Sonic Overdrive: Freedom Rising

by AdmyralOperius

Mobius has been under the palm of Dr. Robotnik for seven years. Sonic and the Freedom Fighters have been successful in battling him with guerrilla attacks, but when an Overlander from another city that was also decimated by the good doctor somehow stumbles into Knothole, things start to get twisted in unexpected ways (a loose adaptation of both Archie Comics and SatAM).

13. Jupiter's Hammer

Jupiter's Hammer

Crickets in the underbrush were chirping harmoniously as the lake rippled under light breezes. Trystan sat nearby, but the last thought on his mind was enjoying the scenery. He was wearing absolutely nothing, having tossed his clothes to the side, and he was squatting down in a small clump of bushes to keep out of sight on the off-chance someone wandered by.

He poked his head out of his hiding place. The water remained undisturbed. Despite being draped in a towel, he shivered. "Hurry up already, I'm freezing my dick off."

The waters answered his plea after a few seconds, as there was a dim glow under the surface that started to intensify. When he saw it, Trystan wasted no time running out of his hiding spot, dropping the towel, and lunging out to grab a Ring as it shot out of the water. He fell in with a loud splash, but quickly swam back to shore with the Power Ring clutched between his teeth.

After he pulled himself out and tucked the Ring into his sweatshirt, he rolled it up, tied the towel around his waist, and carried his clothes further away from the central lake, where he hid behind more foliage and dried himself off.

---

Antoine had gone out on his daily walk, believing the cool night air would relieve some stress. Knothole was actually far more beautiful at night, and it reminded him of the royal palace of Mobotropolis, what fuzzy memories there already were. The huts and cabins were built in perfect harmony with the Great Forest, stretching up to the sky.

It almost made him feel at peace, a feeling that was quickly shattered as he passed through a row of huts built on the ground and was grabbed and pulled back into the shadows, a hand over his mouth to keep him for screaming. He still tried, even though it came out muffled. Whoever grabbed him had smooth hands, meaning they were hairless, meaning there was only one possible culprit.

"Oh mon dieu, toi bâtard fou!" he yelled, turning to face Trystan.

This earned him Trystan's hand back across his mouth as he leaned out of the alley they were in and a quick glance around. "Cork it, Antoine," Trystan hissed as he slunk back into the shadows. "We got work to do."

"Excusez-moi?" he exclaimed.

Trystan slapped his mouth closed a third time. "Seriously, Antoine, be quiet! I'm working on a plan here."

Antoine pushed his hand away. "Zee overlander has a plan? By God, zat really eez a surprise," he said in a lower voice than before. "Does eet explain why you 'ave given me such a scare?"

"Lemme answer that question with another question," Trystan retorted, "Tell me, do you think Sonic's been acting like more of a jackass lately?"

Antoine scoffed. "Zee hedgehog eez always being one of zee stupid people."

Trystan rolled his eyes. "Of course he is, but don't you think he's been more of an egotist recently? Like, he's really been rubbing his greatness in everyone's faces," he said. "The fuckboy even had the nerve to spill my drink," he muttered. He still hadn't gotten over that grievance.

Antoine paused. "...He has been overtly regressive…" he mused.

"'Overly aggressive,' frenchy," Trystan corrected with a smirk.

"I see no deefferentiation," Antoine brushed him off.

"Either way, something's wrong. Normally, I don't give much thought to coincidences, but Amy and I had a little chit-chat yesterday, and according to her, not only is Sonic being a massive prick, but he failed to set his own uncle free when all the odds were in his favor. Whoever this fucker is, he's playing as fog on the field," Trystan explained.

"Zat eez very good and all, but, erm, tell me, Monsieur Treestan...'Ow will we be proving zis to zee princess? To anyone, really?" Antoine questioned. In response, Trystan's face slowly worked up a devious grin. "M...Monsieur…?" he stammered.

"We're not," Trystan said flatly. "At least not conventionally. We're goin' to Robotropolis."

Antoine's heart near froze with fear. "A-a-a-all by ou-ou-our lonesome…?" He started shaking.

"Naw, you kiddin'? I still got Amy to call in. Hell, if I didn't suggest finding a way to break into Robotropolis, she'd've done it herself. Anyway, think about it…" Trystan began. "Sonic and co. go out on a mission to charge a Power Ring. They use it to break through dimensions. They come back telling people they went to a universe where the heroes' bad traits are grossly exaggerated, and after that point, Sonic's been acting more stuck-up than usual. The logic makes sense, but we need to go there ourselves to see if my hunch is right." He paused before stating, "We're going on a black ops mission, my man."

"B-b-b-black pops…?"

"Black ops, but yes. This does mean what you think it means," he corrected Antoine.

This was, of course, met with Antoine's cowardly resistance. "W-well, Monsieur Treestan, I would be more zan loving to go along with your idea, but, erm, you see…" he lied, "...I have been meaning to go and get my teeth checked, yes, zat eez it! I am in need of a dentist's checkup-"

"Come off it, Antoine!" Trystan grabbed him by the collar of his uniform and looked Antoine dead in the eyes. It caused him to squeal, but otherwise he was too shaken to move. "Look at me. If you don't help me out, I might not be able to set the real Sonic back in his place, if this is a case of mistaken identity. If that happens, nobody will realize the phony we've got now is nothing but a phony, and do you know what'll happen if he stays here long enough?" He didn't wait for an answer, immediately diving back in with, "He'll eventually get sweet on Sally, and they'll get married. Do you want some faking, hotheaded, blue wank-stick gettin' cozy with your princess...?"

Antoine's expression hardened faster than quick-drying cement, and he forced Trystan to let go of him as he turned and marched out of the alley they had been talking in. "Follow my lead, Monsieur Treestan! Togethair, we shall infeeltrate Robotropolis in secret and find zee truth!"

Trystan smirked. "That was so easy I almost feel bad."

He quickly followed Antoine before overtaking him and leading instead. "What in zee name of-"

"First rule of going black ops," Trystan instructed, "You don't talk about going black ops."

Antoine stopped for a moment to think. "Zen by zat logic, doesn't zat mean you are talking about going zee way of black pops?"

Trystan stopped as well and slowly turned to face Antoine with a pained grin. "Do as I say, not as I do, dammit," he pleaded as he walked away, leading him to Amy's cabin after a couple minutes.

Amy had finished sorting a few old tarot cards when she heard someone knocking on the door, and upon answering, she saw Trystan and Antoine, all geared up and ready to go. Trystan winked. "You ready, kid?"

A smile immediately spread across her face. "Absolutely!"

---

Entering Robotropolis had been easier than any of them expected, but getting into the Grey Gardens would be a whole other ballpark. Trystan peered out of a sewer grate, then quickly ducked down as a patrol of SWATbots and robians marched right over him. He poked the top of his head back out before shoving the grate off his head and climbing out. "Coast is clear, you two," he whispered.

He helped Antoine up, after a moment of scuffling and muttered curses, and he, in turn, brought Amy to the surface last. Antoine informed Trystan, "I am thinking you are better off not eating so much of your mother's soup."

"I'll listen to your advice when you finally decide to put margarine in your escargot, then. That shit needs all the sweeteners it can get," Trystan retorted.

"Why, I nevair…!" Antoine started. "I cannot believe you would think zat margarine should be put into a dish of escargot! Eet eez zee worst possible substitute to put into any kind of fine cuisine, and in fact, I cannot be thinking of a single reason for eet to exist! Zere's too much fat, sugars, and pree-sairveteeves. I should shred your clothes for even suggesting-"

Trystan clapped his hand over Antoine's mouth and sighed. "Remind me to never start conversations about food if you're within ten feet of me," he said.

"Guys?" Amy interrupted. "Focus, maybe? We gotta make sure we don't get shot, you know." Trystan and Antoine glanced at each other awkwardly, but did know the time for action was best spent doing some acting.

