Chapter 7: Distractions
Side by side, Sonic and Emerl blitzed through the city streets, kicking up a sizeable wake behind them.
"You're pretty fast, newbie." Sonic grinned.
"Thank you." Emerl replied. "But I copied your speed to do this."
"Natch."
"Guys, hold on." Nicole suddenly interrupted. "I have confirmation of who the intruders are."
"Well?"
"Simian, Frog, and Predator. No sign of Scourge."
"Oh, that's nice and easy."
"Okay, I've linked with the nanites, and now I'm locating the intruders..." Emerl mused, his optics glazing for a second. "Follow me, I found the site of blazing destruction."
His engines exploded into life, speeding off down a side street. Sonic balked, then grabbed a lamp-post, wrenching himself around the corner.
"Okay, I know you're new on the job, but we kinda sorta have to work together!" Sonic shouted after him, only to be cut off by Nicole's voice buzzing in his ear.
"Maybe we should let him try by himself. He's more than capable, and it would be good to give him a field test."
"You sure, Niki?"
"Sonic, this is the Destructix." Nicole chuckled. "They can't really be lower on the list. Lightning was the only dangerous member of the team, not counting Scourge- and Scourge has, according to the medical records that Fiona gave us, become significantly weaker. Just tell him not to make too much of a mess."
"Roger that." Sonic nodded, then looked back at the golden robot. "Emerl, don't make too much of a mess. I'll be on overwatch, and the others will catch up."
"You got it, Sonic."
Smoke tainted the air, as they rounded a final corner, and spotted Simian, Predator, and Frog. Each of them now had the same green eyes and gemstone embedded in the forehead as Sally did, and were blasting flames around the city. Nearby buildings were smouldering quietly, with Nicole's nanites already suppressing the fire.
"So... plan of attack?"Emerl asked.
"Attack."
"You're speaking my language."
Emerl's mouthplate closed, his third optic opened, and all three of them lost their expressiveness. The three mercenaries had by now, noticed the newcomers, and Frog leapt forward, grinning manically. Emerl shifted back into a fighting stance, then backhanded the amphibian, sending him spearing over the road and into a building.
"Jeesh..." Predator winced. "Where the hell'd they find you?"
"You know, I'm not really sure. Where'd you lose the fake Sonic?"
"The boss fried him for tryin' to get hands-on with her."
"Heh, yeah. Missin' your nudist gal-pal, blue boy?"
"I'd be insulted if anything you ever did gave me cause to care about what you say." Sonic snarled at the hawk. "Besides, Scourge being dead is decent news, regardless."
Meanwhile, Frog peeled himself out of the building, lurching towards the standoff. His tongue shot out, and wrapped wetly around Emerl's midsection. Emerl stopped, and simply stared at the tongue, as if trying to comprehend the idea of using one's tongue in combat.
"I... I'm not even going to scan that, that's just... ugh." The Gizoid stumbled over his words, apparently oblivious to the attacker igniting fire around his hands. Frog laughed, gurgling a little, as he unleashed a barrage of fireballs, only for Emerl to slap them aside. "Don't do that. And seriously, this body is stupidly old and it was buried for most of that timespan. Is it really a good idea to try and lick it?"
His hand folded away, as the arm reconstituted itself into a hammer. He immediately swung it down onto the tongue, cause his assailant to scream and pull the injured appendage back. Or, he would have, if Emerl didn't snag it with his free hand, pulling Frog straight towards him. The hammer retracted, replaced by a replica of Bunnie's arm cannon, which he promptly unloaded into the airborne amphibian's face. He nearly crashed into the robot, but he stepped aside, his body spinning at the waist, swinging the mercenary around like a hammer, then released, allowing him to fly into the city shield.
"Next!" He shouted, turning to face the remaining two, before engaging his engines, and jetting forward. He snagged Predator's throat, and flew skywards, embedding his fist in his stomach. The hawk dug his talons into the aggressor's armour, and belched a stream of fire onto him, which quickly ran out, leaving the Gizoid's face mildly scorched. "Breathmint?"
He brought his knee up into the hawk's gut, the small fin mounted on his armour puncturing his stomach. The bird groaned, as the hammer reassembled itself, and smashed against his head. He went limp, as Emerl threw him down, and fired a Chaos Spear after him, then dropped in front of Simian.
