Sonic watched the SWATbots walk into the prison building, and then, turned to his siblings.
"They're gone, guys! It's time to get started!" he whispered.
Sonia transformed her medallion to her keyboard. "I wonder why all of them are going to the prison. Maybe somebody IS in there after all." She frowned.
"Or maybe Robotnik just gave the cleaning-job to them!" Manic laughed.
"Anyway, let's check it out! Hang on to your lunch, sibs!" Sonic grabbed Sonia and Manic by their wrists and quickly zipped into the prison building where they hid behind a wall. They looked around the corner. SWATbots seemed to be everywhere.
"Looks like they're guarding something important!" Sonia whispered.
"I'd say someONE! Looks like the person in there needs a S-S-U-R!" Sonic grinned. Sonia and Manic looked at each other, confused.
"S-S-U-R?" Sonia frowned.
"Super Sonic Underground Rescue, what else?! Ok, sibs! Stay here and wait for my signal! Got it?" Sonic looked at the other two. They nodded. Then, Sonic stepped out from behind the corner. The SWATbots didn't notice him.
"Hey, SWATbutts! Your hero is here!" he shouted, whistling. The SWATbots turned around and quickly started shooting after him while the half of them started walking towards him. Sonic snapped his fingers and Sonia and Manic jumped out from behind the corner too. Manic pulled out his drumsticks.
"Yo dudes! Missed me?!" he jumped up on one of them, and started drumming on its head. It exploded, taking 2 other bots with it. Sonia shot 3 of them, and a few seconds later, the rest of the bots had to leave the cell and join the fight. Sonic spin dashed into a crowd, destroying a couple.
"Manic! Go free the prisoner in the cell! We'll get the last SWATbutts!" he shouted. Manic finished the bot which shoulders he was sitting on, and started running towards the cell while pulling the lock breaking tools out of his fanny pack. When he got to the cell, he started picking the lock at the same.
"Don't worry, dude! We'll get ya outta here in no time!" his fingers did their own work. His brain was focusing on something else. He had a strange feeling when he was standing there in front of the cell. He couldn't tell what it was like, but he realized his hands were working faster than usual.
"A… a…. a…. HEDGEHOG?!" he heard a cry from inside the cell. He almost dropped the hairpin he was using when he heard the cry.
"Well, I know I'm not exactly… WHA?!" the hairpin was dropped on the floor when Manic looked up to see the person inside the cell. He stood like stunned, and just stared at the person. Sonic and Sonia came to his side.
"Hey, bro, what's taking you so long? The SWATbots could-" Sonic was cut off by his own gasp when he and Sonia looked into the cell too. Their mouths dropped open in shock: on the plank bed in the cell an Overlander sat, looking out at them, looking a hundred times more shocked than them. An Overlander, or someone who looked pretty much like one. It was a female, of their age and Manic's height. She was wearing a red T-shirt, blue jeans, a brown backpack and a headband, which matched her light blonde hair pretty well. Manic just stood, staring at her. There was something about those greenish blue eyes…
"A-a-a-an OVERLANDER?!" Sonia cried, stepping backwards, making Manic jump as she interrupted his thoughts. The 'Overlander' looked at her, shocked.
"Listen… I'm not an Overlander… I… could you… please tell me what's going on?" she asked, with a little voice.
"You wanna know what's going on?! I'll tell you what's going on! Stay there, don't move!" Sonia started pointing at the Overlander with her synthesizer, ready to shoot while the Overlander crawled backwards, falling down from the plank bed.
"HEY! Stop that, sis! She can't do anything, anyway!" Manic pushed the synthesizer away, making Sonia stop pointing at the Overlander. Sonic and Sonia looked at each other, frowning.
"And... what do you think you're doing, bro?!" Sonic asked.
"Well... you can't blame her for her species." Manic replied.
"She's an Overlander, Manic! Like Robotnik!" Sonia crossed her arms.
"Hey, she's NOT Robotnik! And there has to be a reason of why she's locked up in there!" Manic pointed to the Overlander who just looked from one of them to another in confusion.
