Chapter 28: Retaliation

Ten Days Later, In the Skies Above New Megaopolis, 8:21 Pm

The golden glow of Sonic and Shadow swirls in the night. The pair circle the city's barrier, raining down orange streaks of superheated rock like lasers, bombarding the energy field that flickers and crackles in defiance after each small explosion. For days some combination of supers has pounded the city's protective shield, and any time a section faltered for even a fraction of a second, a hail of devastation would wash over that piece of New Megaopolis like a torrent of fire, crushing any facilities below. A single one of their assaults should have been more than enough to tear through any forcefield in a matter of minutes, hours at best. But the theory that chaos engines were now being used as a power source seemed to hold water as the city still remained largely intact even now. Suddenly, beams of light fired up from the city at Sonic and Shadow. The two, weary of any anti-chaos counter measures, rapidly evaded the beams and pulled back, dodging new attempts until they found its effective range and regrouped.

"Think the doctor managed to turn the ACC into a beam weapon?"

"I wouldn't put it past ol' buttnik." 'Knux, we've got a new development over here. Seems Robotnik has managed to make a laser out of his ACC design. Can't confirm though, decided against testing the theory. Still, a safe bet considering he just opened fire on us, but the targeting system can't keep up. This might make future bombing runs a bit rough though. The range on those things is miles and—oh no.'

'What? What's wrong?'

'Ten robo us' just popped into the airspace, pink and gold and mean all over.'

'Fall back, don't engage! —'

'Damn, six just bolted towards New Mobotropolis and the rest are starring us up and down.'

New Mobotropolis Laboratories,

Knuckles jumps from his chair, 'Fall back to the city!' "Nicole, code metal series now!" transforming in a burst of light, he leaps over the desk grabbing Tails and flies them through a portal as the ACC envelops the entire city along with the city's shields.

Sally quickly acclimates, "Nicole, statues report?"

"Six super metal series machines have appeared in our airspace and have started assaulting the city's barrier with hyper velocity projectiles on all sides. Shield integrity down four percent and dropping."

"Begin code red emergency evacuation of the city to the Great Forest shelters at New Knothole. And route all Freedom Fighters and Chaotix to the castle gates in case of sortie." She looks over at Julie-Su and Rotor, "We're headed there now."

In the Great Forest,

"Get ready as fast as you can." Tails nods as Knuckles shoots up into the sky opening another portal to New Mobotropolis, 'Blaze, code Metal Series at the city, ten units total.' Knuckles comes through the portal and slams his fist into a Mecha Knuckles' face then tackles it into the shield just past the ACC, forcible undoing the robot's transformation before hitting it with a massive blast of kinetic energy, atomizing all its nanites at once. 'Correction, nine.'

New Mobotropolis,

He quickly pulls back out of the ACC and soars straight up into the stratosphere dodging the first two Metal Sonic's spin dashes, but getting tackled by the third, "Urgh." As the other two swing back around for another pass, Sonic and Shadow smash them down into the city's barrier and the ACC, knocking them out of their super forms, then race off in opposite directions avoiding their Metal Sonic pursuers, and a similar ride into the wall. Knuckles manages to throw off the Metal that had crashed into him, but was hit by punches from two Mecha's simultaneously, firing him like a railgun into the ground, causing an enormous crater that lapped at the city's wall.

The debris from the crater splashed the two recovering Metal series, further damaging them as they try to reform, an opening the newly arrived Turbo Tails doesn't let slip by, hammering them both with an atomizing blast of kinetic waves. The blast however damages Nicole's own nanites in the city wall and a section crumbles. "Sorry Nicole."

"Minor damage considering. Forward shields straining but holding at sixty eight percent. Trying to engage repairs now."