"You're gonna pay for that, bolt-boy."
"Try me, sarge."
The gorilla snarled, and brought his fist down on the robot, only to be swatted aside by the hammer. The ape launched a right hook, but he sidestepped the attack, and grabbed the passing fist, then folded the hammer away in order to grab the opposite hand as it followed the previous one. He smirked, pushing the Gizoid back, as he braced himself against the downward force, then started shoving back, squeezing his servos around the balled fists, starting to crush them. The ape grunted, trying to shrug off the pain, as Emerl's chestplate parted, opening up to reveal squat, slowly rotating barrel. A high-pitched whine echoed from the weapon, as a powerful yellow pulse exploded from it, badly burning Simian's torso. He groaned, and keeled over, thudding heavily against the ground.
"Next!" Emerl grinned.
"Wow, you didn't hang about with them."
"No sense in doing so." He shrugged, as Nicole appeared beside them, and encased the Destructix in nanite cocoons.
"I told the others to stay where they are." She said, then quickly hugged Emerl. "Good job, Emerl."
"Th-thanks." He beamed. "I scanned them, but I couldn't replicate the fire powers. This "Iblis" is beyond my processor's understanding."
"I see... we better regroup." Sonic rubbed his chin. Nodding, the golden robot grabbed them both, and warped away.
Back in Tails' lab, the assembled teams listened to Emerl's report.
"So, Scourge is dead?" Fiona asked.
"Looks that way." Emerl nodded.
"How come?"
"Apparently, he tried to get "touchy-feely" with Iblis. She didn't take kindly to that."
"Wow, something that we can agree with her on."
"Yeah."
"I don't like this." Tails broke in. "If Iblis is so strong, why send useless minions? She's after something. She's stalling us, I think."
A palpable silence fell across the room, the relatively positive outlook shattered by Tails' observation. Nicole looked out of the window, while Emerl tried to catch her eye. Sonic clenched his fist, while Fiona clasped Tails' hand, which he squeezed gently, comforting her.
"Well then... we need to find out why." Shadow mused.
In Finitevus' lair, he and Iblis watched the proceedings through a portal that Iblis had created. The possessed squirrel was grinning quietly to herself, much to the mad echidna's confusion.
"Pardon me, Great Goddess, but isn't the loss of our minions a negative thing?"
"Oh, no my dear doctor. It's not a bad thing at all. They did what I needed them to do, and I am grateful for that. Now, for the next little obstacle my host's friends will face... It's time my ancient enemy was allowed to stretch itself..."
Outside the city's shield, the ground rumbled, quaking, then started tearing apart. The fissure widened, and, with a bellowing roar, a huge metal fist reached up. Exposed gears and pistons strained against the pull of gravity, as the thing rose. It took the form of a massive, uneven machine, engulfed in a blazing, fiery aura, as yellow eyes gleamed from behind its face, and it roared hungrily.
Watching via portal, Finitevus grinned darkly, and looked at the levitating form of Iblis.
"Is that-"
"Yes, Finitevus. Behold, my oldest foe, now little more than a mindless soldier at my command- The Ifrit!"
"Your ancient enemy is a steampunk golem?"
"Not exactly... it has a little trick up its sleeve..."
"Then I look forward to seeing it."
The monstrous golem roared again, belching a stream of fire, steam vents spurting from its forearms and shoulders. The fire splashed against the shield, rippling over it, drawing the attention of everyone inside.
"What the frag is that!?" Emerl yelled.
"I don't know..." Tails replied. "Sally's our mythology buff, I don't know much about it."
"Maybe Knuckles knows something?" Amy suggested.
"He probably does..." Fiona nodded. "But I don't think we have time to find out!"
"Whatever it is, it's breathing fire everywhere." Sonic added. "And it's getting closer... How do we even fight it?"
"I think we may have a solution." Rotor said, holding up a few devices. "Tails and I made these. We call them the elemental shields. The Fire Shield should be able to protect you from the heat, and then you can use long-range attacks to blast it."
"Oh, nahce." Bunnie smiled.
"Who's doing what?" Fiona asked.