"Yeah, she probably betrayed Robotnik or something! Manic, let's just leave her here!" Sonic rolled his eyes.
"Sorry, but... I didn't betray anyone..." the Overlander quietly said, "he just took me away... I don't know why." she looked at Sonic, pleading, "you have to trust me... please... get me out of here, I can't stand another day here!" she bit in her lip.
"Yeah, yeah... nice acting. Sis, bro, Com' on!" Sonic turned around along with Sonia and started walking out when they suddenly saw Manic was missing. Turning around, they saw him in front of the cell, trying to break the lock again.
"Manic, what the heck are you doing?!" Sonic sped back and grabbed his brother by the shoulder. Manic just continued breaking the lock.
"We can't leave her here! Robotnik would roboticize her." he let his fingers do their own work, and finally, the lock gave up, "that's it!"
"And so what if Robotnik roboticized her?" Sonic sighed heavily.
"So what?! Hey, so what if Robotnik roboticized me? So what if Robotnik roboticized you? It's the same, Sonic, she's alive just like us!" Manic said, "if you don't wanna help me get her out, it's alright, but I AM gonna help her!" he looked at Sonic for the last time, and then, walked into the cell. Sonic rolled his eyes.
"Com' on sis, we're outta here! See you by the van, Manic!" he turned around, and he and Sonia left. Manic looked after them, shrugging his shoulders.
"Thanks, guys." he mumbled, and then, turned to the Overlander, "ok dudette... let's get outta here, alright?" he offered her a hand.
She crawled backwards, startled.
"Leave me alone!" she quietly, but firmly said. Manic smiled.
"Hey, take it easy! I'm not gonna hurt ya! I just wanna help you out of here! Com' on, nothing will happen!" he offered her a hand again. She hesitated for a moment, and then, let Manic help her to her feet. He looked her over once again.
She was totally pale, and looked like she'd collapse any moment.
"Hey... are you alright?" Manic asked.
"Would you be if you were taken away from your parents, flown to some place you don't even know and thrown into an ugly, cold and wet cell in an ugly, cold and wet town without having anything to eat or drink in 2 days, and after a time some, sorry, aliens rescue you? No, I'm not alright! I just wanna go home!" she shook her head while her eyes started to water. Then, she looked at him, sighing heavily, "sorry... and thank you."
"It's alright, no problem. Listen, we'd better..." Manic was cut off when a beam from a stun gun suddenly hit the wall,
"whoops! Looks like they're back! Let's go!" Manic grabbed the girl's hand.
"But they... WHOA!!" she was cut off when Manic suddenly ran towards the bots.
"Listen, I don't think that's a good idea!!" she cried when they came closer. She covered her eyes with her hands when Manic suddenly jumped up and kicked all of the 'bots down. Then, he turned to the girl.
"Are you coming? More SWATbots are coming soon, we've gotta get outta here!" he pointed to the exit of the building. The girl looked at him, impressed.
"S... sure." she replied. Manic started running, followed by the girl. When they came out some SWATbots were checking the streets noticed them and started following them closely, shooting after them with glue- and stun guns. Manic looked behind and saw the SWATbots catching up with the girl who tried to keep up with him. They started reaching for her.
"Oh no! HANG ON!!" he shouted, turning around and running towards the girl. When he reached her he grabbed her hand and the two continued their way toward the hills behind the city. After a short moment, they were far ahead of the SWATbots, but kept on running.
"We need to get to the van! Sis an' bro are waiting there, it's our only chance to get away!" Manic said, "you'll be alright?" he looked at the girl.
"Yeah... thanks again!" she replied. They finally reached the van and hurried inside, short of breath. Manic ran over, and sat down in his seat, buckling his seat belt.
"Manic, what the heck are you doing?! She's not..." Sonic was cut off by Manic.
"Shut up and drive! We have an army of SWATbots on our backs, no time for this!" he spat. Sonic and Sonia looked at each other, and then, back at Manic, blinking confused. Suddenly, something started knocking on the door to the van, trying to knock it in.