They darted across a few roads, Trystan's knife out and gun permanently pointed ahead of him. Antoine had brought his sabre with him, mostly by his own accord. It made him feel more in control. Trystan was still 98% percent certain he was going to run away from a fight when they encountered one. Every subsequent encounter after that only increased those odds. Amy had her hammer somewhere on her, of course, but Trystan knew asking where it was exactly was either going to get him a shrug or a blow to the head.

They had soon made it into the outskirts of the Grey Gardens by utilizing narrow alleyways and sewer checkpoints, avoiding conflict when possible. Of course, Trystan had destroyed ten SWATbots and taken down five robians, and Amy had beaten down whatever he wasn't focused on. Antoine had beheaded one SWATbot, after Amy had knocked it backward it and caused it to stumble.

They both stared out of an elevated road that had a clear view of Robotnik's citadel. "Monsieur Treestan," Antoine whispered, "n-n-now what…?"

Trystan, in response, pointed at the citadel. "We gotta get from here, to there…" He slowly brought his hand down from the upper floors to pointing at the base of the building. "To w-a-a-a-y down there," he whispered back.

Antoine paused before adjusting his coat nervously. "And 'ow will we be getting inside in zee first place?"

Trystan shrugged. "No clue. I was plannin' on just knocking on the front door and asking for directions."

He had vaulted over the railing that separated them from a street below before Antoine could ask if he was kidding or not. Amy followed him, and regardless, he had no choice but to keep pressing forward, being this deep in enemy territory.

The three of them made it to a preliminary wall surrounding the citadel. From where they stood, there was no easy way into Robotnik's fortress; the entrance gates were all heavily guarded, and not only was the wall at least fifteen feet high, the top was pockmarked by an electric grid. Trystan would have blown up one of the security gates if not for the fact he wanted to just get in and get out as fast as possible. However, an "easy entrance" was entirely subjective, as Trystan managed to find a manhole about halfway between two entrance gates, and he called Antoine over. "Ugh, weren't we just in ze sewair?" he groaned.

"Probably a different drainage system, Antoine. It won't be that bad." Trystan lifted the lid and Antoine and Amy scurried down. Trystan followed, and just like magic, the tunnel they were in led straight ahead, and under the security wall. "See? I don't even need a handheld supercomputer with a GPS," he articulated.

---

Ten minutes and a few cramps later, Antoine, Amy, and Trystan had infiltrated the citadel's ventilation system and were steadily climbing up a shaft by stabbing the walls with their bladed weapons. Amy had to shuffle up the hard way, and the boys knew better than to let her go first with how short her dress was. They couldn't hear any alarms, so everyone assumed they were still nonexistent to Robotnik's forces.

In order to climb up, they all had to brace themselves against one wall with their back and the opposite wall with their legs and then drive whatever they had into the wall they were climbing. Antoine already had a couple slip-ups so far, due to his nagging fear of how high up they were in the ventilation shaft. Trystan had ordered him to be quiet so no one would hear any voices echoing through the grates.

They eventually made it up to a proper floor, but Trystan decided to stay in the vent to minimize the risk of being seen, something Antoine wholeheartedly agreed with. "Now all we gotta do is find an elevator that goes to the basement," Trystan muttered as he crawled forward through the vents alongside a hallway.

"You know how long that'll take?" Amy asked.

Trystan shrugged his shoulders slightly. "Dunno. Could take five minutes...could take five hours." They proceeded forward, around a couple corners, when they heard voices up ahead, from the hallway outside. They sounded vaguely familiar, but no one could pin a person to the corresponding voice. They did hear a door close, and Trystan guessed, from the distance of the sound, that it was only a dozen or so feet ahead of them.

He motioned for Antoine to follow him around a left corner (which earned a small "Oui, oui, I am coming," to reassure him). They got a few paces before Trystan stopped and Antoine and Amy almost ran into each other.

"Now what is zee problem here?" he asked.

Trystan, in response, leaned over as far as he could to reveal two panels installed on either side of the vent. There were hair-thin lasers being emitted from the panels, forming three horizontal bars. "Laser grid," Trystan said, shifting back over to get his center of balance restored. "Won't kill us, but it'll make damn sure everyone knows we're here."

"...'Ow are getting by, Monsieur Treestan?" Antoine whispered tentatively.

He looked at the panels. They were smooth steel, definitely not the same material as the vent around them. He took out his knife and touched the panel once, making sure the lasers didn't hit him. Nothing happened. He was about to turn the plasma blade on and try again, but decided to save that as a last resort, and instead, thrust his knife into the vent ceiling and slowly cut a hole out. Trystan poked his head through after he was done and smirked.

"There's just enough space up there for us to crawl through," he said, beaming. "Come on!"

Trystan moved himself up and over the vent, surprised he didn't see any more traps in the crawlspace (if anything, he was only worried about strangling himself in the one billion electrical cords crisscrossing it). Antoine followed swiftly, Amy almost got stuck, and after a few steps, Trystan cut his way back into the vent, on the other side. They shuffled forward a few feet before Trystan heard something from the right, and down another vent shaft. The voices were talking. He nodded right, indicating the other two should follow.

They crawled forward, and the voices increased in volume, along with the distant beeping of computer terminals.

"...And then we'll lure them into your arena. I see..." Trystan looked out of a vent to see the Freedom Fighters talking to a video image of Dr. Robotnik's face, leaning back in his throne. Except, everyone were wearing leather, in addition to more rough and worn out clothes.

And he knew for a fact the pompous looking fool in the blonde wig to the far right wasn't Antoine, because he was right next to him, trying to get a better look out of the vent grate along with Amy.

"Once that happens, lock the place down, and we'll handle the rest," Miles said with a smirk.

Robotnik drummed his fingers on his throne for a moment, considering the idea before nodding. "Yes, that should do the trick. I have been working on a special robot as well. If you don't mind me including it, it should get the job done faster," he articulated.

Miles nodded. "Excellent."

There was a brief pause before Alicia cleared her throat. "And in return for our help…?"

Robotnik grinned. "Strange...after all this time, I thought you were helping me."

"What?" Alicia exclaimed. "Why you…! Who do you think you are? You should know you're helping us!"

"Alicia…" Miles muttered through grated teeth. Boomer huffed and crossed his arms.

Robotnik rolled his eyes, keeping his hands folded together. Yet, he still smiled. "No, no, Miles, it's quite all right. Misunderstandings happen. I suppose, since I'm so generous, that I can pay you with...hmm...perhaps some old trinkets left over by the old royal family then? I certainly have no use for them." Alicia and Patch nodded, but Miles and Boomer requested to be given compensation in the form of tech they could "play with."

"Perfect!" Robotnik said. "Meet me in my foyer...no deception. Scout's honor." He crossed his heart and then got up from his chair.

The video turned off soon after, and the doors to the room opened up. The Suppression Squad made their way out, cajoling the whole time, although Miles and Patch were more reserved about it. The doors closed as their voices got more distant.

Trystan remained still where he was, just in case he might have missed the noise from some movement that betrayed someone else being in the room before cutting the vent grate to pieces and crawling out of it. Amy followed him and whispered, "Who were those guys...?"

Antoine stammered, "Z-z-zut alors, zey sounded just like us!"

"One of'em sounded like you," Trystan corrected. "Come on, we gotta find an elevator."

They walked over to the sliding doors to the hallways, Trystan instructing Antoine to stand on the left edge while he and Amy took the right. The door opened, and after that, there was no more sound. "See anything?" Trystan whispered.

"Not a thing," Antoine shook his head.

"You sure?"

Amy huffed and gently pushed Trystan out of her way, peering around the left corner. "Nothing there, Trystan."

Trystan nodded and came out of the door's blind spot and into the hallway, pointing his gun forward. After the spot check, he motioned for the other two to follow him outside. They went to the right due to them hearing the others from down the corridor around the left corner. Amy smirked and exclaimed, "Guys this is great! I couldn't have planned this any better!"

Antoine was looking around nervously as he replied, "A-a-and why eez zat?"

"Don't you see? It's simple!" she began. "If those guys, whoever they really are, are here, then that means that they're not at whichever dimension they originally came from." She took a moment to breathe in. "And that means if we go there now, we'll have free reign over the place, and then nothing can stop us from finding Sonic!"

