5. Fight at the Factory

"Uh-oh."

"What does 'uh-oh' mean?"

Rotor tapped at the digital readout on the SWATpod's dashboard. "We've got trouble. All available SWATbots are being called to the two new factories. Our pod just got the security call to go there immediately." He met Knuckles's gaze with something like embarrassment mixed with alarm. "It's to deal with a Freedom Fighter threat, and it's not the specific codes Robotnik uses to identify Sonic or Sally."

Knuckles sat bolt upright. "Bunnie's team!"

Rotor banked a hard right and took off back towards the factories. "Remember what Sally said – you're to stay inside the pod, okay?"

"I know what Sally said," Knuckles growled.

Somehow his response didn't fill Rotor with confidence.

Sally had NICOLE plugged into the system when the alarm sounded. Immediately she knew something had gone wrong and they'd been found out. Sirens blared and the sound of pounding metal feet echoed up the walkway to the control centre she and Sonic had broken into using the ventilation system. They hadn't seen the majority of the factory floor, but she'd downloaded a lot of valuable data by the time they had to go.

"Juice and jam time, Sal," said Sonic. He'd waited as patiently as was possible for him, and was eager to be off in more ways than one. He always felt more vulnerable when forced to stand still for too long. "They must be onto us."

Sally disconnected NICOLE and jumped into his arms. "But how? Nobody saw us come in and nobody's been up here since we -"

"FREEDOM FIGHTER SPOTTED IN EGG FACTORY TWO," NICOLE intoned. "THAT IS THE REASON FOR THE DISTURBANCE, SALLY. ALL AVAILABLE SWATBOTS ARE CONVERGING ON THAT TARGET, INCLUDING THOSE OF THIS FACTORY."

Sally's eyes grew round.

"Think it's a problem next door?" Sonic asked.

"I think we should go there first for Rotor to pick us up."

Bunnie struggled, but she was groggy and had only one metal arm, while the SWATbots that held her had two. She considered kicking their ankles out from under them, but the rifles were all still trained on her and as Robotnik approached fear swelled inside her so much that she actually stopped pulling for a second.

Physically, Robotnik was grotesque. His round belly, silly moustache and ridiculously short legs should've made him a laughing-stock, but staring him down inspired the kind of gut reaction that could only come with knowing the true evil of which he was capable. His impressiveness stemmed from a lifetime of watching him work and knowing he felt no remorse for any of the suffering he'd caused. A jelly belly was all well and good, but it was the mind that shared the body that was the real menace. You didn't often look into the eyes of some who'd kill you just because it seemed a good idea at the time.

"Well, well," he purred, "being a little nosy, are we?"

Bunnie snapped from her stupor at the sound of his voice. "Go boil your head, Robotnik." Her words were only a little slurred.

"Ill-mannered wretch. But no matter. I am, after all, the one holding all the aces. Answer me quickly: where are your comrades, and what have you done to my Quantum Transporter?"

"Your whosit-whatchamacallit? I ain't got a single clue what the hoo-hah you're talkin' about, Buttnik, but there ain't nobody here but me. This was a solo mission."

"I find that hard to believe. You Freedom Fighters always travel in groups. You're like cockroaches that way – bugs I intend to squash. SWATbots, prepare to fire." He raised a hand and his voice. "Your comrades have thirty seconds to show themselves or I will shoot you where you stand, Miss Rabbot."

Bunnie took no pleasure in him knowing her name. She willed Tails and Antoine to stay hidden. They'd be shot before they could save her, and none of them were fast enough to evade so many guards. She didn't intend to go down, or at least not without a fight, but if she did fall she didn't want them going with her. Robotnik was going to give the order to shoot whether they revealed themselves or not and there was no need to sacrifice themselves needlessly. There was a chance she wouldn't be killed – the blast before had been set to stun, after all. Robotnik would want to finish roboticising her so he could extract information about Knothole, which gave the Freedom Fighters a window to either rescue her, or for her to get away.

All this passed through her mind in the short moments it took Robotnik to draw breath.

"You're fishin' for clouds, Robotnik. There ain't nobody here but me, an' I ain't tellin' you squat."

"Brave words, but ultimately worthless. Snively!"

"Yes sir?" Snively clutched at his small palm-computer like a life preserver. It was bulkier than NICOLE and didn't have artificial intelligence, but connected him to Robotnik's operations at the touch of a button.

"Send a squadron of SWATbots to the roof. I feel a breeze." Robotnik looked directly at the open window.

Bunnie followed his gaze. There was nobody there, and her rope had fallen in with her. It lay a few feet away by the edge of the recessed platform. Yet panic still gripped her chest. Please let 'em have just left. Please don't make 'em play hero on my account.

