Sally had just been thinking about whether she should knock on Bunnie's door in such a bedraggled state when the rabbit saved her the trouble by coming over to Rotor's hut herself. Rotor himself let her in and she offered him the briefest of greetings before craning her neck around to see Sally and Antoine. "What in tarnation happened?" she exclaimed.
Sally glanced at Antoine, who accepted a damp cloth from Sonic and began to dab at himself as the princess and the hedgehog answered. "We saw Antoine's robot," she began. "It attacked us."
"It's covered with blades," Sonic continued, then paused. "And it's fast."
Antoine stood with a grimace, and took off his uniform. He examined it, the bloodstains and the slashes and sighed. "Zis will need immediate washeeng," he announced. "Rotor. May I?" he asked the walrus and pointed toward the bathroom.
"Sure," Rotor replied. Antoine walked past him and out of sight.
"...then the Sally robot started attacking just as I pulled the attachment from the computer and I lost it and NICOLE," Sally concluded hopelessly. Why couldn't she have been a little less hasty? Then maybe she'd have managed to go back to the interface and pull the arrangement out properly later. She balled a fist and thumped her thigh with frustration. Well, they couldn't search for Antoine now; the attachment would be gone. Worse than that, Robotnik would now have NICOLE. Oh, this was too much to think about!
Bunnie took advantage of the lull in conversation to voice the question she'd been dying to ask. "So... Sally-girl?" she prompted quietly. The two females searched each other's eyes for a moment and Sally knew she'd have to tell the rabbit the news.
"I'm sorry Bunnie. Your whole family..." There didn't seem to be any good way of finishing that sentence and, as soon as Bunnie realised Sally wasn't pausing just to gather herself, the rabbit stood up and looked out of the window. Sally tried to gauge whether Bunnie wanted a cuddle or not.
"All in one go?" Bunnie asked, her back still to everybody else.
"Yes."
"Even mah brothers and sisters?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"During a raid in Mobotropolis soon after the main coup," Sally explained miserably. She was briefly aware of Antoine pausing during rinsing his uniform to eavesdrop on the conversation. "One of the buildings that were knocked down contained your family. All of them were registered dead within a week of the collapse by a medical team that visited the area." Bunnie had started slowly weeping and Sally got up to embrace her. "I'm so sorry, Bunnie."
Bunnie, unusually, was lost for words. She simply let herself be held by Sally and wept. Sally shed a few tears of her own in sympathy; the news was too awful to do anything else.
Sally let her mind wander as Bunnie slowly regained her composure. Not only had they brought bad news for Bunnie but they'd lost NICOLE, and their means of finding news on Antoine's family. So what were they going to do? Abandon the project, she supposed. But surely they couldn't-
There was an abrupt splash from the bathroom. "Ah, I knew eet!" Antoine's disembodied voice exclaimed and he hurriedly came into sight, drying his hands on a towel which he discarded offhandedly on Rotor's worktop. He reached down to his rucksack and rummaged around in it.
"What is it, Ant?" Sonic asked, his voice crestfallen and, for now, not sounding particularly interested. Sally shared a confused glance with the hedgehog and then looked at Antoine again.
He pulled something out of the bag. Something she recognised at once.
"Antoine, you got NICOLE!" Sally exclaimed with genuinely-felt relief. Bunnie sensed her wish to take the machine back and let go of her.
The news was better than that: the attachment was still locked in to NICOLE. The pins were bent again but not particularly badly. Rotor could put them right, Sally was sure of it!
"Antoine, you're a star!" Sally gushed, then checked herself. How did Bunnie feel about the change of focus? A look at the rabbit revealed Bunnie, wiping the tears from her eyes and looking with muted interest at the two interlocked machines. They caught each others' gazes and Bunnie offered her a watery, consenting grin.
Antoine looked pleased with himself. "Well!" he said, checking his nails. "Anyzing for my princess, of course!"
xXx
The next few days were dedicated to planning their strategy against the remaining four Anti-Freedom Fighters and recuperating. Over these few days Antoine, Sonic and Sally allowed their wounds to heal. Although Antoine was by far the worst-cut, he healed more quickly than Sonic, who'd suffered a deep cut in the palm of his right hand and was struggling to close it on anything for the time being. Antoine's injuries had, at least, been on his shoulder where they would cause him less trouble.
Rotor had his work cut out straightening the attachment's pins again, but straighten them he did and he was soon able to present it to Sally in a serviceable condition.
Soon enough, Sonic decided he could use his hand regardless of its half-healed condition and neither Sally or Bunnie or Dr. Draftwood were able to convince him otherwise. A positive energy infused the group despite the difficulties they were soon to face, for if Antoine still had any family at all, all five of the Knothole Freedom Fighters would be keen to be a part of the discovery. They'd destroyed the Antoinebot and none of the others would be indestructible either!
xXx
The five of them stood just outside the gates to Robotropolis. This was it: the final stage of the campaign.