Antoine shrugged. "I, erm, guess 'ow zat could be a good plan," he stammered.

"I guess it's better than nothin'," Trystan said as he brought his gun back up as he marched forward. "Still gotta find an elevator, but I can feel one close by. I can feel it in my loins."

Although only slightly disgusted by his comment, Antoine followed Trystan as he marched forward, and Amy outpaced them both. They found their elevator in less time than anticipated, thankfully. Trystan called Amy over to it after she had gone farther ahead looking for said elevator. He really admired her dedication.

As Trystan pushed the call button, he kicked up the power on his revolver on top of turning the silencer on. The nanites swarmed out over the barrel and interlocked around it, and he took position a few feet away from the door. "Get ready to fight, in case we get a welcome wagon," he advised. Amy squinted hard and whipped her hammer out of thin air, settling into a ready stance.

"Yes, yes, of course," Antoine responded as he unsheathed his sabre and took a couple more steps back.

Trystan rolled his eyes. Why do I fucking bother? he asked himself.

They all waited on bated breath until there was a dull buzzing sound coming from behind the doors. They slid open, and when Trystan saw the first hint of dull black metal behind them, he pulled the trigger. The two SWATbots behind the door got wasted by hard-light gunfire, but a third one, off to the left, had been half-concealed behind the circular walls of the room, and stuck to it when it recognized there was a threat.

The robot proceeded to activate its comms in order to broadcast a message for backup, but it was cut short as Trystan came around the corner with his knife hot and glowing. He jammed it under the metal helmet of the SWATbot and twisted it upward, cutting several cords and frying half its "brain" in the process. It fell to the ground with a loud crash.

Trystan stood over them, the barrel of his gun still smoking. He flicked his wrist to empty the bullet chamber, let the liquid go, and flicked it back into place. Antoine remained outside, trying to get a grip on what happened, and Amy was by Trystan's side in a second, hammer still up.

"Hey, Ant! Help me haul these oversized can-openers out of the elevator!"

It took some prodding, but Trystan eventually got Antoine to at least touch the SWATbots, and with Amy's added help, subsequently moved them out of the elevator so that if it was called, there wouldn't be any evidence carried with it. Trystan had been carting the third SWATbot out of the elevator, the one he had "stabbed in the neck" so to speak, when he had an idea. Probably not worth it in the long run, but better safe than sorry.

"Antoine! Help me take this metal shell apart and gut it," he instructed, trying to pry the SWATbot's head clean off...much to Antoine's shock.

"Wh-wha…?" Antoine stammered. "B-b-but, zat eez, erm...I suppose. But...why?"

"Yeah, Trystan, why would you want to tear those ugly things apart?" Amy added.

"Just help me, you'll get it." Trystan went about reaching into the SWATbot's torso and extracting all the mechanical joints and wires, which Antoine hesitantly assisted him with. They had scooped out the mess in a few minutes, with Trystan periodically checking outside, as they had confined themselves to the elevator, as they could shut the doors on short notice to protect them from laser fire.

Eventually, they hollowed out the SWATbot's suit, with Trystan cramming the parts into a nearby vent. With all the insides on the outside, he spent a couple more minutes forcibly detaching the individual pieces from the shell until he had them grouped up as parts of an outfit.

Trystan looked at his work, smiled, and then proceeded to slide one leg of the SWATbot's casing up his own leg. It fit, even if it was a bit cold.

"M-M-Monsieur Treestan…?" Antoine hesitantly asked as he took a step backward. "W-w-what eez eet zat you are planning, exactly?"

Amy watched him, rubbing her chin as Trystan forced his leg down the other plated part of the casing, and then picked up the shell of the torso. "The backup plan," he said, hefting the steel chestplate over his head and sliding it down. There was more than enough room for his head to go through the hole for the neck. Trystan bent his knees to check for discomfort. Finding a minimal amount, he picked up the shells of the SWATbot's arms and donned them. They were a bit bulky, but still fit rather well, considering his thin build.

The last piece Trystan put on was the head plate, although he kept the LED lights for the visor inside and running to help sell the disguise. However, when he plunked it on his head, he could tell there was open space between it and the chestplate, revealing his neck. He sighed in aggravation and muttered obscenities to himself as he hunkered down inside the suit until he struck a balance between it looking natural and him not trying to compress himself so much.

"Bingo." His voice came out slightly muffled, but it did make it difficult to tell who was in the suit. If Antoine hadn't watched him put it all on, he might've mistaken Trystan for a SWATbot himself. "Antoine, give me your sword. Amy, I need your hammer for a minute."

This request was sudden, but Antoine did unsheath it. He still held onto it and questioned, "And...may I be asking zis again...why…?"

Trystan scoffed and snatched the sword out of Antoine's hands as quickly as he could, then aimed the arm of the shell that had the laser attached to it at him. "Surrender, you miserable mammal, and maybe Doctor Robotnik will not torture you for quite as long," he droned in the best mechanical voice he could.

Antoine froze up for a second and squeaked as if Trystan had suddenly just turned on him, but quickly came off it and straightened up indignantly. "My God, you are ill-agreeable!"

Amy couldn't help but giggle at that, and looked back to Trystan. "Pretty sure you mean 'irredeemable,' Antoine" she pointed out. Trystan clutched the sword in one hand and turned Antoine around with the other. "Now put your hands behind your back and don't make any sudden movements. I'd tell you to act scared, too, but you're already shakin' like an earthquake. Amy? Whaddaya think?"

She pursed her lips and considered Trystan's mode of thought, but eventually took her hammer out and handed it over. Trystan was surprised to find it so light when it was capable of so much damage. "Just so you know, I'm gonna have to struggle a bit. It won't completely sell the disguise if I don't," Amy warned.

There was a drawn-out sigh from inside the SWATbot suit. "Was afraid you'd say that."

---

One seven-minute elevator ride later, Antoine and Trystan had infiltrated the bowels of the citadel, in the tunnels and coolant corridors meant for the main battery. When they stepped out of the elevator, they walked forward through a couple security checkpoints that had recognized Trystan as a SWATbot, something he was amazed by. As they continued on, Trystan whispered, "Robotnik really did increase security down here," mostly to himself.

Antoine shifted his arms, and Amy whispered, "Sonic did say the security down here got more serious after we tried attacking once. I wasn't a Freedom Fighter then, but from what he told me, it was pretty ba-"

"Aie!" Antoine yelped as Trystan tightened his hold on Antoine's arms, forcing him to be still. It earned him a hissed, "What in zee name of all zat eez holy was zat for?"

Trystan swiveled his head and looked down at him, accompanied by a small chuckle. "Can't let it look like I'm escorting you around the place. Gotta sell the disguise."

"...Enjoy zis while eet lasts, overlander," Antoine huffed.

This made Trystan and Amy giggle softly. "I'm glad to see you don't take yourself too seriously, Trystan," she whispered.

"I might not be as young as I once was, but I'll gladly take being childish over being a grumpy old jackass," he responded with a chuckle.

They marched on and reached a large sliding steel door. Trystan had barely approached it when it simply slid open. "How convenient," Trystan muttered. They walked through a couple corridors of cooling tubes until a similar door appeared; when they approached this one, it opened up into the main battery area.

Which was crawling with SWATbots.

Acting on instinct, Trystan snatched Antoine by his collar and Amy by her wrist, and walked forward. This, understandably, drew the automatons' attention, especially after Antoine shrieked. Amy nudged him to settle down, but even she looked slightly unnerved. One of them approached Trystan, and seemed to believe his disguise.

"What is going on here?"

Trystan racked his brains and spat out the most logical thing he could think of on such short notice, as monotone as possible. "I detected suspicious sounds emanating from a nearby ventilation shaft and upon further inspection, discovered these Freedom Fighters…" he articulated as he shook Antoine and Amy, "...Hiding inside. I am manually transporting it to the holding cells to await roboticization."