"Yes sir." Snively withdrew to the periphery to speak hurriedly into his computer.

Robotnik grinned. "Your thirty seconds are up Miss Rabbot."

"So shoot me already."

"So impetuous. No doubt you're hoping that if I shoot you, your fellows will be able to escape."

"What fellows? I done told you – yow!" One of her SWATbot captors squeezed her flesh wrist. "Watch the merchandise, buster."

"Trust me, Miss Rabbot, when I say that they will be captured as well, and roboticised, so there's no need for false bravado. Though I do enjoy seeing you Freedom Fighters squirm." He nodded at the SWATbot, who squeezed Bunnie's wrist again. She felt the bones grind together and bit down on a cry of pain. "You creatures have caused me so much trouble – especially that hedgehog. But in his absence, you will do just as well."

"Ngh, careful you don't let your jaybird mouth overload your hummingbird butt," Bunnie gritted.

A SWATbot approached carrying a large glass tube with a metal cap over one end. It made to place this over Bunnie, sealing her in for easier transportation. For Bunnie, this was proof that her own personal nightmare was o the verge of happening – the robiticisation process that had already stolen so much from her was poised to take the rest.

She made her move – just at the moment the main doors exploded.

Rotor cried out when Knuckles suddenly grabbed the controls. "What are you doing?"

Knuckles didn't reply but wrested them from Rotor's claws and jabbed at the accelerator. The SWATpod powered forwards, andf when Rotor looked outside he realised what Knuckles was up to.

"No, don't!"

Too late. The pod crashed into the double doors that formed the main entrance and exit to the factory. There was the squeal of distressed metal, and for a second Rotor was convinced the hull integrity wouldn't be enough and they were about to become red jam with shrapnel seasoning. Yet the doors were apparently not strong enough to withstand a full frontal assault, and bowed inwards. Knuckles jabbed the accelerator again and they flew from their hinges entirely, skidding across the floor towards a company of SWATbots and Robians.

And in the centre of the group stood three figures Rotor recognised instantly. Robotnik's bulk was tattooed on his mind, and where he went Snively tended to follow. Dangling from the grasp of two SWATbots was –

"Bunnie!" Knuckles shouted. He jabbed once more at the accelerator, sending the pod careening towards the group.

"Are you crazy?" said Rotor, shoving him away. "There's Robians out there!"

"They have Bunnie!" Knuckles replied, shoving back and keeping their course straight.

The SWATbots toppled like bowling pins. Robotnik yelled and leaped aside, and Rotor noted with relief that they'd flown high enough off the floor not to hit any Robians. With a surge of strength he hadn't known he possessed, Rotor yanked the controls from Knuckles and turned the pod around. Their cover was blown, he couldn't help that, but they could save –

"Bunnie!" Knuckles slapped the control to open the pod hatchway and leaped out before it was fully open.

"Huh?" Bunnie couldn't quite believe it when the SWATpod went skimming over her head. She felt it whisk past her ears, taking out the SWATbots that held her, which toppled over backwards. However, they didn't release their grip, meaning she fell with them and found herself in a tangle of metal and flesh limbs. A foot hit her in the head and she saw even more stars than before.

"Bunnie!" shouted a familiar voice.

Knuckles? But he and Rotor were supposed to stay in the pod. Without them, how were the others supposed to be picked up? Tails and Antoine would be waiting on the roof with enemies on the way, not to mention Sonic and Sally stranded in the other factory. Dazedly, Bunnie fought to get up, but her wrists were still held tight. What were these, SWATbots or clothes pegs?

"Bunnie, hold on!" Knuckles shouted again. The clang of metal heralded he'd reached the first line of SWATbots – likewise Robotnik's furious cry.

"Fire! Fire, all of you! Get the Freedom Fighters!"

TSEW! TSEW!

"Not at the Quantum Transporter, you fools! And set your lasers to stun in here!"

Sally and Sonic arrived just in time to see Knuckles ploughing into a mass of SWATbots. Beyond him, the stolen SWATpod hovered with its hatchway open and several Robians marching towards it. The pair took in everything at a glance, including Bunnie, Robotnik and Snively, who was prancing agitatedly and trying to stay out of Knuckles's way.

Sally frowned. "I told him to stay in the pod!"

"No time for lectures now, Sal, we got bigger fish to fry."

"You're right." Sally climbed out of Sonic's arms. "Get Bunnie. I'll help Rotor."

Sonic nodded, but even as he revved he was looking around. "You see Tails and Ant anyplace?"