"Okay guys," Sonic said, looking around at them all. "You're all clear on what to do. Bunnie, Rotor - you go to the northern quarter and find a way to destroy your robots. Antoine, you and me are going with Sally. You know what to do," he concluded, summarizing their collective plan.
The group nodded and glanced through the gates.
"Okay," Sonic said and put his hand out toward the others. "Let's do it to it!"
xXx
Soon, Bunnie and Rotor found themselves in a semi-indoor area used for the final touches of SWATbot production. The ceiling was high and there were conveyor belts and gangways above them, enough to lend the room a tangled, hectic feel. This was to be the arena in which they'd fight their robots. Rotor looked around nervously, wondering what his 'bot would be like.
"D'yall think we should go straight up there?" Bunnie suggested, pointing up at the mess of gangways above them. "Ah reckon they cain't creep up on us if there's only two ways they can come from."
Rotor thought this was a good idea and nodded. "Good plan, Bunnie. Let's go."
xXx
Sally stood in front of the databank and flexed her fingers, ready to start working. She opened a selection of files, then began cross-referencing information on the D'Coolette clan. Behind her and facing away stood Antoine and Sonic, just waiting for Sallybot and Sonicbot to turn up. As ever she trusted the hedgehog, and something told her that Antoine would come up good today. Either way, there was nothing she could do now but put her trust in them both.
xXx
Once on a gangway Bunnie and Rotor felt safer. And they'd got up here just in time, too. The ground, so far below now, was made of metal flags and the sounds of two sets of footsteps began to ring out, slow and menacing.
"There they are!" Bunnie whispered sharply, pointing downwards. Rotor followed the line of her finger and spotted them.
Beside the formidable Bunniebot stood a walrus-shaped crushing machine. Bunnie had already told him that the Bunniebot was the same height as her, so from that he took scale. Although he himself was a little taller than Bunnie, the Rotorbot was bigger even than that. While not monstrous, the robot below him was certainly big enough to be dangerous. Its arms were heavier than his own and appeared to be its main weapon; if it weren't a robot, Rotor would have decided it was heavily-muscled.
Both of the 'bots tilted their heads as if scanning the area and locked on to their quarry.
xXx
Antoine's courage almost left him when the robots appeared. First to turn up was the Sonicbot which, as before, simply stood and stared disconcertingly at them all. Like a vulture, it waited patiently for its opportunity.
As if in deliberate contrast, a now-familiar metallic thrum announced Sallybot's approach. It landed spider-like on the ground and made straight for Sally, but Sonic was ready. With every muscle tensed in preparation he launched himself at the robot and caught its forearms. He forcefully turned it toward Antoine, who gasped and stepped instinctively away.
"Take it!" Sonic growled. Antoine came to his senses and rushed forward to help restrain the robot. Sonic, his hands freed up, rooted around on the ground for a chunk of brick and found one. Aiming it against the side of Sallybot's head, he struck it hard on the temple. One side of its body stopped working as its inner circuitry was damaged. The hedgehog struck it twice more and it went limp in Antoine's grip. There was a tense moment where Antoine didn't want to let it go for fear of the robot's possible recovery.
"Let it go Ant, it's dead," Sonic said with a dryness that made the coyote feel foolish.
Of course, Antoine thought as he tried to let the robot drop to the ground with as much dignity as possible. Robots do not recover. How stupid of moi.
"Okay," Sonic huffed and turned his attention to the skulking Sonicbot. "Now we need to get that guy. Ready, Ant?"
xXx
Snively cowered even before Robotnik roared. The dictator had no restraint about voicing his frustration when the hedgehog won a victory against him and the Sonicbot's relaying to the observation screens of Sallybot's defeat angered him greatly.
Robotnik smashed his fists down on the armrests of his chair and left them there, bunched tightly as he stared at the screen.
Snively himself was as unsure as ever what to do or say: from this position they were powerless. The Anti-Freedom Fighters had been designed so as to be independently-functioning. They could not be controlled remotely in case Sonic and his damnable gang discovered a way of gaining control of them, so there was no possibility of making the Sonicbot attack now.
There was, in fact, one thing they could do, Snively thought then: send a team of SWATbots in that direction.
His thoughts clearly mirroring Snively's, Robotnik turned to Snively and growled, "Send a SWATbot team at once!"
The smaller man gulped down his terror - Robotnik was so volatile when he got like this! - and stammered, "Y-yes, sir."
xXx
Both Rotor and Bunnie were now on the gangways, trusting to the rickety metal paths suspended so high over a solid, unforgiving ground. They'd separated in the hope that if one of them found themselves in trouble the other would have a chance of being able to help.