"They're here! Com' on, hurry up!" Manic shouted to Sonic who finally started the van, "take the passenger's bench... You'll need to sit down." Manic pointed to passenger's bench, looking at the Overlander. She did as she was told, but was thrown to one of the sides when Sonic backed the van into a SWATbot. He drove forwards, right into another SWATbot, throwing the Overlander to the other side.
"Ok, let's go!" he stepped on the gas, and the van raced forwards, away from the SWATbots, which started following them, shooting after the wheels. Sonic made a hard turn, driving directly into some other SWATbots. Only two left. Sonic drove forwards with full speed, avoiding some shots from the two bots. Then, he backed up destroying one of the bots, and then, raced forwards, followed by the last one. After a short moment, the SWATbot gave up, and stopped the chase, going back to Robotropolis.
"Alright! We made it!" Manic slapped his sister a high-five.
"Yeah, barely all because of HER!" Sonic grumbled while he continued driving, pointing to the Overlander, who just sat, holding onto the passenger's bench, firmly.
"Ah, stop it! It's not her fault!" Manic folded his arms.
"Oh, but they were following HER! It actually WAS her fault!" Sonia protested.
The Overlander heard this, and just looked at them, biting in her lip. "I'm... sorry." she quietly said.
"And you have a reason to be! You almost got us killed back there!" Sonic looked at her, icy, and then, turned back to keep an eye on the road.
Manic looked back at the Overlander who looked down at the ground. He unbuckled his seatbelt and got up. Sonic and Sonia looked at him surprised when he walked over and sat down beside the Overlander on the passenger's seat. Manic just ignored this, and turned to the Overlander.
"Listen, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to..." she fell silent when Manic signed her to be quiet.
"It wasn't your fault in any way... they followed me too, so it'd be my fault as well." he shrugged his shoulders.
"But you stayed to get me out... if you'd just left, they wouldn't be following you." The Overlander looked away from him, down at the passenger's bench.
"Hey, it was my own choice... don't feel bad about it, ok?" Manic placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him for a moment, and then, looked at Sonic and Sonia.
"But your siblings don't want me here... perhaps it'd be the best if I just left." she said, quietly.
"Sounds good to me!" Sonic muttered from the front.
"Mind your own business, Sonic!" Manic hissed. He turned back to the Overlander, "if you left, Robotnik would probably get you again..."
"Who's... Robotnik?" the Overlander asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"You don't know?" Manic asked, confused. The Overlander shook her head no. "I've never heard of him..."
"Well, he's the guy who's making this war… have you seen a big round guy with mustache?"
"HE was Robotnik?" Jennifer scratched her head, "talk about overweight!"
"That's Robotnik alright… what about a wolf and a…"
"Dingo! I saw them… thought they were aliens… I… it's hard to believe what's going on." The girl cut Manic off, looking down at the ground.
"Sleet and Dingo." Manic looked at her. She just sat, looking down at the ground "I wonder what they wanted with you... they rarely use the panzered cell." He broke the silence.
"The fat... I mean, Robotnik said he wanted to... robo... roboticaze me... I think." the Overlander said.
"Roboticize!" Manic snapped his fingers.
"Yeah... he said something about I'd be the first roboticized human in the history of... something I don't remember." she shrugged her shoulders.
"Human?" Manic asked. The Overlander nodded.
"I'm a human! Not one of those... Overlanders." she replied.
"You hear that! She's not an Overlander!" Manic shouted to his siblings.
"She's acting, Manic! She IS an Overlander!" Sonia just replied. Manic sighed and looked back at the Overlander and into her eyes. Somehow, he didn't think she was lying. It was like her eyes told him that she really was telling him the truth.
"Never mind them." he muttered.
"It's ok... I don't blame them. If that Robotnik guy is an Overlander, they have a really good reason to be mad at me." the Overlander, or human, said.
"Which reason? YOU aren't Robotnik."
"No, I know."
Silence... Neither Manic nor the girl said anything.