AFTER THE METAREX: SONIC'S STORY

Chapter Three

"Before the Fighting Starts"

"Where is that bloke?" St. John demanded, pacing the floor outside of the Freedom Fighters' headquarters. "He should have been back here by now!"

"Calm yourself, Geoffrey," Hershey said. "Sonic may be having trouble finding this girl."

"Zat 'edge'og, 'e is always trouble, oui?" Antoine chimed in.

"I knew it was a mistake getting him involved in this," St. John said. "Always showboating! Bunny! Any sign of our 'hero' yet?"

"Sorry, sugah," Bunny said, looking through the telescope. "No sign of anybody anywhere. Ah think maybe Sonic needs our help, gang!"

"Hah, always I am zinking he is not so good as his press secretary would have us believe, but no?" Antoine said.

"I don't know exactly what you just said, mate," St. John told him, "but if you're bad mouthing the blighter, I'm with you there." He stormed back inside. Just then, the radio crackled. "That better be him!" he said. "'ello?"

"This is Breezy," came a breathless voice. "I'm calling to confirm that Metal Sonic is away at this time. I just caught sight of him at the pier. He's having some of his bully boys load boxes onto a boat with Eggman's seal on it."

"Perfect!" St. John said. "At least somebody's doing their job around here! You and Honey come on in," he added. "We make our move on the compound today!"

"But what about Sonic?" Bunny asked once St. John had switched off the radio.

"'e made 'is bed, let 'im lay in it!" St. John said. "We don't need the likes of 'im!"

"Honey!" the robot called to a cat still watching Metal Sonic through a telescope. "St. John says we move on the quarry today!"

"Let's hope Metal Sonic is busy for awhile longer," Honey the Cat said. "From what I've heard, even Sonic the Hedgehog has had a lot of trouble with him."

The two girls rushed to their bikes. Machine engines, no matter how quiet, would be picked up by Metal Sonic's audial receptors, and he was bound to investigate.

After awhile, Breezy slowed down.

"You okay?" Honey asked.

"I'm not built for this!" Breezy wheezed. "I was made to seduce Sonic…and nothing else! That toad didn't even…give me any decent attacks! But don't worry about me! I'll show up…eventually!"

"You're sure you'll be okay?" Honey asked.
Breezy grinned. It was a strange look on a robot's face. "Sure. Give my regards…to Sonic if you see him!" She slowed down some more.

"Listen," Honey said. "If you really can't go on, hide someplace and rest. Don't try to gut it out! They might catch you!"

"Honey, I don't have guts!" Breezy pointed out. She primped. "And the robot wasn't built yet…that can resist me!"

Honey rolled her eyes. "Well, if you're sure!" she said.

"Give 'em heck, girl!" Breezy said.

Honey went on alone. Ordinarily, she could have carried Breezy in the air. Although a cat, Honey had wings. But reconnoitering the day before, Honey had been shot down by one of the guards. Bunny had caught her, but Honey wouldn't be doing any flying for quite awhile. They made an odd pair, a robot and a winged cat. But it was precisely because they fit in nowhere that they had grown so close. Honey hoped Breezy would be all right.

Sonic looked everywhere for the masked girl. No sign of her. Blast it! He was already way behind schedule. "This mission is a bust!" he decided. He rushed back to the old duck.

"Listen, buddy," he hissed, "I'm going, but I'll be back with help! Tell all the kids to hide when they hear a whippoorwill's call! The fighting might get messy!"

"Be careful," the duck warned him. "Some of these children will want to join in the battle, and they won't take no for an answer!"

"Tell me about it!" Sonic said. His ankle still hurt from where that little mink had bitten him.

Deciding to cut his losses and run, Sonic raced back for the gate. He ran across a beam, leaped, and spun dashed over the wall. He landed ninja-style on the other side and took off back to the Freedom Fighters' headquarters. That girl was too reckless. She was going to get herself killed!

The masked girl ducked under a wagon to avoid being seen by Dingo. He'd told her she was cute once, which had completely freaked her out. He looked like…well, like he'd been beaten with an ugly stick. Once he passed, she ran for the box. She scaled it again. She didn't know what else to do. If Metal Sonic had noticed that the girl in there that was supposed to be her was just a dummy, then it would be suicide to go back in and play stupid. But so far nobody else seemed to know she was loose. Was he keeping it a secret from everyone for some reason? The dummy seemed undisturbed. She leaped back down, then examined the lock. She took out a bunch of keys from her pocket and tried each of them. No luck. So she picked up a rock and smashed the lock. Then she threw the door open. There. Metal Sonic might figure out who she was, but the others would just assume that she'd been rescued by the masked girl. She considered making a run for it, but there were too many other prisoners. She couldn't help everyone escape by herself, and she wouldn't leave Mister Plume or little Glow. So the only thing left to do was to hide and wait. Maybe something would occur to her eventually.

Sonic returned to Freedom Fighter headquarters just as the others were preparing to leave.

"Took your own blinking time there, mate!" St. John said to Sonic. "So did you…what the devil? What's with the Halloween costume?"

"It'sa me, Mario!" Sonic said. "Oh, right. You wouldn't get that if you'd never been to Earth!" He started to remove his costume, embarrassed that he was still wearing it.

"Nice to know you take your work so seriously, you have time for dress up!" St. John said. "Where's that girl you were sent to find? Don't tell me you forgot what you were doing, and just decided to party?"

"Okay, I won't," Sonic said. "What's going on? Why are you all armed?"

"We go to ze battle, mon ami!" Antoine said. "Metal Sonic, he is away now! We move in like ze shadows, zen move out like ze wind!"