"Bunnie, Rotor, you and those without appropriate powers should stay here and keep everyone inside the city safe, prepare for a speedy evacuation, just in case. Nicole, maintain the city shield. Sonic, Shadow, Emerl, Omega, and I will take the Fire Shields and go and attack the... thing." Tails replied. "Good luck."
Tails grabbed five of the Fire Shields, as the five attackers warped outside of the city. Immediately, a parching wave of heat struck them, and they triggered the fire shields.
"Okay, it's even uglier up close..." Sonic said. The creature finally noticed them, then roared, launching another jet of flames at them. However, the attack had no effect, absorbed easily by the shields. "Okay, so those work."
"Yes, but they can't take much aside from small arms fire and actual fire. Don't let it hit you."
"Roger."
The creature, seemingly frustrated, reached up, and smashed his fist down on the group, who scattered. Tails, Emerl, and took to the air, while Sonic and Shadow warped via Chaos Control. The two hedgehogs unleashed a barrage of Chaos Spears, making the machine flinch repeatedly. Omega unleashed a huge volley of weapon fire, which Emerl quickly replicated. The Ifrit stumbled, but swatted them out of the air, then smashed its arms into the ground, shaking them, flooring them. It raised one arm again, using the other for support, and moved to bring it down on them again.
"Shit, above!" Sonic shouted. Emerl and Omega leapt up, firing all of their engines, and braced themselves against the dropping arm.
"This is bad..." The larger robot mused.
"Don't have to tell me that! Guys, move, we can't hold it forever!"
The trio warped away, and the Gizoid followed suit, taking Omega with him. The arm crashed into the earth, cracking it.
"Man, he's strong..."
"Give it everything you've got!" Shadow barked.
"No need to state the obvious..." Tails replied.
"We don't have enough time to build up a decent attack... It might be slow, but it's not that slow."
"Use Chaos Control."
"Tin can has a point... Combined effort, so we don't waste energy!" Sonic shouted.
The four adepts present pooled their energies, and released a wave of their own, throwing the world into a bizarre negative. Omega unlimbered his entire arsenal, Emerl warmed up his chest cannon, Shadow charged up a crimson aura around himself, Tails formed an odd, colourless flame in his palm, and Sonic span in place, building up a cyan aura of his own.
"Ready?"
"Yes."
"Yup."
"Affirmative.
"Ready."
"Go!"
Omega opened fire, missiles and laser volleys striking the golem and stunning it. Shadow warped up to it, and unleashed a burning scarlet explosion, cracking the armour, stumbling back. Sonic blasted forward, punching through it, faster than anyone else could register, and ruining the joints in its limbs, paralyzing it. Tails jabbed his hand forward, an energy lance stabbing outwards, and slicing through its stubby legs. It collapsed, roaring angrily as its back hit the floor, and Emerl appeared overhead. A golden energy blast exploded out of the barrel, piercing the golem, and leaving it to fall limp.
Time returned to normal flow the moment they had launched their attacks, the five only noticed it now.
"Hey, that worked!" Emerl grinned. "Think Iblis is behind it?"
"Giant fire demon thing? Who else would be?"
"True, true. Let's get back to the city, and resume planning." Tails said.
"They appear to have killed it." Finitevus deadpanned, staring at Iblis. It bothered him- the squirrel was still grinning, despite the Freedom Fighters easily dispatching everything she had thrown at them.
"No, they haven't."
"They have inflicted lethal injuries and it has keeled over! How is it not dead?"
"Doctor, you have taken your eyes off the show. The golem is a prison. In destroying it, they have released the Ifrit's full power. The whole thing is a trap- They destroy the golem, and tire themselves a little, and then the Ifrit rises to its apex, and attacks."
Finitevus turned back to the portal, watching as the ruined armour broke open, and a reptilian head, encased in craggy stone armour lifted out of it. The head was supported atop a long, swan-like neck. Overly long, clawed arms propped it up, while a huge, barbed tail rose up behind it. It screeched- the noise sounded a little like a strangled vulture, as flames engulfed its entire body. It rocked back into its stubby hind legs, holding its arms up, as huge, then membranes extend from it. Its sallow eyes opened, and it screeched again, as the Ifrit rose into the air, flying towards the city.