Dread corroded a hole in Sally's stomach. She didn't see them anywhere. She forced herself to think logically and not listen to the little voice saying this was why she should have made Tails stay home. "They might've escaped already, in which case we need the pod more than ever."

"Or they might be in there under all those SWATbutts," Sonic said grimly. "Spin and win time!"

Bunnie marshalled her wits enough to kick out with both legs, throwing off the SWATbots that had fallen on top of her. One captor had its grip torn loose, releasing one of her hands, though her flesh wrist remained gripped. Bunnie punched the remaining SWATbot, putting all the force of her extending arm into it. her bones extended, her fist locked, and the bot's head seemed to jump off its body on its own. It slumped across her, throwing sparks into her fur.

"Yowch!" One had landed on the tip of her nose.

"Bunnie!" cried a new voice.

"Sugar-hog?" Well wasn't this just a fine old shindig with everyone invited? Bunnie struggled to her feet, helped halfway by friendly hands.

"You okay?" Sonic was looking around even as he said it.

"Well now, I'm fine as a frog hair split in half." Bunnie rubbed at her head, stumbled, and leaned gratefully against him. "More or less."

"Hold that thought." Sonic set her upright and whirled, spikes out, at a laser-toting SWATbot. It split down the middle and fell back, taking out another bot. As they fell they revealed Knuckles, who was trapped several feet away taking chunks out of half a dozen bots that had set upon him.

"Knuckles honey!" Bunnie exclaimed.

He didn't appear to have heard her, as he leaped on the chest of a SWATbot and tore it apart with his claws.

She turned to Sonic. "I sure am glad to see y'all, Sugar-hog, but I suggest we get the hip-hop outta here 'afore Robotnik captures everyone."

"Done and done," Sonic replied, slipping her flesh arm around his neck. She was too heavy to carry the way he did Sally, but she'd long since learned how to 'tuck and suck' – meaning tuck herself into a ball he could drag without injury and suck in a lungful of air, because it was difficult to breathe at high-speed. "Hold tight, Bunnie."

Usually that was Bunnie's cue to agree, but today she resisted. "Please, Sugar-hog, forget me an' help Knuckles."

"It looks to me like Knucklehead doesn't need my help. He's actually pretty good at kicking SWAT-butt." Bunnie heard the grudging note in Sonic's voice, even over the noise of battle.

"Please, sugar -"

"Okay, okay, I'll help him, but forget me forgetting you. Just hang on."

Being with Sonic when he ran was unlike anything else Bunnie had ever experienced. Even the Freedom Flyer, their self-made plane, didn't compare. For a second the world was reduced to a smear of colour and splintered sound, and every part of her felt light as air. Then they juddered to a halt and her feet touched solid ground again. It took her mind an extra second to catch up and realise she'd been dropped off next to the SWATpod hatchway, by which time Sonic had doubled back towards Knuckles.

"Bunnie!" Sally stood on the hatchway steps. She held a laser obviously detached from a SWATbot arm. "Quickly, get inside. I stunned them, but I don't know how long it'll last." She gestured to the ring of Robian factory workers at Bunnie's feet.

Bunnie felt the twang of pity she always did when confronted with Robians, but turned away from them and scurried towards Sally. However, only a few steps up she paused and looked back.

Knuckles's fight had taken him to the very edge of the pit. Sonic bounced from bot to bot, also perilously close.

Robotnik stood by a bank of monitors, practically apoplectic. "Get those horrible rodents away from the Transporter!"

"What's the matter, Robuttnk?" Sonic halted atop a small plinth covered in buttons and dials. "Are we making a mess of your nice clean hellhole?" He danced on the buttons, crunching a few and setting dozens of tiny lights flickering.

"Fire! Fire, you fools! Get that hedgehog before he-"

But Sonic was already gone.

The platform in the pit started to glow.

"Bunnie!" Sally grabbed her shoulder, snapping her attention away from Sonic and Knuckles. "Where are Antoine and Tails?"

"Up on the roof. But Sally-girl, there's a whole buncha bad guys on their way up there to get 'em."

Sally's expression was grim. "I knew this was a bad idea."

Knuckles punched the face of another hideous robot. It caved in and the body collapsed, twitching. He'd had limited experience with SWATbots before today, but learned fast that the best way to deal with them was to get up close and personal so they couldn't use their lasers, and to hit them before they could hit you.

He saw Sonic wade in and rescue Bunnie. Had he not been so relieved she was safe he would've been irritated that the hedgehog had done so easily what was taking him so long. After jumping into the fray without difficulty, Knuckles had found that getting back to the SWATpod was harder. Every time he turned around there seemed more robots to hit. Lines of them streamed in the door, and it was only a combination of agility and brute force that had saved him so far.