"Excellent work," the other SWATbot replied. "We shall escort you to the cells in case the others plan a resc-"

"No need," Trystan cut it off. "It is only...I am having difficulty remembering their names. Anton and Amy...? It is only the cowardly one and this...loud little girl. I have no reason to worry." Amy started to struggle to escape his grip as he marched through the gathered group of robots, across the room, and out the door on the other side, calling him names all the way. When it slid closed, he dropped them both and bent over, breathing heavily.

Antoine was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. "M-m-m-mon D-D-Dieu...! Mon cœur a presque arrêté! J'ai failli mourir...!"

"Sounds delicious, Ant," Trystan gasped, "But can you wait to share the recipe? Kinda tryin' to get my heart in check, here."

Antoine stared at Trystan with wide-eyed shock before collapsing on the ground and quietly sobbing to himself, and Amy, while leagues better off than they were, did seem to be breathing more heavily than usual, and sweating a little. Trystan would have felt worse for Antoine if his foreign accent wasn't so damn funny most of the time. He waited for a couple more minutes, then walked them to a side-room filled with secondary control panels and ventilation cooling systems. It was a good place to hide in, so Trystan instructed, "Wait here. I'm gonna try something risky. If you hear explosions, it means something's gone horribly wrong with my plan, and you need to get the hell out."

Antoine nodded weakly, and Trystan, before leaving, added with a mirthful tone, "Hang on...Help me rip my arm off. I gotta get the Power Ring out." Amy volunteered, and approached him. It took longer to get the SWATbot casing off than either of them cared to admit.

Before Trystan walked out of the room, Amy asked, "Are you gonna try charging that Ring like Sonic did with the last one?"

"I mean, that's all we got goin', right?" He left, his hand curled into a fist, rendering the Power Ring invisible. He reentered the main battery chamber.

No SWATbots questioned him any further, maybe because they thought it was a different model, and couldn't tell most SWATbots apart from each other. It would make sense, given the exact same build and color scheme on each of them. Trystan shuffled up to the main battery and walked around it, glancing it up and down. He'd have to stay on the ground floor for a faster escape rather than staying stuck on the walkways and get surrounded. He stopped, turned his back to the battery and pressed himself up against it, uncurling his fist and pressing the Ring on the surface.

---

Snively remained in Robotnik's throne room while he was busy offering his little gifts to the Suppression Squad, picking through files in the central computer, mumbling to himself as usual. "Hmm...hijack the core battery and blow this place sky high is out of the question...but it could be a last resort. I may have to...no, no that won't work...Steal that old wizard's computer when...and if...uncle Julian gets his fat hands on it…? Hmm...that's a possibility, but it's a long shot...Maybe if I-"

His thoughts were interrupted when an alarm started blaring, and the lights in the throne room flickered before moving to emergency backup power. Snively froze, waiting for something to explode. Nothing happened, even as he strained his ears.

Then, he heard it. Heavy thumping, and it was coming from outside the room. Ever closer, until he saw, to his horror, Robotnik force the doors to his throne room open rather than wait for them to slide apart. And if looks could kill, his eyes would have shot out dual hydrogen bombs.

"Snively…!"

Snively had no time to scream, and in honesty, it would have been hard to hear over Robotnik's livid voice. "By God, there had better not be any rats crawling around in the main generator room again! Get out of my way!" He threw Snively off to the side, and he fell flat on his back.

Robotnik refused to even look his way as he pressed a button on the control panel and leaned over a connected microphone.

---

"Attention, you thick-headed tin-cans! There's something down there draining power from the main battery. Find it at once, or I'll rip out your batteries to use as backup!" The comms shut off after a loud and unwieldy metallic thud, leaving all the SWATbot units in the room to look at each other.

Trystan noticed this, and guessed they must be scanning each other. He didn't know what for, exactly, but figured this meant he was going to get found out sooner or later. He had to make a break for it.

That was when he noticed a SWATbot, directly to his left, staring him down. The LED visor was slowly blinking red, and Trystan started to feel his armpits getting damp. In that moment, he knew what he had to do.

"Yolo!"

The silence was broken as metal crashed into metal and the SWATbot was sent backward after Trystan punched it right in the visor. He didn't stick around to see how the others would react, although the lasers screeching past him gave him some semblance of what was happening. He ran straight out of the room and back down the hallway he had been in, and barreled through the doors of the closet he had left Antoine and Amy.

Antoine was still there, thankfully, and looking just as pale as ever. Paler, after he saw Trystan come crashing in, and had shrieked his lungs out. Trystan, in response, clasped his metal gauntlet over his mouth. "Either scream when we're safe or we're dead, Ant!" he commanded.

Amy rushed over to him, exclaiming, "Trystan, what's going on!?"

He didn't respond with words, instead loosening his grip of the Ring in his free hand and he chucked it as hard as he could at the door; just as said door opened up with a brigade of SWATbots behind it, the Ring exploded to life, knocking all of them backward and over.

Wasting no time, Trystan half-guided, half-dragged a still-terrified Antoine toward the glowing portal a few feet away, ordering Amy to "ignore the robots and move." She looked at him, but did as he said. When he got close enough, he lifted up and practically tossed Antoine into it, and his screams were cut off as he vanished into the pool of liquid light. Trystan dove in after him, and after his head decided to stop feeling light and dizzy, he found himself on what he guessed was a rooftop of some kind.

And he had landed really awkwardly on his back, to make things a little worse. "Fucking ow."

Amy had experienced roughly the same thing as Trystan, minus the pain in his back. She struggled to lift herself up, yet the dizziness was quite possibly milder than what she experienced leaving the Special Zone. When she did get up, she looked at the two boys and muttered, "You...you two okay…?"

Antoine was a couple feet away from him, flat on his back, and his eyes were glassy. He tried moving his arm. It felt like it was made of wet cardboard. "...I am not feeling my legs…" he mumbled.

After a few minutes of feeling half-dead, Trystan and Antoine managed to stumble to their feet. Trystan was fairly certain that a nano morphine vial wouldn't ease the nausea, but he wished he hadn't left the things at home to at least try. "...It might help me avoid barfing in this steel container…" he whispered, holding his arms over his stomach. He threw his helmet off, followed by the gauntlets, then he struggled with the SWATbot torso for a few minutes, then finally stepped out of the leggings. His clothes were practically soaked with sweat and leftover oil and grease.

Antoine, after propping himself up to a sitting position held his nose. "Augh…! You reek, Monseiur Treestan."

Amy cupped her hand over her face as well, to serve as a very rudimentary filter. "Ugh, Antoine's right…"

Trystan ignored them, and spat as he dusted himself off. "That whole process of making a ring was not fucking worth it."

Amy stared at him for a moment. "Wait, if you knew how to make a Warp Ring, why did you risk it in the first place? Don't we already have one?" she asked as she stared at Trystan quizzically.

"Kid, If I stole the first one, Sally would'a noticed pretty damn quick," Trystan replied. He tapped his temple and, weakly, flashed a sly grin. "But you can't get caught stealing a Warp Ring if you just make one yourself." He stood up, and looked out across the rooftops of where they were. It was a city, faded in magnificence, but still it stood. The architecture was nothing like an overlander city. It had to be Mobotropolis. "...Or at least its mirror image," Trystan considered.

Antoine and Amy walked up to either side of him, and stared out across anti-Mobotropolis as well. After a few more minutes had passed, Antoine looked up at Trystan, still gazing out, and now focused on the castle in the distance. "...M-monsieur Treestan...? 'Ow will we be getting down from zis height?" He turned back around just to make sure, and added, "Zere eez no stairway to help us reach zee ground floor."

Trystan glanced down over the side of the building and pulled out his knife. "Like men." He clambered over the edge of the roof, hanging off it, and drove his knife into the side of the building stucco, thanks to the reinforced steel and plasma blade.

This, understandably, made Antoine start sweating again, on top of biting his nails. "B-b-but zat seems v-v-ve-very dangerous," he stammered.