"There are little kids in there, 'Toine!" Sonic pointed out. "They could get hurt in the fighting!" Or worse than hurt, Sonic couldn't help but think. Green hair with pink flower buds came to his mind. Would her ghost haunt him forever, just like it was haunting poor Tails?

"Sometimes sacrifices have to be made, mate," St. John said. He was wearing a belt with six guns in it. "It's all for the greater good."

"All those guns you guys have," Sonic said, looking around. "I don't want to kill anybody!"

"Sugah," Bunny said softly, "y'all trying to fight the good fight and have the big happy ending, we know. But sometimes the only happy ending is that the horror stops. We don't want to sink to Eggman's level, but sometimes…"

"I don't like it either," Hershey said, although Sonic noticed she had a gun as well. "Geoffrey, promise me you won't shoot anyone unless you have to."

"We'll see," St. John told her.

"St. John, Antoine," Sonic said in a cold voice. "You kill anybody…I don't want to find any holes in their backs."

"Mon dieu!" Antoine cried. "You dare to accuse us of such vulgarity?!?" He took off his glove and slapped Sonic's face. "Monsieur, I shallenge you to ze duel"

"Don't be stupid," Sonic said. His sense of humor was fading fast. "Let me at least go in first and try to minimize any damages."

"We already tried that," St. John reminded him. "You blew it, bloke! Now we do things my way! But don't worry, I don't shoot people in the back, no matter what you might think of me!"

"St. John!" Honey raced up, breathless. "Ready to deploy, sir!"

"Honey?!" Sonic cried. "Good grief! Haven't seen you in years!" He noticed her bandaged wing. "You okay there?"

"I'm grounded for a few weeks," Honey said. "But I'm okay. Nice to see you again, Sonic." She turned back to St. John. "Breezy will be along when she can. Eggman apparently didn't build her very efficiently."

"Breezy?!?" Sonic said. He blushed. She had been built to seduce him, and had done her job very well. Sonic had made a fool of himself because of her, much to Tails' disgust. Tails hadn't liked girls then. Maybe it would have been better if he'd stayed that way.

"How is Breezy?" Sonic asked. She had left him saying that she hoped they'd meet again one day, after she'd decided what her purpose for existing was.

"She'll be sorry she missed you," Honey said. "She's always talking about you."
Sonic turned away. He hadn't thought of Breezy since before he'd gone to Earth, but she had never forgotten him. How many other girls had he hurt over the years?

"Try going down memory lane on your own time, Hedgehog!" St. John said. "We move out…now!"

"You're not my boss!" Sonic said. "You can't keep up with me, and you can't make me wait for you!" He took off back to the quarry.

"You'll pay for this!" St. John said, shaking his fist at Sonic. "I'll report you for insubordination!"

"Geoff, he's already gone, dear," Hershey said.

"Then let's follow the fool!" St. John said. And the Freedom Fighters started towards the quarry.

"Metal Sonic!" one of the workers called. "The Master wishes to speak with you!"

Metal Sonic froze. That fat fool! What did he want now? He took his time walking to the monitor. "Metal Sonic speaking."

"Well, well," Doctor Eggman said, "you certainly took your time answering me! Probably the slowest you've ever been since I built you!"

"How may I be of service?" Metal Sonic forced himself to say.

"Ho ho ho!" Eggman laughed. "You'd like to kill me, wouldn't you, my metallic friend? But you can't, can you? You can't do anything against my commands! Bokkun! Tell him why!"

Bokkun's face crowded the screen. "It's 'cause you're a loser! Loser!" He stuck his tongue out. "Nya nya nya nya nya nya!"

"That's enough!" Eggman said, slamming Bokkun headfirst into the wall. "Okay, now get this, and get this good! By hacking into the Freedom Fighter's main computer, which hasn't been updated in months because poor widdle Miles Prower is going coo-coo, I, your ingenious Master, with the incredible I.Q. of 300, have discovered that, contrary to expectations…"

"Is there a point to this?" Metal Sonic demanded.

"How rude!" Eggman said. "What I've been trying to tell you is that Sonic the Hedgehog has been sent to the quarry. So get back there and bring me his head! Eggman out!"

"Yes…Master!" Metal Sonic said, smashing the screen.

"Boss, shall I organize the troops to return to the quarry?" his lieutenant asked.

"No, that will not be necessary," Metal Sonic said, brushing the broken tv circuits from his metallic hand. "See to it that shipping to Doctor Eggman continues uninterrupted. The Freedom Fighters are all weaklings except Sonic. Our agents at the quarry will be quite enough to handle them. And I shall deal with my doppleganger myself!"

Metal Sonic raced back to the quarry. "After Sonic is dead, I will force Miles Prower and Nicole to free my from my programming! Then I, Metal Sonic, will conquer the flesh creatures, and build my machine empire on the foundations of flesh and blood and bone!"

Hundreds of miles away, in an old house in the woods, a pink hedgehog struggled vainly against the ropes that bound her.

"Where's Vector?!" she screamed. "Where's Espio? Or Charmy? I'm hungry! Did they just forget about me? Vector would do that!" She started sobbing.

"Sonic!" she screamed. "Sonic! Come and find me! You've always saved me sooner than this! I don't like it in this place! It's dark and it's scary! And I'm all alone! Sonic, I thought you'd always be there for me! Sonic! Baka baka baka! SONIC!!!"

But no one heard her.

Next time, can Sonic and the others free Eggman's prisoners before Metal Sonic arrives? And why is the robot so sure that he can beat Sonic? Two more chapters to go!