The pair of Mecha's had shot down after Knuckles, but were intercepted by kicks from Sonic and Shadow, both aiming for the ACC against the city. Two of the Metals spin dash their Mecha counterparts midflight, knocking them free of their trajectory and they avoid the curtain, as the newly arrived Mecha duo appear alongside Sonic and Shadow. Shadow teleports away from a double axe handle strike as Sonic fazes through a haymaker, only for a lightspeed Metal to slam into him, rematerializing them both as they smash through the barrier; their transformations undone right as they crater into the main road of the western gate. Seeing the meteor like crash as they reach the castle gate, the Freedom Fighters rush towards the landing site—

Knuckles teleports to the nearest Mecha's blind spot and fires a punch at the back of its head, but it ducks low, and as Knuckles' shot grazes it, a hammering elbow launches him back into two more Mecha's. He teleports away from the two coming heavy blows as all three gives chase. Knuckles switches entirely to defense as he dodges and parries the flurry of strikes and grapple attempts, constantly changing altitudes and teleporting to keep from being surrounded. Tails tries to fly after them but the remaining Mecha clocks him in the temple and skips him along the plains before giving chase.

Meanwhile Shadow races through the skies hounded by two Metals, each taking turns attacking with pacing swipes trying to goad him into a counter. All that can be seen of them are three streaks of golden light as they race through the night sky.

Sally and the others arrive at the lip of the crater just as the Metal unit starts to stand back up, only about a yard or so from an unconscious Sonic. "Mina, sweep the area for stragglers!"

"Right!"

"Bunnie, Rotor give us some breathing room!"

"Roger!" "Let's dance!" The two shoot forward with their thrusters and grab the robot, Rotor its arm and body while Bunnie grabs hold of its face. They tackle it off its feet and drag it along the ground, smashing it into the edge of the crater before soaring up with guns pointed down as three beams splash unto the Metal unit, scorching and crushing it with a torrent of condensed hard light. Though the rays are stronger than a regular blaster's, the energy consumption compels them to let up. The Metal is fairly damaged, but its rate of regeneration is insane and the two are forced to dive and start showering it with heavy rending blows to try and outpace the nanites.

Meanwhile, Sally, Amy and Julie-Su have grabbed Sonic and carried him out of the crater and taken cover behind one of the now hopefully vacant houses. Holding his hand, Amy looks to Sally, "How is he?"

"It doesn't look like he's badly hurt. Maybe the residual effects of his super form cushioned the impact?" Sally lightly shakes him, "Come on Sonic, we need you back on your feet! Wake up!" After a few more attempts, she relents.

Julie-Su peeks around the corner, looking first to Rotor and Bunnie, then at the flaring light streaks above, "Well, if we can't wake him, we need to evac him asap."

Mina races up to them, "Area secured, I didn't find any stragglers."

Sally nods, "Good. Now, I need you and Amy to carry Sonic to the evacuation tunnels. Get the soldiers in charge to take him to a doctor at New Knothole if he's still out by then. Hopefully he'll come round beforehand. After you hand him off, head back here on the double."

Both determined, "Right!" "Right!" Amy grabs Sonic under the arms as Mina grabs his legs and they start back towards the castle.

Julie-Su looks to Sally, "Now what? Every time they tear off a piece, the nanites rush back to the main body like some kinda liquid metal magnets. If Bunnie and Rotor can't stop that thing, what do we do?"

Sally sprints up to Rotor and Bunnie, yelling over the sound of metal smashing together. "Rotor! Clear on our end! Any ideas!?"

Rotor steps back, "Just the one! Bunnie, keep bashing!"

"Like ah got a choice!?"

Rotor opens the control panel on his armor's wrist plate and starts frantically typing in adjustment for him beam projector settings. "Now for a frequency sca—"

"Hustle up Rote! He's fixin' himself faster than ah can break!"

"Just about…"

Finally, a fully formed Metal Sonic's hand blurs up and catches Bunnie's cybernetic fist, its gleaming red eyes leer at her from the ground. "Awh crud." Bunnie feels the robot start to try and force her back, "Any day Rotor! We're bout tuh be in real big trouble!"