Trystan looked down at the ground about fifty feet below, and then back up at him. "We're five stories off the ground, Ant. It might hurt, but the only way to die from up here is to swan dive into the pavement. Amy," he said, holding out his hand.

She looked cautious, but came a bit closer and bent down to slightly higher than his head. "Climb aboard. I doubt that hammer's gonna be much help as an anchoring point."

---

Rotor was reclining in one of the chairs in his lab, absentmindedly smacking a paddleball around as Tails worked away at a keyboard. The entire terminal was quiet, save for the sound of keys being hit, until Scourge, Sally, and Bunnie finally entered the room. Scourge perched himself on a desk over to the right side while everyone else stood around. Sally looked much happier than she had the day before, and was holding Nicole up and clicking on a few keys, working away.

"Hey, little man," Scourge said to Tails. "Still workin' on that, eh…plane of yours?" He kept his fake smile up, and he had to admit, after talking to Miles so much, it was hard to keep the sarcastic edge out of his voice.

Tails looked at him with a proud smile. "Nope! Finished it a few days ago. We'll be ready for a test flight by tomorrow, Sonic!"

Scourge nodded. "Good...good…" Having to fake enthusiasm was starting to wear on him. Luckily, he thought, I won't have to put up with it for much longer.

Sally pressed a few more keys on Nicole's keypad, and put her away and looked up. "Well, I've got some good news," she said. "We managed to track activity in the Epsilon district of Robotropolis, and I think it might mean trouble if we don't do something about it."

"Doesn't sound like good news, Sally," Rotor replied.

"Well, hold on," she continued, "From what I heard, there's been large shipments of steel and circuitry going into the factories in the district. It sounds like Robotnik's building something." She didn't notice Scourge smirking to himself in the corner of the room. "However, I'm pretty sure that if we can infiltrate whichever factory is working on assembling the logical components, we can rewire or hack them into working for us..."

"As our own weapon to hold over Robotnik," Tails finished.

"Exactly," she finished, pointing at Tails.

"Guess we'd better stop waitin' around then," Scourge interrupted, hopping off the desk. "Fat-boy's probably gettin' miles ahead of us already."

Sally shook her head. "We're getting there, Sonic. We still need to get some supplies before we head out." She crossed her arms and made a playful smirk. "Or has your brain gone so far ahead so fast that you forgot that already?"

Scourge was tempted to blurt out a "fuck you," before he reminded himself this wasn't Alicia he was talking to, and opted to just smile and shrug. "Then I guess we should start gearing up, then, right…?" he instigated.

Sally walked over to him and gently pushed his shoulder. "Keep your shirt on, Sonic. We're getting there. Come on, everyone!" She waved her hand, telling them to follow her out, and Scourge immediately set off.

He raced back to his cabin like lightning, smirking to himself. Finally, time to have some fun.

Meanwhile, as everyone else filtered out, Bunnie tapped Sally on the shoulder and whispered, "Sugah, y'all seen An-twan? 'Cause Ah ain't seen'im since last night."

"He's probably cooped himself up in his cabin, cooking, or...whatever else he does. I think he's fine." She flashed Bunnie a wide smile. "Why? What's got you so worried?"

"Call it ladies' int'twition," Bunnie said. "Normally, Ah wouldn't bat an eye, but us'lly he's wanderin' around out heah more oft'n. Ya think som'thin's wrong?"

Sally took a few more steps ahead of her and began making her way back to her own quarters. "Knowing him, he's probably still combing his hair," she replied with a small laugh. "Don't worry about him."

---

"I...zink we're lost."

"We're not lost, Antoine," Amy grumbled as she marched ahead.

"Yeah," Trystan said. "We just misplaced ourselves."

"You're not helping!" Amy barked.

The three intrepid explorers had made their way through back alleys and across streets for at least thirty minutes, but all the roads in this dark mirror of Mobotropolis felt like they only looped back in on each other. If that wasn't enough, any actual civilians either ducked into the nearest building and locked the door or, if they looked particularly nasty, laughed and spat in their faces before any of them could ask for directions. And Trystan didn't know how Antoine or Amy felt about it, but he was getting tired of trying to catch a bunch of jittery animals.

He was extremely good at hiding it too, as he walked along with his upper torso leaning back and his arms crossed casually. Amy was leading the way after pushing Antoine aside when they realized he'd been leading them all in circles fairly quickly. They'd managed to glimpse the royal castle of anti-Mobotropolis sometime before, and had been running like mad dogs in that direction.

Or at least, they tried to remain heading in that direction.

"I am becoming unable to feel my legs again…" Antoine sighed.

Amy turned to him and put her hands on her hips, still walking backward. "Buck up, Antoine! We need to get Sonic out of wherever he is! He's counting on us!"

Antoine flinched, but slowly replied, "Erm...does he 'ave to be counting on us zis very day…?"

"Yes!" Antoine yelped and covered his face, having awoken the wrath of Godzilla's little pink pet. "I don't care whether you like him or not, Antoine, but he's the only Sonic we've got! We've come too far to go home now, and by God, I'll haul you by your collar the rest of the way if I have to-"

"Hold up."

Trystan abruptly stood straight and took a step forward, quickly garnering Antoine and Amy's attention. "Look."

He pointed ahead, and they saw a mobian vagabond in a long, patched up coat trudging across a T-intersection in front of them. It didn't take long for Amy to jog forward and call out to get his attention.

Of course, one the mobain heard it and saw the three strangers, his eyes went wide and his hips turned. Trystan knew what that meant, and he was not in the mood to chase another little hairball. "Oh, no you don't!" Trystan pulled his revolver out and pumped up its power. "Freeze, you jumpy little shit!"

The mobian heard his voice, and it took him a second to register there was a gun being aimed at him, but thankfully (at least for those three), he froze and cowered on the ground. "Oh, my God! Don't shoot me, don't shoot me!" he pleaded.

"Trust me, buddy-boy, that's the last thing I have on my to-do list." He marched forward, his gun still out and whirring as Amy and Antoine kept making exclamations of "What are you doing?" and "Trystan, have you lost your mind?" He marched right up to the mobian and ordered him to stand up, which, unsurprisingly, his "hostage" did.

"Wh...what do you want from me…?" the mobian stammered.

"We need some god-damn directions, and everyone else we've tried asking either ran off or told us to fuck off, and I'm sick of walking. I only have one question: that castle-"

"Castle…?"

"Yeah, big castle in the middle of the damn city. How do we get there, how do we get in?"

"The royal castle…?" The mobian's eyes darted around as he thought up an answer, and he then pointed forward. "Th-this road will take you to a main avenue in twenty minutes that'll lead straight to the front gates of the castle if you go left," he explained, "but you can't get in."

Trystan scoffed. "Not with that fuckin' attitude."

He shoved the gun back into its holster and took off down the side road, leaving a confused Antoine and shocked Amy behind. Not wanting to be left completely alone, though, Antoine made a beeline after Trystan, and Amy left after she quickly thanked the poor fool who had been on the receiving end of Trystan's revolver.

He led the way, down the street and out into the main road, and abruptly hung left, charging forward down the lane. This resulted in a five-minute run that finally led up to a massive wall surrounding the castle. Trystan stopped once it was in clear sight, and Amy and Antoine stopped right behind him. Their goal was in sight, though there was a problem…

There were two guards standing in front of one of the massive gates to the inside, clad in such scruffy-looking uniforms that they looked more like mercenaries than actual palace guards...in fact, maybe they were. But as soon as they saw the three strangers approaching them, they both brought up the sleek, chrome rifles they were sporting and held them at the ready while calling, "Halt…! Who are you, what're you doing here?"

This, of course, caused all three of the others to freeze and put up their hands to varying degrees, Antoine's being the highest of all (in other news, the sky is blue). Trystan jumped back slightly with his hands up and palms out, and Amy was the only one who didn't flinch. In fact, she actually took a step forward.

"Well, if you really need to know, we're here looking for a friend," she began.

One of the guards sneered. "We can't help ya. Now, get lost, kiddies," he huffed after taking a menacing step forward.

