Chapter 3

All was quiet, just as Amy preferred it. She and Gabriella were busy washing and drying the breakfast dishes whilst Silver was reading a book in the living room. These were the moments Amy had often dreamed of. She had never had any ambition to enroll in a career; being a housewife was just fine. However, there was one big difference between her past dream and the present reality. When she was younger, she had idolized Sonic the Hedgehog and had often envisioned that he would eventually give in to her advances and marry her. Obviously, that hadn't happened. But, in all truth, Amy wouldn't have had it any other way. Sonic was one of her best friends, and she was happy that he had found happiness in Sally. She also didn't regret her marriage to Shadow. Sure he was stubborn, yea more so than a certain knucklehead she knew ("Julie Sue must have the patience of a saint."), but she was well equipped at handling him. Plus, he had provided her with wonderful children. Gabby reminded her of herself when she was younger, and she admired the spirit Silver had. All in all, in was a happy life she led, and the tranquil morning only added to that joy.

However, the peace of the moment was shattered by the sound of gunshots.

"Just like clockwork." Amy mumbled, covering her ears. This sudden disturbance was caused by Taylor. As he had done every morning after breakfast, he took up a set of rubber rounds, positioned some soda cans in an elm tree like a makeshift firing range, and then unloaded each clip. This was the only way Taylor could think of to keep his aim and firing skills sharp out here since it wasn't often he visited the firing ranges at GUN. Therefore, he resorted to this. He was lining up for another shot when he heard the backdoor open. He turned to see Amy walking out the front door.

"Hello, Mrs. Kintobor." Taylor greeted with a wave. "Can I help you with something?"

"Just one thing," Amy replied meekly. "Don't take this the wrong way but would you mind holding off on your target practice today. You really should take some time to relax and rest."

"I have to keep my skills sharp somehow, ma'am." said Taylor with a shrug. "It's my duty as an agent of GUN and your family's bodyguard to be prepared."

"I'm not in disagreement with that." Amy added. "But, like Sonic always says, all work and no play makes for a dull life."

Taylor looked at the can he hadn't shot down, then back to the lady of the house.
"Perhaps your right." he said finally. "I've been training pretty hard lately, and…"

"Bang!"

Taylor screeched with surprised, incidentally firing at the can and knocking it from its spot in the tree. With blazing eyes, Taylor turned to seeing a wildly giggling Gabbriella.

"Gabby!" Taylor fumed. "I've told you time and time again never to do that!"

"And yet I still do it." Gabby remarked snidely. "Are you starting to see a pattern here?"

Taylor wasn't the only one angry. "Gabbriella Maria Kintobor!" Amy exploded. "Have you lost all of the good sense in your brain?! He had a loaded gun in his hand, and could have easily hurt someone!"

"Take a chillpill, mom." Gabby replied casually. "He always uses rubber rounds when he practices. There's no need to…"

"HOUSE, NOW!"

"Yes momma."

Gabby slowly slinked past her mother, and made her way inside. When she was gone, Amy placed a hand over her face. "I swear, what am I going to do with that girl?"

"I'd say ground her." said Taylor as he rubbed the back of his head. "But you know how easy it is to keep her in one place."

Suddenly, Taylor felt his cellphone buzz. He retrieved it, and then placed it to his ear.

"Hello? Oh, hello Director Shadow. How has your morning… Huh? Director, please slow down. I can hardly…" Taylor pulled the phone away from his ear, and Amy could now hear husband screaming over the line, "GET OUT OF THERE! GET OUT OF THE HOUSE NOW!"

Suddenly, the woods came alive as a swarm of eggpawns emerged with weapons raised. One aimed at Amy and fired, but Taylor quickly pushed her out of the way. Another armed a missile launcher, and, to the two's mounting distress, appeared to be aiming for the house. Taylor leapt to his feet in an attempt to stop it, but was too late. The projectile when zooming past, and the cottage was engulfed in sound, smoke, and flames.

"Nooooo!"

"GABBRIELLA! SILVER!"

Both Taylor and Amy looked on in absolute terror at the tower of smoke that erupted from the remnants of the house. However, as the smoke began to clear, Taylor began to see a strange green light. Seconds later, he could see Silver and Gabbriella, both unharmed and protected by an aura of psychic energy. The two ran out of the wreckage and made their way into their hysterical mother's arms. Taylor breathed a sigh of relief, and then shot a glare in the direction of the robots.

"Alright you wind-up toy knock offs, EAT LEAD!"

