Rotor had worked up a sweat putting his plan into action, but the effort was paying off. With a grunt he finished pulling at the cheaply-produced gangway railings and hurriedly slotted the pieces he'd lined up on the gangway floor together. He looked at his handiwork and felt pleased: freed from their verticals and joined together they formed a strong metal pole which, he hoped, would make a good weapon against the Bunniebot.
He looked down for the two rabbits - one robotic, one half-organic - and strode over to position himself directly above them. Bunnie seemed to be tiring from the fight. Not so her sparring partner: the Bunniebot looked as fresh as when it had first strode in with Rotorbot at its side. Rotor crouched to be as close to his quarry as possible... and then swiped at it.
It tottered; it staggered. Bunnie glanced up at him and threw him a quick smile as she got her breath back. The robot righted itself and stanced again but then Rotor noticed something: it had started humming, loudly. It resumed the fight with Bunnie, but it appeared to have lost some of its ability to track her, and it struggled to keep up with the rabbit when she moved her position relative to it.
"Good work, Sugah!" Bunnie called, reassured by this turn of events.
"No prob-" he began joyously, then noticed a shadow fall over him and looked up. "...lem."
The Rotorbot had caught up with him.
xXx
Sally kept her head and legs tucked in close as Sonic carried her and Antoine to the factory outlet in the northern quarter. She was glad the Sonicbot was defeated. It meant that Sonic was finally free to sprint again - and maybe they'd need him to before this mission was out.
They arrived; Sonic skidded to a halt, then let both Sally and Antoine to the floor. The group looked around for their companions. They spotted them right away; both were visible further inside the factory. Bunnie and the Bunniebot fought fiercely. The Bunniebot was in a bad way, fighting but looking dazed, as if concussed. Rotor was clearly in trouble: a lumbering monster of a robot towered over him, reaching out with two powerful-looking arms and staring blankly at Rotor, its tusked face expressionless. It was obvious that Bunnie and Rotor needed their help. Now.
Immediately Sally sprinted to join Bunnie's fight against the Bunniebot. With the two of them fighting there wouldn't be much of a contest. Sonic, she knew, would organise a plan to rescue Rotor.
She made it to Bunnie's side and was briefly aware of Rotor's voice above her shouting "Sonic! Up here!", but she didn't look up at first, keen instead to focus on the immediate danger of the Bunniebot. Bunnie treated her nemesis to a punishing kick before backing off for Sally to take over while she got her breath back. "Any news, Sally-girl?" she panted.
"Very good news," Sally replied. "I haven't told the others yet, but..."
Sally didn't need to say any more. The two girls simply smiled at each other, then set back to work fighting the Bunniebot.
xXx
Sonic sped past the Rotorbot, taking Rotor with him as the walrus gripped his torso. They had a plan.
"Big robot, huh?" Rotor to Sonic called with false good nature as they came to the spot where he'd taken the railings apart.
"Yeah," Sonic agreed. He stopped, turned and considered the robot for a moment. The lumbering automaton crouched and beeped quietly as it sensed Rotor's position. It began waddling heavy toward the two friends. "Ready?" the hedgehog asked his friend as the Rotorbot neared them.
"Kind of," Rotor replied dubiously, eyeing his nemesis with trepidation.
Sonic sprinted back past the 'bot and stood behind it. Of course, it ignored him. Rotor backed off a couple of steps but held his ground as well as his juddering nerves would allow - and Sonic realised he did look terrified. The guys didn't want it to walk past the barrier-less area, that would ruin the plan. In a fake impression of somebody bored by the situation, Rotor leaned against the last part of railing on his side of the gap and the Rotorbot began to lumber toward him.
"So..." Rotor said to the robot with forced easiness, "you ready to take a trip, big guy?"
Even if the robot had been able to decipher what he meant it wouldn't have got out of the way in time. Sonic buffeted it from behind and it lost its balance, clawing for a railing that wasn't there and toppling over the edge.