Amy squinted at him and crossed her arms. "Well, I think you already have, actually!" she retorted. "See, I've got suspicions. I'm looking for my boyfriend, and since you two are guarding the place that I think he's being kept, that just makes me think that I'm right!"

The two guards turned to look at each other, muted shock on their faces, but one of them just as quickly stepped forward and hoisted the butt of his rifle up to strike Amy.

"I told ya to shove off, you little-"

He never finished his sentence, because Amy was quicker than him. In a flash, she'd snatched her hammer out of hammerspace and had blindsided him across the side of his head. If that didn't cause a skull fracture, careening into the wall behind him would have. Amy quickly turned to face the other guard, who, to her horror, was glaring at her down the scope of a proton rifle. He would have taunted her...but after the sound of a different gun going off, he was severely lacking the grey matter to do so; his body fell to the side with a hole in his temple, and Amy whirled around to look at Trystan, who was holding his gun up, and pointed straight ahead. The quiet fizzling of the plasma substance left over by the nanites still hung in the air.

All the same, Trystan relaxed and spun the revolver around his finger before holstering it. He looked around at the other two; Antoine looked absolutely white and mortified, and Amy seemed more shocked than anything. He eyed them both carefully and said at length, "In my opinion, I think it was a better choice to shoot first and let God sort the rest out."

Antoine took another look at the dead mobian just a few feet away and cupped his hand over his mouth. "...I am going to be very sick…"

"I...I don't think you needed to kill him, but…" Amy stuttered.

"Sorry, kid. Didn't have the time to switch to the 'taser' setting," he said with an undertone of guilt. "I just-" Trystan stopped when he heard and saw Antoine retch right beside him and remained quiet until the poor guy was done. "...Just started flyin' on autopilot." He remained silent for another moment before piping up, "We should get inside. I imagine some-body heard that gunshot, and we need to make ourselves scarce."

"Right," Amy replied. "I...think we'll need a key."

---

After crawling through some air ducts, dodging laser grids, and swiftly incapacitating a few robian workers, Sally was kneeling in front of "steel door #14739," and punched a few keys on Nicole. She squinted as she watched hundreds of glyphs and numbers start rolling down the small screen. It eventually stopped, and little by little, different combinations got phased out and disappeared, leaving only one left. She looked up.

The heavy steel door was dimly whirring, but eventually it clicked and slid open. Outside, it was muggy and half-lit at midday, as usual. There was a large scrapyard several feet forward and to the right, and on the other side was a large parking bay for ground transports. "Nice work, Nicole." Sally slunk out of the doors and into the yard, over to the ground transports, and stuck to the side of some sort of dark ash-grey ATV. She remained completely quiet for a moment and then took a peek around the corner and whistled.

Bunnie stuck her head out from behind a second transport unit, Scourge popped his head out of a manhole and clambered out. He was followed closely by Tails and Rotor. The four Freedom Fighters plus the resident double-agent met up and quickly ducked back through the door Nicole had hacked, Sally explaining a few things she'd found in Nicole's databanks along the way. "This is one of the main assembly factories," she stated, "I hate to admit it, but Robotnik was actually being extremely discreet with getting the supplies he needed in here. When I managed to read the records in the database, they said the factory had already received seventy shipments of steel, seventy shipments of copper, and aluminum to be used in wiring, and thirty shipments of silicon."

"...That doesn't seem to be as bad as you're making it out to be," Rotor said, even though that much raw material couldn't go into anything less but a new death machine.

Sally grimaced. "Yeah, but those shipments were received about two days ago." She ran her hand through her hair and added, "Say what you want about Robotnik, but he's efficient at whatever new monster he decides to make."

Scourge grinned to himself, barely keeping his excited anticipation down; nobody noticed.

Tails jumped and started hovering in midair. "What's first, Aunt Sally?" he asked, as he turned around.

"We find the main production rooms of this factory. Once we're there, you and Rotor hack into the mainframe, and see if you can rewrite the coding of what's being made. Bunnie, Sonic, and I will be running distraction," she explained.

Time to keep the disguise up. "Or we could just destroy whatever it is and skip bein' fancy," Scourge scoffed.

"...That's 'Plan B,'" Sally answered. "Now let's go!" They all made their way through a couple narrow and dark metal hallways before reaching one of the main factory production centers, at least in part. It was mostly just computer terminals, quietly humming. Even though they were on and working, the lights were still off. Everyone looked a bit more nervous than they once were, except Scourge. He faked it well enough.

"...Looks like a...a server room," Rotor muttered.

"It is," Sally replied in a whisper. "Keep moving."

They all crept forward and around a corner to see a the next part of the main assembly plant. The room was more long than high or even wide. There was, however, a second level, separate from the mechanical facilities, that seemed to serve as an observation deck with added computer terminals, and metal catwalks between them. Everything was dark and empty. The machines were quiet. Nothing was moving, except themselves.

Bunnie and Sally crept forward, ahead of everyone else, and Rotor began inspecting the assembly machines, intrigued by the fact that they were off. Tails stayed close to Scourge, who was almost impressed by the oppressive atmosphere Robotnik had managed to set up. He grinned. This'll make their betrayed expressions even better, he thought.

Sally glanced around the upper floor and into the windows. "Everyone be careful," she instructed. "There could be something watching us, whether it's just a camera or-"

There was a distinct sound. The sound of a metal door sliding open and shut. Everyone froze and Sally quickly got them all to hunker down behind some of the assembly conveyors. Scourge was the only one who didn't look as panicked as the others. Then there were the footsteps. It sounded like there were several people running across the metal catwalks at the far end of the room. That's when the lights came on.

Bunnie poked her head out from behind the conveyor, gasped, and quickly ducked back down. Sally tapped her shoulder and whispered, "Bunnie, what happened? What did you see?"

"Y'all won't believe me, Sally-girl…"

A dozen or so feet above tham and at the far end of the factory, Miles, Alicia, Patch, Boomer, and Buns were waiting, leaning on the railing, waiting. Just waiting.

Buns tapped her foot a few times before Miles shushed her, as the metal-on-metal sound was rather noticeable. She didn't take it in stride. "Miles, Ah'm gettin' bored. Let's get th' party over with already, huh?"

Miles huffed and checked a small radar device had had on his hand. There were two dots approaching them quickly; in fact, they were both only about one-hundred feet away and counting. "We need to wait until Robotnik gets here, Buns," Miles chided. "Or keep our doubles busy until he gets here, if need be."

When Bunnie told them who was out there waiting for them, everyone's eyes went wide. "Are they working with Robotnik?" Rotor asked.

"It would explain how they got here," Tails replied.

"We know you're out there," came Alicia's voice, echoing around the compound. "Stop being cowards."

Scourge concealed another grin as he stood up along with everyone else and slowly made his way into the center lane between assembly lines with everyone else. The two groups stared each other down for a couple minutes before Sally decided to start throwing questions. "So...how'd you get here?"

"We walked, same way as you," Alicia called back.

"I highly doubt you can walk from one dimension to another," she said.

Miles chuckled as he walked in front of Alicia and flipped a Warp Ring out of the cuff on his sleeve. "We used one of these…" He smirked when he saw everyone else except Scourge go wide-eyed from shock. "But other than that, Alicia is correct."

"H-how…?" Bunnie stuttered. "H-how'd y'all get yer filthy mitts on a Warp Ring?"

"You forget," Miles noted, "whatever resources you have access to, we do, too."

"And we can make'em better," Boomer chuckled.

"That may be so," Sally challenged, "but we still have Sonic on our side. That already puts us in a better position than you."

The Supression Squad all took a quick glance at each other...then looked back down on the Freedom Fighters with mocking sneers. Nobody paid much mind to it, until they noticed Scourge chuckling to himself. The laughter got progressively deeper and more ominous, and it prompted Sally to tentatively ask, "S...Sonic…? Are you okay…?"

