Chapter 6
Sonic stepped onto the stage amidst the indiscriminate screaming of fans.
"We would like to thank you all for coming today," More screaming made him pause. "And I'd like to clarify; none of us expected this to happen. Shall we begin?"
"YES!" Was the resounding reply. Manic began a tap tap tap tap on his drums, and sounded the count off.
"And a one, a two, a one, two, three four." Sonic slammed down on his guitar chords, and the three's voices merged into one sound.
OOOOOOOOOO
Across the hills, and through the woods,
Over the rivers booold,
Freedoms march is on the move,
A vengeance not so cooold,
There's a fire in my heart,
A blade within my haaand,
I swear upon my love this day
That we shall always staaand.
The guitar roared like fire, the keyboard rang like bells in the wind, and the drums shook like the earth itself as they played song after song. Amy clapped her hands in time with the beat, and roared along when she knew the words. She could feel a synergy with the rest of the crowd, even joining in the mass electric slide. It didn't matter about him at that point, it just mattered about being alive and feeling the joy of the moment.
Freedom's march! Freedom's march! Goin' o'er the field
Freedom's march! Freedom's march! We shall never yield
Freedom's march! Freedom's march! Let it ever ring
Freedom's march! Freedom's march! We shall always sing
Your crimes, they scream themselves out loud,
They cannot be ignooored,
Though I do detest all war,
I must take up this swooord.
I would gladly give my life,
To end your tyrannyyy.
Though I wish it were no true,
This is how it must beee.
Freedom's march! Freedom's march! Goin' o'er the field
Freedom's march! Freedom's march! We shall never yield
Freedom's march! Freedom's march! Let it ever ring
Freedom's march! Freedom's march! We shall always sing
Through the badlands, in the streets,
Can't you hear our caaall?
'I am sorry highness,
But I know that you must faaall.'
In your corridors, down your halls,
I hope you hear us knaaave,
Freedom's march here this day,
You'll see we are the braaave!
Freedom's march! Freedom's march! Goin' o'er the field
Freedom's march! Freedom's march! We shall never yield
Freedom's march! Freedom's march! Let it ever ring
Freedom's march! Freedom's march! We shall always sing
Freedom's march! Freedoms march!
Free-dom's March!
OOOOOOOOOO
The Robotnik's temper stood on its tip. They dared to sing that song? A different tune maybe, but the intent was the same. There was no longer any doubt in his mind: They were dangerous radicals who planned to overthrow his system and possibly re-impose the monarchy. He directed the pre-positioned unit of Enforcers to enter the theater.
OOOOOOOOOO
Sonic came to the end of the song, and as the crowd roared he took a moment for the sake of his breath, but it was all cut short by a BOOM! As five gleaming cop-bots walked through the doorways. Everyone was silent. They watched fearfully as the machines marched towards the stage. Everyone quivered as their ruler spoke through his tools.
"Sonic Magee, Sonia Windemere, and 'Manic'. You are charged with conspiracy to rebellion, incitement of anarchy, and the manipulation of innocents. Anyone else who leaves immediately will only be assigned minor charges for breaking curfew. Any whom stay will be included in their charges."
One by one the crowd broke away, slowly streaming towards the exit, some looking back, wondering what would happen. They all knew the answer. Death. It was the only way to stop a rebellion, though at the moment this felt like nothing of the sort. At least one girl was heard crying. When they were all gone, the Robotnik spoke again.
"Initiate execution sequence." The machine began counting down.
"60, 59…" The three realized that this was for real, they were going to die. Sonic took hold of his brother and sister's hands, looking for a last comfort in each other. "57, 56…"
OOOOOOOOOO
The Robotnik stared at what he was doing. In truth, he didn't like it, but he had no choice. A rebellion could destroy the entire world. They had to die.
"Do you remember the Three…" he tried to force the song out of his head
"The ultimate epitome…" it kept going no matter how hard he tried
"Of all that is against what you stand for…" He saw the gems around the hedgehogs' neck were glowing. He had seen that happen before. It was how the queen had escaped actually…
"no…" he whispered to himself. "NO!" he roared.
OOOOOOOOOO
"You're dead, You're dead, you hear me. You weren't even born. I killed you. You're dead." It was the final insult as Sonic had to hear the leader he once trusted rant insanely, words he couldn't understand. "40, 39…"
OOOOOOOOOO
Amy tried to stop her tears, but she couldn't. They were going to die because she had said something stupid.
"You're pathetic." She said and hit herself across the cheek. It didn't help. She wanted to hurt someone. She saw a sledge hammer leaning against a wall and picked it up, ready to bang it against the wall until her arms gave out, but she did something else. "Will we just let him do this?" she yelled. Heads turned. "We'll let him kill people because they sang. And then run and cover our own miserable heads? Well?" people began to fathom her words. "Let's kick his…" She cursed.
Turning to the theater she ran screaming a wordless battle cry. Yona looked about and, grabbing the lid off a waste bin, joined Amy in the mad charge. More joined in, some stopping to grab makeshift weapons. Lisa pulled out her purple hilted knife, and then the handgun she had in her pocket.
