make the rest of the height.
She'd never done such a perfect wall jump and even then she just barely gripped the edge of the rim and clambered up. She ran for the container, which was swinging by and like before gripped the edge and pulled herself up.
The fox panted heavily proud of herself for pulling that off without any problems.
"Watch out!"
Nicoles voice brought her body to full alert and swung around to see a de-cloaking robot behind her preparing to grab her.
Just barely side stepping she grabbed the offending arm and faced away from her attacker. Using her hip and leg she threw it over her shoulder and it made a loud crash onto the metal container.
Wanting a swift end to this she went to stomp the head but was surprised to find her foot in its hands. It applied pressure to her foot making her realize it was her recently injured foot as well.
She screamed in pain but still focused and pulled out another EMP grenade. The mere threat of it made it let go and quickly get to its feet. Its agility proving to be something she couldn't match.
It didn't matter, all she had to do was get it in the blast radius so activated the device and charge at it.
It's response was a quick sweep kick making her fall and lose the grenade as she landed. Seconds before it went off the bot punted it away saving itself.
The momentary distraction gave Fiona enough time to see exposed tubes in the back of the leg. Clearly Eggman designed them with speed and agility over armor. She pulled out the knife from her boot and slashed at the back of the lower half of its leg.
She was happy to see she was successful and white liquid spilled out. It flinched feeling that and Fiona too the chance to roll backwards and get to her feet. Now in a ready stance holding her knife backwards instead forward so she had more slashing power.
The robot only seemed to get more pissed off losing the white liquid, though it was quickly apparent she hurt it bad as that leg became much stiffer. She smirked, she'd hurt it… now to kill it.
This time she waited for it to attack knowing it still had much higher defensive reaction than her.
It lunged forward but it was just a fake out as it sidestepped and punched at her side. It stung badly but Fiona bit through the pain slashing at the extended appendage hitting hydraulics again.
The same white liquid spilled from it and the arm got visibly stiffer. Like before it only got more agitated. The fox smirked once again as she gained another advantage, though had to take a bad hit herself. None of that mattered right now.
Taking her advantage she lunged for the robot and stabbed into the weak chest. She must have gotten close to a fatal blow as it quickly backhanded her in the cheek forcing her to let go of the knife and fall back.
She grunted rolling backwards to get to her feet and gain distance. Coming out of the roll she nearly fell off the side and swung her arms to gain balance again. Below her robots were fighting against a black blur, clearly Shadow had been seen.
Her eyes went back to her opponent as she regained her balance and saw the half disabled stealth bot approaching. She had one trick left and pulled out a EMP grenade and activated it.
"Nowhere to run now" she growled, it was too slow from the damaged leg to run so it had to either fight or give up.
It made some strange screeching noise at her to try and intimidate her but she knew she had control now so it lunged forward. With every bit of speed it had it grabbed her wrist with its good arm which was the opposite arm she was holding her grenade, and squeezed forcing her to drop it and to the floor below. Accidentally helping Shadow a little as it took out two swatbots.
But it stepped in her trap. Since it had to grab her right arm with its right arm its right side was entirely exposed.
"You look pretty bad bud, maybe some juice will help" she smirked clenching her left fist activating her newly equipment shock gauntlet Tails loaned her. Like he said it could only hold one charge per gauntlet but one was all she needed as she punched into the chest sending a surge through it so powerful the optics exploded. Luckily nothing hurt her.
With it now done it fell letting go of her wrist. She caught it and spun it around to the edge and swiftly pulled out her knife from its chest "Thanks for keeping it warm" then pushed it off the edge into a molten metal vat.
"Man, I didn't even plan that but cool" she chuckled putting the knife back into her boot and with the help of Nicole found a path back up the vent opening.
She called out on the radio to everyone else "Guys, I made it back and got my bomb placed, how's everyone else?"
Blaze was first to answer "Silver and I are on the way back, he was able to send it under the tank with his powers"
Shadows voice came next, some gun shots and the sound of shattering metal and maybe the hum of chaos energy "Got mine done, though I'm a little busy, once everyone is back I'll join you"
Tails was last "Just finished mine, had a stealthy bastard to contend with but I'm good now and heading back through Shadows confusion" he gasped for a moment "Just hope a stray bullet doesn't brain me"
"Stay out of the line of fire " she hoped he'd be more careful.