Scourge didn't answer. He stopped laughing, but remained still, his head bowed. Then, in a flash, he ran off, circled back around, throwing doors open as he raced through a couple back rooms and up some stairs before making it to the catwalk, stopping on a dime in the middle of the Supression Squad. He turned to look down on the Freedom Fighters and said nothing for a moment. Then, he took off his vest, tossed it over the railing, held out his hand and ordered, "Jacket."

Alicia got a better grip on an extra leather jacket she was holding and threw it at Scourge. It hit him in the side of the head and hung there for a second before he whipped it off of his neck and threw it on. The Freedom Fighters watched the whole thing, tangible fear in their eyes. Sally could barely bring herself to speak.

"Sonic…?"

Scourge's grin got wider and more malicious as he corrected her, "Close, but no cigar. I think the name you're lookin' for here is 'Scourge.'"

---

Thirty minutes had passed and there was still no hint that Sonic was being held anywhere within the walls of the castle. The corridors were dark, dim light filtered through all the stained glass windows giving the impression the castle had been abandoned for years. Amy, Trystan, and Antoine had been creeping through long, echoic hallways and lavish waiting rooms.

"I don't wanna say it, but we're getting nowhere fast," Trystan said as he fidgeted with his gun.

"You need to have some more patience," Amy spat. "Sonic's around here somewhere." It was obvious that by now, the stress of looking for her crush was getting to her.

"I wish I were cooking," he muttered. They kept walking and eventually got back into the throne room, dim light filtering through the circular stained glass window. "...Pretty sure we've walked through this entire castle," he said at length.

Amy groaned and covered her forehead with her hand. But she stopped, suddenly, and turned to face the boys. "Antoine!"

"Aie...! I mean, oui, oui, Amy. You are in need of somezing from me…?" he asked tentatively.

"Antoine," Amy began again, "did Castle Acorn have a dungeon before Robotnik took over?"

Antoine scratched his chin and pondered for a minute. He started pacing, too. "My memory of zee castle eez not as sharp as eet used to be…" he said, "But...I believe…" he took a few steps forward, into the center of the throne room, and turned himself counterclockwise, trying to think of which direction it would be in. "I zink zat old King Maximilian had an entrance to some 'olding cells in zee...eastern wing…?"

Amy took off to the left, charging down a left hallway, and Trystan followed her while Antoine yelped at almost being left alone and took up the rear. They power-walked through the halls, footsteps echoing off every surface, rounded several corners, and found nothing. It wasn't until they were about to make another right turn that Antoine cleared his throat and spoke up. "Erm...I do not want to be alarming you but…"

"'But' what, Antoine?" Amy asked as she put her hands on her hips.

Antoine flinched as he stammered, "I...I, eh...I zink we 'ave passed ze entrance to ze dungeons."

"I didn't see any damn doors on the way here," Trystan muttered as he crossed his arms, "just a bunch of side tables, vases, and that ugly as all hell painting of Sally's old man. Or at least her evil clone's old man." He looked over at the other two and hastily added, "Don't tell her I said any of that."

Amy paused and rubbed her chin for a minute. "Antoine," she began; Antoine, of course stood straight up and at attention, not wanting to make her more frustrated than she probably was already. "Can you remember where the entrance to the dungeon was, at least?" she said.

He shot a glance up to the ceiling, searching his memory, but as soon as he nodded and had begun to say, "Yes," Amy cut him off. "Take us there, right now." Antoine flinched and turned on his heel to retrace their steps, something Trystan groaned about before a look from Amy shut him up. They walked back through two hallways and one extravagantly decorated lounge before Antoine slowed and stopped in front of the wall in a long corridor.

"Zis eez...ze only place I remembair a door zat my father would not allow me to go eenside," he pointed out.

Amy and Trystan walked up to the wall and looked it over. It was smooth, painted metal, just like most of the floors, and colored a dull gold. "Well, there's gotta be something we're missing…" Amy pondered. Trystan said nothing, but just to say he tried, he ran his hand across the wall, left to right, up and down. He back away and thought for a moment, then walked up to it again and rapped on it with his knuckles. The sound that came out seemed...airy. Intrigued, he tried again, and harder. The airy sound became much more pronounced.

"...Sounds like it's hollow," he said at last. Amy swiveled her head toward him, her eyes wide.

"'Ollow?" Antoine repeated.

"Yeah. Must've taken out the door and put in a hidden switch to open the wall somewhere. We just gotta find-"

Trystan was cut off as Amy shoved him aside and pulled her Piko-Piko Hammer out of nowhere, shouting "No time for that!" In the next instant, she had swung at the wall, putting all her weight behind it, and the resounding *CLANG* of metal drowned out a cry of "Woah, woah, holy shit!" from Trystan. The wall was now heavily dented, and Amy's strike had managed to chip off some of the paint. She scowled, cracked her neck, and swung one more time.

The wall gave way, creating a neat little hole a few inches off the floor, the steel around it dented and bent inward. Inside, there were fluorescent lights illuminating a stone stairway that led down at least two floors. Trystan and Antoine were bent over a few feet back from the hole, covering their ears while Amy stood in front of it, her hammer resting triumphantly on her shoulder.

She smirked and turned to look at the boys. "It'll take more than some crummy wall to keep me away from Sonic."

"Yeah, no kiddin'." Trystan observed. "It'll take an army from hell and the devil himself."

They all readied themselves in case there might be guards just beyond the stairs and started their descent. The three went down the full flight of stairs and veered off to the right at a corner, leading to a heavy steel door that Amy got open after Trystan "loosened the locks for her." Said door lead into a corridor of cells with photon portcullises, guaranteed to fry someone's hands to a crisp if they so much as touched them, and the actual steel the entire floor had transitioned into was stainless and seemed undentable.

"These lights are too damn bright for a dungeon," Trystan muttered, holding his arm over his eyes.

"For zee time in being, I am agreeing with you, Monsieur Treestan," Antoine replied.

They walked all the way to the end of the corridor, where there was another steel door waiting, although they found nothing of note in any of the cells. When Antoine voiced his concerns about the place being barren, Amy shrugged him off with "Sonic's on a different floor from us. He's gotta be!"

Trystan shot the locks off the door this time, and opened it to find another stairway leading a floor down. This time, however, most of the lights were off, leaving only dim outlines of the walls and corners below. Trystan was still pointing his revolver down the steps, and Amy was standing battle-ready next to him; Antoine was too busy biting his nails to pull his sabre out.

After a tense and unsure silence, Trystan made his way down the steps, followed by Amy, and Antoine cowering in the rear. The walk down the stairs felt hours longer than it was, and moving past cells that looked exactly like the previous ones with dimmer lighting was unnerving in and of itself. They proceeded forward slowly, until they heard a voice call out from the end of the hallway. "Oh, God, if ya come back to gloat more, please, just kill me already."

Trystan stopped, trying to process it, but Amy was already a few steps ahead of him. She could pick that voice out of an entire city if she had finer-tuned ears. Dashing all the way to the end of the hall and looking to her left revealed Sonic himself, dressed in a greasy leather jacket and black jeans, with a crushed pair of sunglasses in the corner of the cell. He had been pacing, but upon seeing Amy and doing a double take, his eyes nearly fell out of his head. "Wha…! Amy...?"

She grinned and flourished her hammer before putting it away. "That's right…!"

Sonic remained staring at her, stunned, for another moment before putting on a resigned smile and leaning against the wall of his cell. "Man, and here I thought being in a totally separate dimension would keep me away from you," he joked.

Amy gasped and indignantly put her hands on her hips. "You know, you could outwardly show a little gratitude! I wouldn't have come all the way here if it wasn't for you!" she responded indignantly. Antoine and Trystan came up to check on the two hedgehogs bantering like an old married couple. Sonic shrugged. "I'm plenty grateful! I'm just amazed ya managed to get here so fast…"

"Well, don't doubt overlander stubbornness, 'cause myself and these two went through hell and high water to get here to spring you out," Trystan interjected, "Damn, I should tell you the legend of Overlord Calleus. The bastard straight-up refused to die after he got stabbed twice in the chest-"

"But of course we got 'ere in zee brink of a fly!" Antoine declared proudly, shoving Trystan aside. "When Monsieur Treestan and Amy suspected zat you had been replaced, I immediately charged out to find you. And now, I can proudly say zat I am zee one who saved Sonic for once!"