"Got it!" Rotor points his hand down at the Metal unit and a heavy wave of vibration slams into it from the side. At first nothing changes other than the machine's attention. "Common." Rotor turns some kind of dial and the vibrations become even harsher and the physical thrumming can be felt even through the air now by Sally and Julie-Su rather than just the ground. The screen of its eyes starts to crack and as dying nanites trickle from its metal body like sprinkled sand. "Now just more juice!" Finally he slides something up on his wrist and the wave of vibration turns into a visible beam as the air is violently fired at the robot, which is now rapidly breaking down under the battering frequency laden air pressure. Soon the Metal Sonic largely crumbles to powder, but Rotor is extra thorough, deforming even the area around it to be sure he dusts the entire unit, making certain it can't rebuild from its surrounding. "Nothing quite as informative as a live drill to test a rough theory, right?"

Bunnie pouts at him, "Or as life threatenin'. Mah stars, I was starin' to have flashbacks. Furr's standin' on end an everythin'."

"You could've handled it for a while if you needed to."

"Easy for you tuh say. Even if the one that tossed me around before was the genuine article wrapped in chrome foil, mah keister thinks this woundn'ta been too far a cry."

Sally puts a hand on Bunnie's shoulder, "Well, now just as then, I'm glad we've got such a dependable friend. And now that we have a way to deal with at least the non-super Metal series, we'll be ready."

"Speaking of—" Rotor steps closer to Bunnie and takes her cybernetic arm in hand, quickly attaching a cable to a hidden port, "Gotta add this new setting to your cannon."

"No complaints to that on mah part. Beats tryin' to slap a terminator to death."

Julie-Su eyes the residual damage where Metal laid, "So is that new beam based on the kinetic chaos blast Knuckles used on the transformed versions?"

"For the most part. Since we can't generate or harness chaos energy in any meaningful way yet without a chaos engine, this is based on just the kinetic force aspect with a frequency woven—"

"You guys can talk shop later. Right now, I want to know if we can use this to help them?" Sally points back to the battle ragging above.

"Sadly, I don't think this discovery will do much good unless they can toss more of the enemy unit down to us."

"Which we can't actually convey right now without either distracting them or giving away our intentions. Damnit."

"Sally?"

"Yes Nicole, go ahead."

"The Chaotix have arrived and are headed towards you now. Also, it seems Blaze has returned—"

As Tails ducks under a blow from the Mecha squared up with him, a blast of heat rams into it and rushes by before arcing straight down, slamming the unit into the ground with a massive explosion of dirt. Then right after impact, Blaze grabs the Mecha's leg and launches it at the city's ACC. A sharp whistle tears through the sky already filled with thunderous blows as the machine hurtles towards the field. But it fans out and using its power, regains control not far from the barrier. And as it stops, it's met by a pursuing Blaze's fist, her blow firing it fully into the shield, reverting its transformation. She zips forward into the ACC with some strain and grab the mecha by the neck, unleashing a heavy burst of kinetic force, atomizing the unit but delivering another sizable blow to the barrier's stability. Blaze quickly pulls back out of the field as Tails come up next to her. "Glad you're back. Nicole, status report on Sonic and the Metal unit from earlier?"

"Sonic has been unconscious since the impact and has been evacuated to New Knothole with the civilians. The Metal series unit that crashed with him has been disintegrated as a result of Rotor's new kinetic wave cannon modelled on the King's original discovery."

"That's amazing! Now we won't need the overwhelming force of a transformation to stop the nanites from rebuilding."

"I also have a message from Sally. If you can manage to throw any of the others into the city, Rotor and Bunnie can finish them off. I will attempt to open holes for them if you do to prevent further stress on the shields."

"How are they holding up?"

"Wall structural integrity at eighty four percent. I am still trying to make repairs. Energy screen integrity at forty one percent and dropping."

Blaze half scowls as she sees Knuckles struggling overhead, "Not great, but we have a plan at least."

Noticing her focus, Tails answers, "I don't like the idea, but we'll have a better chance if we help Shadow with the Metals while Knuckles is still holding out against the other three. Though odds are they know you're here and one might break off to keep us in check."

"Let it try." Her words a snarl as she races off towards Shadow, Tails following close behind.