"Don't worry, I 'm almost back"
"I had one of the stealth bots attack me as well. Hit me a few times but I'm still better than Scourge is" she rubbed her side as it pulsed with pain, her cheek also stinging. Besides that her fur was a little coated in the white liquid that spilled from the robots wounds.
"Glad you got out in one piece" Tails said.
Just as he said that Silver and Blaze made it back up using his powers and landed next to Fiona.
"Good to see you both in one piece" she greeted.
"Good to see you aren't too beat up" Silver smiled seeing the small cut on her cheek from the extremely hard slap.
"Ya, I got out easy compared to what apparently happened to Scourge" she groaned.
"Well you're still walking, that's what's important" the young hedgehog smiled.
Fiona nodded massaging her side while she waited and soon Tails appeared from thin air.
"Everyone ok?" he asked, he already knew the answer but it was just something Sonic would ask when he led a team.
They all nodded but Tails looked to Fiona "Didn't get banged up too badly right?"
"I'm still able to walk and run, I can get myself out" she groaned again.
Tails nodded and said over the radio "Ok Shadow, we're all back, it's time to go"
A black blur sped below them and ran up a wall then along the ceiling to their position. Shadow landing next to the group taking a quick breath "Then let's go"
"Nicole find us a way out" Tails requested "Once we're out Shadow will do two quick teleports and you'll be out of here"
"Ok, go back to the vents. Go back the way Shadow came, I will direct you further"
They followed her directions, Shadow remembered his way back and the group came out of the vent looking around for any enemies. There were none.
Shadow crawled out first with everyone coming up behind him and Nicole said "Now proceed to the right"
Shadow led the group through the halls going as fast as they could. Meaning Silver was carrying Blaze and Fiona with his powers like always. All the way Nicole relaying directions and avoiding any opposition. Almost over, so very close.
Finally after one final turn the group saw daylight.
"It is a safe exit" Nicole said going off radio.
Shadow nodded "Set off the bombs"
Tails nodded and saw Shadow disappear in green light going to get Scourge and Nicole. While still running outside Tails hit a button on his wrist and in a matter of seconds the structure rumbled from the explosions.
With them now outside they were safe and ran back to the hill they'd used to spy on the building before. A flash of green light blinded them for a moment. When it was gone it revealed Shadow standing next to Nicole and Scourge. The green hedgehog was being supported by the holo lynx so he could stand.
Fiona surprisingly asked "You ok Scourge?"
"You know I've been beat up far worse" he shrugged.
"We're all glad you're ok" she smiled warmly.
Scourge just shrugged again and said "So we gonna stay and watch it burn to the ground?"
"I think that's a good idea" Tails chuckled.
Everyone agreed and turned to watch.
Nicole said "It should take approximately ten minutes"
Silver groaned "Too looooong"
Blaze smirked and said in mocking tone "Patience is a virtue Silver"
Silver crossed his arms sighing angrily but waited silently.
Ten minutes went by and suddenly a loud crunch was heard. Then a snap, then loud creaks as the tallest smoke stack started to tip. It tilted more and more gradually gaining speed and Silver yelled "TIMBER!"
With a mighty smash it took down walls and another smoke stack. With the walls destroyed fire was seen engulfing the factory floor melting away everything.
Another couple minutes and almost all the walls had fell, all the smoke stacks were gone and several secondary explosions went off leaving a massive plume of smoke in the air, a puffy dark beacon to everyone nearby of their success.
For the first time since they all came together people would know of their efforts, maybe not their names or faces, but the surviving Mobians would have someone to root for again.
The hard part now was not letting them down.
Sadly there was no more time watch as an airship was coming so the group left for home.
Hell ya nearly 8k words. It could have been far longer if I made a section for everyones exploits. To be honest I hope nobody feels like they missed something.
But seriously I liked this chapter, got my action in and got some other stuff in there. Hope you loved it, cause I did.
Like always check out my other stuff if you're feeling up to it, review if you got something to say and keep being awesome.
Admiralkirk