Taking aim, Taylor proceeded to unload his gun on all of the nearest targets. However, he began to notice an unexpected snag. "There are only rubber rounds in this thing. I forgot."

More enemy fire flew overhead. "Mrs. Kintobor, Gabby, Silver make a run for it! I'll hold them off for as long as I…"

There was a loud whooshing sound, followed by an eggpawn being smash by an enormous pink and yellow hammer. Taylor turned to see a look of indescribable rage burned onto Amy's face.

"It's bad enough that these mechanical monsters destroyed my house, but they had the nerve and gall to try and kill my children along with it. NOW…I'M…ANGRY!"

She was off like a flash, gathering up her hammer and laying waste to any eggpawn unfortunate enough to get close to her. Taylor, Silver, and Gabby merely stood there watching in stunned silence. At last, Taylor said, "You two take cover. I'll see if I can lend a hand."

Not needing to be told twice, Silver took his sister's hand and guided her to the edge of the woods. Taylor then charged head on with an eggpawn and began to grapple with it for its weapon. When he finally managed to wrench it from the machine, he fired a couple of rounds into its body until he was certain it was deactivated.

"Not the pistol I'm used to." he grumbled to himself as he lifted up the bulky blaster. "But I'm not one to complain about a free weapon."

As for Amy, she had become a complete mad woman. She was spinning wildly, scrapping several robots with every rotation. "Nobody messes with my children!" she snapped as she smashed another robot. "You hear me? NOBODY!"

Both Silver and Amy watched the spectacle with awe and amazement. "Wow!" Silver mumbled. "Dad always said that mom was dangerous in a fight, but I always thought he was trying to spice up his old war stories."

"She's incredible!" Gabby added with admiration.

Suddenly, an eggpawn seized Amy by the waste, and, just before she could bash it away, it unleashed an electrical current through her body. Amy cried out in agonized pain before the robot released her, and she fell to the ground.

"Mom!" Gabby cried, dashing to her mother's side. "Mom? Momma, wake up!" Tears flooding her eyes, the young fawn began to shake her motionless parent in an attempt to awaken her. She was pulled away by the sound of gears clicking, and she could see the eggpawn coming closer. Its soulless eyes pierced down into hers, and in that moment Gabbriella the gazelle realized what it truly meant to be hopeless. She couldn't see Taylor as he tried to bat away the countless enemies, nor did she see Silver as he appeared in front of her in an attempt to protect both her and their mother. All she felt was her fear and the impending end.

Silver also had a feeling of hopelessness filling his being. He had tried to use his telekinesis to fight off the eggpawn, but he found he couldn't concentrate hard enough to make it work. Now, he stood arms stretched between his mother and sister, and the eggpawn that wished them harm. He squeezed his eyes shut, and then waited for the inevitable clash and, quite possibly, his last few moments on Mobius.

But no blows ever came. Instead, there was a loud crunching noise, followed by the sound of metal being torn apart. Silver opened one eye, and saw no other than his dad whom had just axe-kicked the eggpawn then ripped it into two pieces. The ebony hedgehog's gaze fell onto his fallen bride, and the already crazed look on his face became a myriad mixture of rage and total insanity.

He vanished in a bright flash of gold light, then materialized over another robot and smashed it to pieces. He then moved on to the next, then the next, then the next, until there was only one eggpawn left. A warning signal blared on the machine's HUD display, and it turned to flee. But Shadow wouldn't have it. He drew back his right hand, channeled the Chaos energy in his body, and proclaimed, "Chaos Spear!" Then, he lobbed it at the robot, which exploded on contact. Then there was silence.

Shadow, his rage satisfied, made his way to his children's side. He could see Gabby cradling her mother's head in her lap, and a great fear began to well up in Shadow's heart. He gently took Amy from his daughter, and placed an ear to her chest. A sigh of relief escaped his lips when he heard a heartbeat, thus telling him that she was alive. Seconds later, Sonic and his son Manic appeared on the scene. A quick sweep of the area was enough to tell Sonic what had happened. For once, his marvelous speed wasn't enough to prevent a catastrophe.

He walked over to Shadow, and then placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry." he said solemnly. Shadow looked up at him and nodded. "I'm just thankful we got here before we lost someone irreplaceable. Storn!"

"Sir."

"Call General Cortes, and have him bring a medic down here. I also want the science division down here. I want to know just whom I need to destroy for this assault against my family."

Taylor saluted Shadow, and began to dial the number on his phone. However, inside his mind, Taylor was overcome with grief. He had been given one simple task to guard and protect the Director's family, and he had failed.