Rotor felt his heart hammer in his chest as he fled from the Rotorbot. It was a heavy 'bot; the vibrations of its footfalls were strong on the floor of the gangway. Pausing for a moment he looked at the T junction he'd just come to and tried to work out the best way to go. Left, he thought, and ran. Rotorbot got to the T junction within seconds and stomped after him. The walrus carried on planning his route forward.
"Y'all okay over there, Rotor?" called Bunnie from another gangway, not too far away. There was no apparent way of getting over to her that the walrus could see and that, for the moment, was a good thing. He answered her as he ran past and took pot luck on the right-hand option of another junction.
"Yeah, just tryin' to think of some way to get this guy off my back."
"Ah've got an idea."
"That'd be good."
Rotor looked back at the route he was taking and saw that Bunnie's plan - whatever it would turn out to be - couldn't come soon enough. He came to an abrupt halt and looked in horror at the dead end he was now in. He turned to look the way he'd come: Rotorbot was close. He looked forward again. There was another gangway a distance away. Could he climb over the rails and jump for it? It seemed unlikely - the other gangway looked like it might be too far, but he was going to be killed if he stayed here.
"Okay, just wait there," he said to the Rotorbot, fairly certain it wouldn't even understand him let alone fall for the ploy and stop advancing. He was right: it simply walked up to him with metallic hands extended. Rotor steeled himself and climbed over the handrail. He leaned out over empty space in an effort to get a little more distance between himself and the robot, then looked again at the other gangway. It was too far, he was sure of it. But it couldn't be. It couldn't be, not at a time like this! He prepared to leap.
"Sorry Ah took so long, Sugah!" came Bunnie's sunny voice and without warning he was gripped around the chest by her robotically-strengthened arms. The pair of them raced vertically downwards, leaving the Roborbot far behind as Bunnie de-telescoped her legs.
"Bunnie! Ha ha, you saved me!" he commented, elated at the unexpected reprieve.
"Uh huh," she said, clearly pleased with herself. Then she wobbled and he instinctively grabbed her arms so as not to fall. She looked down and announced, "Oh, mah stars!"
Rotor couldn't see down. "What is it?"
"It's mah darn robot!"
Rotor thought quickly. "Are we nearly down?"
"Just a minute, Sugah."
"No I mean, put me down here. On this gangway."
He felt Bunnie shrug. "Okay."
He grabbed the railings and looked down to see her continue speeding down the rest of the way to meet her nemesis. He wasn't very far up any more, although he was still too high to jump without hurting himself. He glanced up at the Rotorbot. It was coming his way but wouldn't be here any time soon.
Bunnie had just helped him so it was now up to him to help her. He looked around for some way he might use his height advantage against the Bunniebot.
xXx
Sonic had only needed to sprint a very short distance to get the Sonicbot to attack him. After that he'd simply grabbed hold of its forearms before it could retreat to safety. The plan was easy enough and he executed it just fine, but his injured hand protested sharply as he fought to keep a hold on his rival.
"Ow! Geez" Sonic hissed through gritted teeth, wishing Antoine would just take hold of the robot already. Then a pair of sandy-coloured hands appeared out of nowhere and the pair of them were both wrestling the robot to the ground. But it was taking both of them - Antoine was not particularly strong and Sonic's grip was weakened by his injury. The Sonicbot struggled valiantly and, for a moment, it looked as if it were going to break free.
A rock came down on the Sonicbot's head and crushed it outright. It snapped, crackled and popped... and lay still.
Sonic and Antoine looked at each other in surprise as if to ask which of them had done the deed. Then as one they looked to Princess Sally, who stood next to the Sonicbot's prone head, dusting off her hands. "I'm done researching," she announced. Sonic found himself wondering whether the casual happiness in her voice was to do with successfully defeating the robot or... possible good news? A glance at Antoine confirmed that the coyote was thinking the same thing.
But she didn't tell them yet. They had more work to do. "Come on, we've got to find Bunnie and Rotor," she said and as one, the guys followed her toward the north quarter. As they sped off, the sound of SWATbot feet pounding on the ground began.
It seemed they'd finished up just in time.
xXx
Robotnik was beside himself with fury: this had not been how the plan was meant to go. All that painstaking programming, all that work and his puzzle, his gift to the Freedom Fighters had been cracked. There were two robots left and he switched perspective from the wrecked white fuzz of the Sonicbot's transmission to the walrus robot.
Vaguely aware of his nephew cowering pitifully at his right hand, he calmed and grinned evilly: so Bunnie Rabbot and that walrus were still in peril. He watched from the perspective of the robot as it got closer, with painful slowness, to its mark.
He settled to watch the events unfold and steepled his fingers. What was the walrus doing, he wondered?
TO BE CONTINUED...