All the same, his irritation flared when Sonic cut down the bot he was fighting and smirked like he expected Knuckles to thank him.

"I was handling the situation."

"Yeah, it looked like it." Sonic grabbed Knuckles's wrist. "C'mon, we're outta here."

"I can walk by mys-" Knuckles started, but cut himself off by bounding past Sonic and landing a solid punch on the SWATbot sneaking up on him. The bot ended at its torso, its legs somewhere in the melee, and had dragged itself over using just its arms. Its shortness meant Sonic, in his haste, hadn't seen it until Knuckles left it sparking mere inches from Sonic's feet.

"Hey, I could've handled that!"

"Of course. It looked like it." Knuckles was breathing hard, but still managed to inject a significant amount of irony into his tone.

"Whatever. Time to juice." Sonic grabbed his wrist again.

This time Knuckles didn't fight it. The faster he got back to Bunnie, the faster they could get out of here and the faster they'd all be safe. He'd known this mission was a bad idea from the start.

The two were so concentrated on each other that they failed to notice Snively. Beset by his own fear of Robotnik and a paradoxical desire to win his approval and better him, Snively had seen them pause and taken the opportunity to grab a laser rifle that'd fallen at his feet. Flipping it from 'stun' to 'lethal', he took aim and fired just as Sonic revved. The blast missed, instead hitting the SWATbot carcass Knucles had just punched, igniting the small fuel source in its chest. The bot exploded, and the force of the blast sent both Sonic and Knuckles flying.

"Gaah!" Sonic cried out. He crashed into Knuckles and the two tumbled through the air, over the side of the pit.

"No!" Robotnik seized Snively by the lapels. "You blithering idiot. I should tear your heart out!"

Snively squeaked and covered his face, letting the rifle fall. "I'm sorry, sir! I just thought … sir, the hedgehog, he was a perfect target -"

Down in the pit, Knuckles sat up. He appeared to be sitting on a large glass disc, lit from beneath by a collection of wires and filaments. Through the bluish-white rays he could see Sonic also sitting up and rubbing his tail.

"Man, Knucklehead, you need to lose a few pounds. You landed right on top of me."

Knuckles didn't dignify this with a response. There was still noise coming from above, but that was no longer his primary concern. As Guardian, he was finely attuned to nuances in magnetic forces. The roots of his fur now ached from the static electricity crackling around them, and there was a sense of pent up energy that thrummed through his head as strongly as the Chaos Emerald had when his father disappeared. Back then he'd fled the Emerald Chamber because it hurt so much, but he was stronger now and simply gritted his teeth.

"We need to get out of here," he told Sonic. "Now."

"Why?"

"Because something is very wrong with the energy fluctuations around this disc we're sitting on, and if we don't move we'll be at the centre of them when they go off."

"Go off? Like 'boom'?"

"Very possibly."

"Don't need to tell me twice."

This time, instead of grabbing his wrist, Sonic scooped Knuckles into his arms like he had a thousand times before with Sally. The indignity of being carried that way superseded the throbbing in Knuckles's head, but he had no time to protest before Sonic revved. They circled once, twice, thrice, and then used the gathered momentum to run straight up the sheer side of the pit.

"Way past!" Sonic yelled as they shot across the factory floor and into the SWATpod.

"Knuckles!" Bunnie was dishevelled but wore a look of intense relief. "An' Sugar-hog. My stars, I ain't sure whether to tan your hides or kiss y'all."

"No time for either," Sally snapped, closing the hatch. "Rotor, take us up. We have to find Tails and Antoine and get out of Robotropolis – fast."

"Roger, Sally." Rotor eased back the controls, tilting the pod on its end. Then he pushed the accelerator and they jetted upwards, away from the fresh batch of arriving SWATbots. Laser fire ricocheted off the pod's exterior, but it held for as long as it took them to reach the roof. "Brace for impact," said Rotor, right before they crashed through the window, widening the hole and scraping their belly through the still-narrow gap.

"We're through," Sally exclaimed, as though she hadn't been sure they'd make it. "Rotor, can you see them?"

"Nu-uh, Sally. They aren't up here." More laser-fire glanced off the hull. The entire pod juddered. "Whoa, but a load of SWATbots are! I've got to pull back."

"No! Not until we have Tails and Antoine!"

"It's either that or crash, Sally. We've sustained a lot of structural damage already. Too many hits and we'll fly like a rock with paper wings."

"But -" Sally's face was anguished.

Sonic's wasn't much more cheerful. "We'll find 'em, Sal. Count on it."

To Be Continued…