Stylus hoisted both robots over his shoulder, and carried them over to the makeshift elevator made by improvising a plate taken off of the X Tornado. Sonic was also down there, picking up the other boxes and such to put onto the cargo elevator.
The robot did one last scan of the cave to learn that they had salvaged everything from this cave. While Sonic raced back up, Stylus stepped onto the elevator. He tugged on the cable twice, and the cargo elevator shifted upwards.
He was on said elevator to make sure nothing fell out. At this day and age, Stylus needed to make sure he got all he could get. It would be an interesting project for Tails as well: Synthesizing the same metal, that is.
The elevator was surprisingly stable for being improvised. Tails made some reliable gadgets on a whim when he needed to. Eventually, it reached the top, and Stylus started passing the boxes and bodies to Sonic, Tails, and the pink hedgehog- Damn, he never got a chance to learn all of their names, did he?
"I never caught your name, mind," Stylus said as he passed the pink one a relatively lightweight box.
"I'm Amy Rose," she replied. Huh, the only one with a full-blown last name. Times have changed.
Stylus picked up one of the bodies and tossed it onto the edge. He then picked up the other body and jumped off of the elevator. Everything was taken off; that was good.
Everyone picked up their own thing, except for Tails- who stayed at the elevator to take apart the makeshift contraption along with the Chris kid.
Stylus again carried both bodies over his shoulder while Sonic and Amy Rose carried the rest of the boxes- stacked up.
The boxes were piled up next to a manhole ladder. Sonic picked two up and started building up speed. Once he achieved enough speed, the blue blur blasted up the wall with boxes in tow.
Stylus figured the X Tornado was parked nearby for Sonic to load up the salvaged cargo. He repeated the same thing for the rest of the crates, then sped back to help Tails and Chris.
Stylus- with the two lifeless shells secure over his shoulders, started climbing up the manhole. Amy remained on standby in case Stylus dropped one of them.
Eventually, Stylus hoisted himself out of the manhole, where he was greeted by craploads of camera flashes. Stylus covered his visual sensors- which were going haywire from all the flashing. What the hell is this?
So this is what that one guy meant by paparazzi. Freaking stalker-ish dudes taking flash photography pictures despite it being broad daylight. Luckily, police were around to keep them away from the manhole cover.
Shaking his head, Stylus carried the two bodies to the X Tornado. There, he stuffed them into a storage compartment. As he did so, questions were directed at him.
"Are you an Eggman Robot? Where did you come from? Why are you allied with Sonic if you're an Eggman Robot?" Most of the questions contradicted the presence of other questions. Stylus recalled that one organic describing paparazzi as... "annoying."
Indeed, they were. Stylus shook it off by reaching under his helmet and turning off his audio sensors. There came the sweet sound of silence, the first time Stylus had to use it since...
... Eh, more corrupted memory bits. He couldn't remember.
Amy emerged, and seemed to bask in the photography. At least one of them liked the attention. It was a positive way of thinking, after all.
Stylus closed up the compartments before he felt something. It felt like a short quake. Stylus turned on his audio sensors and spun around. There stood a big robot, similar to the gecko, but slightly larger, and more shaped like a big cat.
"Sonic!" Amy shouted down the manhole before narrowly dodging a swipe from the cat.
Stylus started opening up compartments, trying to find the boxes. Damn, where did Sonic put them?
Amy continued calling for help. Stylus didn't want to ask why. He never saw her in combat yet, so why judge?
Finally, the third compartment opened held a box. Stylus threw it open and produced a large-ish empty magazine from his backpack.
He grabbed a handful of unspent shells and quickly loaded them up. They looked to be a high caliber, but a perfect size for the magazine.
He then started assembling his rifle. Again, as quickly as he can. The cat seemed more interested in playing keep-away with Amy, using the manhole as the thing to be kept away from.
Stylus slapped the full magazine in place. It was the first time in years he heard the sound, and he considered it beautiful. Although he might not need it. Sonic apparently heard the distress call and ran to the rescue. The cat swiped, dodged by Sonic. More swiping, more dodging.
Something wasn't right. With the Gecko fight, Sonic tore the thing apart immediately. In this one, the hedgehog's not even on the offense. Stylus decided "Screw it" and took aim while in a secure stance.
He set the fire setting to AUTO and squeezed the trigger. Rounds punched through the robot's armour like a hot knife through butter. As cliche a phrase that was, it was no less true. The enemy robot had been riddled with large holes within seconds. Smoke erupting from each hole, the giant robo-cat dropped to the street.
"What the?" shouted a confused voice from above. Stylus looked up to see this Doctor Eggman guy in a hover craft. He took aim and pulled the trigger again. An unsatisfying click emitted from the rifle. Damn, he wanted to tear this Eggman guy a new one for impersonating his master. "That's cheating! You can't do that!"
Odd, cause in a real war, there's no such thing as cheating. Stylus didn't have the heart to say that. Instead, he pulled out the magazine and started reloading it.
"You'll pay for this!" Eggman shouted before flying away.
Sonic and Amy looked speechless. Stylus just shrugged and loaded all of the magazines he had. There was still an ample supply of ammunition when he finished, so he could study them again. After all, his memory of making extra rounds had been among the first bits that got corrupted.
Sonic then shrugged and hopped down the manhole again. Amy appeared to still be in shock. Then again, how would one react to an ally suddenly pulling out an automatic and completely decimating a large enemy robot in a whole anticlimactic five seconds.
A government cleanup crew arrived as the X Tornado started to lift off. Stylus assumed it was to salvage tech from the robot. After all, who wouldn't want their own giant robots to send around causing wanton destruction?
Stylus clambered onto a passenger seat near the back of the plane along with the Chris kid. Amy seemed to prefer a different seat entirely, opting to take the co-pilot seat on the front of the plane. Sonic, for some strange reason, seemed to prefer sitting on the outside.
As the X Tornado lifted off, Chris was staring at the carnage left.
"Take a picture," Stylus commented.
"I don't think I want to," Chris replied. He looked a little disturbed.
"I had little choice, mind you," Stylus said, looking back at the kid, "Sonic certainly wasn't on the offensive like last time."
"It's not that. I've never seen something like that. Nobody has in the time Eggman's been tormenting us. The government's going to be all over this."
Stylus glanced between Chris and his handiwork. It would explain Sonic and Amy's shocked expressions further. All this would do was pull even more attention to themselves. Stylus sighed and leaned forward, putting his chin in one hand.