"Look out guys!" Rotor called over the edge. Below, Sally, Bunnie and Antoine looked up and scattered; the Rotorbot crashed to the ground, smashing far too badly ever to be able to pick itself up again.
The battle was won. No robots remained.
xXx
Snively felt the pain of that final defeat almost as much as that walrus robot would have, had it been able to feel pain. But lucky for the 'bot, it couldn't. The same couldn't be said for Snively, though, if Robotnik decided to release his fury against him.
The dictator was fuming, ranting incoherently, for the moment kept prisoner by his own fury.
Snively backed off, glanced at the screens that showed the factory output area for signs of the Freedom Fighters (they'd already gone. There was no chance of catching them now) and then back at his uncle - just in time to see a metallic hand reach out to him.
Robotnik caught him by the collar and lifted him clean off his feet. Snively gulped: once again, he was to be the brunt of Robotnik's frustration...
xXx
"I..." Antoine stared slack-jawed at Sally for a moment before he seemed to remember himself and regained a little composure. The coyote had always been emotionally reserved like this, Sally thought, smiling. But he was still obviously amazed by the news, and as delighted as she'd thought he'd be. "My sister? Velvet?"
Sally laughed, feeling lighter than she had done in some time. "Your sister! She's alive, Antoine!"
The coyote seemed lost for words. He put a hand to his head, shook it, and looked around at the others. They were all smiling, intensely pleased for him. Orphaned Antoine may have been, but news of a sibling was wonderful compared to the uniform confirmations of death they'd all heard before.
Now there was just one more thing to do: get in contact! And Sally had got the information on how to do that.
xXx
Two weeks later contact had been made and a time and place set for the encounter. Antoine was as nervous as he'd ever been.
His sister, older by five years.
Their short correspondence had been friendly but formal. How much could he read into that? What would she be like? Would they become fast friends or... no, the alternative was inconceivable. They'd get along: Antoine would make sure of it.
The time for speculation had seemed much longer than it actually was, but it was finally over. Antoine paced to and fro, afraid of what might transpire here. Sonic, apparently understanding the need for a personal, family-only reunion, remained a short distance away but was ready to come and take them to Knothole if she wanted.
Antoine was here: beneath Giant Rock, at dusk, on the fifth day of the month.
And as he turned he found, so was she. He found himself looking straight at a face so similar he could have been looking in a mirror. A face similar to his - but feminine. It had larger eyes and a more delicate snout, but the family look was there and he was momentarily fascinated. Sandy fur and a cream chest, a tail much longer than his - undocked and complete. Black boots, a trilby, blue fabric around the wrists.
And a tentatively friendly expression laced with the same worry he felt.
"Ma soeur," he whispered, took a tiny step toward her.
"Mon frere!" she choked and closed the gap between them. She wrapped slim arms around him and held him close, crying silently but hard against his shoulder and pressing his head against her collarbone in a fierce embrace. Laughing, weeping, the pair shook free the fear and the desolation and the worry that had characterised their lives since the coup. They were together and they would never be separated again!
At length they held each other at arms' length and appraised each other. "Comment avez-vous t ? J'ai t si inquit de vous!" he exclaimed.
"J'ai t ... oh, a ne fait rien maintenant. Nous sommes ensemble de nouveau!" she replied. "O irons-nous maintenant?"
"Mon ami nous emmnera la maison," Antoine said and turned to look for Sonic. Sonic, who'd been watching, came forward as if aware that he was now needed.
"Hey there," he said in English and stuck out a hand. "Great to meet ya!" Antoine rolled his eyes: he'd thought it was plain that Velvet could not understand English. Their correspondence had been in French - no English had been used.
"Hello," she replied in a clear English accent and took his hand, "Good to meet you, too!"
Antoine looked from one to the other. "You speak English?" he asked Velvet.
Velvet grinned at the revelation. "So do you," and laughed.
The pair seemed unsure what to say next, then caught each other looking uncertain and laughed freely.
"I think," Antoine said though his mirth, "that we should go home."
THE END.