OOOOOOOOOO
"9, 8…"
"Dead, dead, dead!" Sonic squeezed his eyes tighter. Just finish it. Let it be over.
"Yeeeaaaaaaaaaararrrrrrrrgh"
The cry drowned out all else. Sonic's eyes flashed open and his heart beat faster. A pink hedgehog was charging down the aisle, armed only with a sledgehammer. A human girl was following her. The robots were about to fire, she couldn't possibly make it in…
KENG! The hammer came down, demolishing the first robot's head down into its core, ruining it. As it fell the other cop-bots' programs took over and turned to defend themselves. As they started to aim their arm weapons at the dumb-faced hedgehog, a trash can lid bounced of one, turning their attention to the human. But now a veritable mob of people were streaming through the doors, and under the constant fusillade of ineffective rocks, bottles, and bricks, the cop-bots couldn't focus enough to fire. The hedgehog girl swung her hammer at the cop-bot next to her, but it blocked with one claw, and they became locked in a vicious circle of combat.
OOOOOOOOOO
The Robotnik stared, awakened from his ranting by the mobs appearance. Shaking himself from that image he began furiously typing in command codes to his machines.
"No you fools. Kill the three; the others don't matter." Finally he managed to override one Enforcer's reaction programs and got it to turn and level its gun at the three. They began running away so unlike their father uselessly, hoping to dodge his machine's weapon. The Robotnik swore as the report of a jam came back, and directed it to utilize its claws.
OOOOOOOOOO
Sonic risked a glance back at the machine coming towards him and his siblings. It wasn't firing yet, but if it did they'd probably die. They needed a distraction.
"Run. I'll take the machine." Sonic said turning back.
"Ahem, gang war veteran, maybe?" Manic said angrily.
"I know. You'll last longer." Patting their backs Sonic turned and ran towards the cop-bot. It swung a claw too far out, and he threw up his arms more out of instinct than design. The arm caught him or he caught the arm, and it arced nearly to the robots other shoulder, which Sonic grabbed, letting go of the arm. He swung his arm up and began pulling himself up. The cop-bot stopped attacking him, and raised its gun arm, making a strange chunk sound. Then it began firing.
Crack.
OOOOOOOOOO
Manic and Sonia had reached the seats by the time a bullet went through one just to their right. Turning left, they started running behind the seats, ducking to provide scant cover. The one they had just passed had the back blown through, then the next. They tried to run faster.
OOOOOOOOOO
"Argh…" Sonic muttered as he winced in pain. His hands were bloody from beating the cop-bots head. He needed some way to stop it. Letting his head droop, he saw the blue gem on its chain. Pulling it off, he rammed it into the cop-bot's first eye shattering the glass, and did the same to the second. The cop-bot stopped its rotation, but kept firing at the same spot. Sonic breathed heavy. Looking around, he saw that the girl hedgehog had finished her duel, and was trying in vain to give aid against another cop-bot. One was on the ground, having somehow caught fire, while the other was covered in different people trying to bring it down by their sheer weight.
OOOOOOOOOO
Manic tripped and fell flat on the floor, with Sonia running to help him. He saw two bottles of unopened beer that had been stashed under a chair for safe keeping.
"Now what are these doing here?" he said, standing up with them and levering off the lids with a pocket knife.
"Manic, I don't think this is the time to have a drink." Sonia said angrily.
"Relax," he replied, pouring some of the alcohol on pieces of cloth from his fanny pack, and stuffing them in the bottle's tops. "There's always time for a Moltov cocktail." He pulled out a lighter, handed one of the bottles to Sonia, and started running towards the stage. Sonia saw that the cop-bot was firing at the same spot now, and Sonic was on top. Manic lit the cloth in the bottles. "Throw when I say so." Manic yelled.
"What?"
"Just do it. Sonic, jump! Sonia, THROW!" Sonic's face twisted towards them as they called out, and jumped when he saw the flaming bottles in their hands. Manic and Sonia hurtled the impromptu missiles at the cop-bot as hard as they could, the bottles exploding in flame as they hit. Sonic hit the stage hands-first, leaving a red smear as he slid across. The cop-bot tilted for a moment, turning towards Manic and Sonia, before stopping altogether. Getting up Sonic limped over to it, grunting with each step. With bloodied hands he pushed as hard as he could, and with a groan the robot fell, putting a hole in the stage. In the front of the theater, the girl hedgehog looked up from the destruction of the last cop-bot, and dropped her sledgehammer. Running up on the stage, she caught Sonic in a tight-armed hug.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." She muttered, on the verge of tears.
"Um, hi?" Sonic replied
"Wow." The girl turned to the voice, somewhere in the highest seats. "This is how it happens." It was the eerily familiar visage of an echidna. "Fifteen years, and this is what I get?" Knuckles gestured a hand at the crowd of fear-struck people. "Kids, children, worse, teenagers." He walked onto the stage until his eyes were level with the three's. "Prince Manic, Princess Sonia, Prince Sonic; you have a lot to learn."