Everyone grinned, except Trystan, and Sonic pointed at the jail cell bars casually and commented, "Might have more impact if you actually shut down the glowy crap on the bars first, Ant. And I'm pretty sure it's said, 'blink of an eye.'"

Antoine immediately came down from his high horse and muttered, "Erm, yes, zat's true," under his breath. Amy got in front of a control panel on the left wall between two jail cells, and after careful consideration, smashed the thing into the wall. The photon bars shorted out and disappeared, leaving Sonic free to go. His trademark cheeky grin spread across his face as he walked out a free hedgehog. "Finally!" he exclaimed. "Was gettin' cramped in there, felt the damn walls closing in."

"You're welcome!" Amy said proudly.

Sonic rolled his eyes, and then looked himself over. "Hey, uh...you guys don't mind if we stop at Knothole real quick?" he asked. "These clothes are ug-lee."

Trystan snickered, crossing his arms. "'Ugly?' You're bein' generous, Sonic." He walked into the middle of the hall and took out the Warp Ring and checked it over. It's subtle white glow had returned, indicating it was fully charged. "So, yes, you better believe we're stopping to get you a change of clothes."

"Hey, you're wearin' a dirty hoodie and worn jeans, you're not exactly walkin' down the fashion runways, either," Sonic retorted with a hearty chuckle.

Trystan rolled his eyes and tossed the Ring forward. It arced through the air and exploded to life, forming a vortex between the fabric of reality. He motioned toward it with his head before Sonic went diving in, and everyone else followed.

---

Everyone was frozen in shock. "But...but...Ah don't undahstand what's goin' on heah!" Bunnie cried. "Wha'd y'all do with Sonic?"

Scourge snickered and leaned back on the rails. "Don't you worry, toots. He's chillin'."

"Yes," Miles cut in, "He's 'chilling' back at our Castle Acorn."

"Listen, honey, did you honestly think I'd let that goody-two-shoes lookalike of mine actually win that race he challenged me to?" Scourge mockingly asked as he leaned on Miles' shoulder. "If ya did, you're just as dense as he was." The sound of small alarms going off drew everyone's attention to a platform behind a layer of plexiglass on the second floor. It lit up, and the alarms kept going as it raised up, disappeared from sight, and came back down with Doctor Robotnik and Snively standing at attention; the doctor wore the same malicious smile on his face that he always had when he was sure he'd won.

They stepped off the platform and approached the window as Robotnik started to monologue. "Hello again, Freedom Fighters. I must say I'm both impressed and disappointed that you didn't dissolve as I had hoped when I banished your best and brightest to the Special Zone." He glared down at the gathered group. "...Mostly disappointed. But luckily for me, I've been able to make some new friends, and for once, they have been most successful in removing the most annoying little problem from the equation," he seethed. "And to make it even better…"

A door on the furthest end of the plant slid up, shrouded in shadow. "...I've been working on a special gift for you…" Everything was quiet for a moment, but deep in the veil of blackness, two piercing red irises flared to life, and metal clanking was heard. The two eyes left the darkness behind, revealing itself to be a metal hedgehog-android. Its plating and paint looked basic, but the message was clear: this robot was meant to imitate (and make a mockery of) Sonic himself. It even cracked its neck and rubbed its finger under its nose.

"Say hello to Metal Sonic, version one-point-zero!" Robotnik exclaimed.

---

The Great Forest was settling into dusk, which made ducking out of the way of low-hanging branches a full-concentration job. Trystan was good at multitasking...according to him. Sonic had Amy riding on his back, not willing to slow down after the villagers of Knothole told them the others had gone out on a search-and-destroy mission not even three hours ago (along with the confusion of Sonic being separated from the group when he had "already left with them"). Trystan himself had given Sonic an extra comm link from the care package the Filii Rubrum had sent, though by now, Antoine was holding onto his sweatshirt for dear life as they raced through the forest, and then, finally, out into the broad, open field on the city limits with Robotropolis' menacing steel spires towering over them in the distance. More importantly, Sonic had his spare change of clothes on, and Trystan was equipped with several syringes of nanomorphine...just in case.

"How long's it gonna take us to get to where we need to go?" Sonic called over to Trystan.

"At this rate?" he replied. "...Fuck, could take us upwards of...thirty minutes. Why?"

Sonic shot hm a sideways glance and a smirk. "The others might start the party without us and not leave anything for us when they're done!"

"I wish I had your optimism," Trystan said. They raced on, into the city limits, and across a fast-transit overpass used to ship raw material and robians across the city in a hurry. From high up in the sky, partially concealed by smog clouds and partially by a local cloaking device, they were watched by both binoculars and radar. The light being distorted around the edges of the aircraft denoted it was a kind of dual-bladed military helicopter, with engines and blades on both the left and right of the main body of the craft itself.

"Attention helibird Zeus, come in, Zeus," the pilot said. "The Freedom Fighters we've got on lock're going...southeast at approximately two hundred thirty-four kilometers per hour, over," the pilot of the bird said.

"Roger that, Verifex Amillus," said another pilot over the radio. "We've got the spider drone pinged and are holding course. How are your troops, over?"

The co-pilot turned around quickly to look into the holding compartment of the chopper. The heli was holding at least fifty overlander men and women, clad in red titanium-alloy armor with a black steel-silicon kevlar hybrid uniform under it. Some had helmets that wrapped around their heads but left their faces open while some didn't have helmets at all; they had plasma rifles attached via maglocks to the back of their combat armor, some looking sleek, while some looked like deployable chainguns. Most of them were standing, holding onto the support poles at the ends of each row of four seats, chittering amongst each other. All were excited; all were nervous. It was a matter of the passage of time.

"They're gettin' antsy, Verifex Trinity," he replied, "Sounds like they're ready to scrap, over."

"Seems normal," Trinity responded. She paused for a moment and asked, "Can you get a read of who we're following?"

Amillus nodded to his co-pilot, who looked at a couple screens on the dashboard and began fiddling with the touch screens. "Uhm...give me one moment…" he muttered, trying to concentrate and squint through the smoke in front of the exterior cameras. "Looks like...well, Sonic the Hedgehog is definitely one of them…Then there's...his most adoring fan, the-the pink one...Amy…?" He looked over at Amillus, who shrugged. "...Also, the coyote...Antoine, I think...and then there's...yeah, there's the Cronus kid himself. At least I know him!"

"Roger that, helibird Dionysius. Stay on course. Inform us when the spider drone's ping stops giving off a motion signal. Over and out."

"Over and out," Amillus replied.

Back on the ground, Sonic and company had been traveling for at least twenty minutes, and had managed to spearhead far enough inward to reach the "inner city" districts; of which, the "Epsilon" branch was part of. After making a risky dive off the overpass (a maneuver that only Antoine hadn't come out of well), the group found themselves running over musty asphalt streets and side roads until they came to a large, two story warehouse. The top was mostly flat, and it looked unassuming enough, but this is where the villagers told them the other Freedom Fighters were off to.

Sonic managed to find an unguarded door, something that bugged him, and he made sure everyone knew about it by declaring "Buttnik wouldn't even leave his moustache wax unguarded," and both he and Trystan broke the door open. Inside was a dimly lit hallway, and the four of them crept forward, Trystan's gun at the ready, Amy's hammer out, Sonic at the ready, and Antoine shakily holding his sabre and biting his nails with his free hand. They moved slowly, silently, through a couple hallways. Eventually, there were noises everyone could hear, echoing across the walls.

"Sounds like a muffled conversation...they're still in here!" Amy said.

"Hmph. So no fightin' yet," Sonic replied as he crossed his arms.

Antoine swallowed hard. "Z-z-zat eez not such a bad theeng, you know…"

They kept moving, eventually finding a long hallway that was bare, save for a heavy steel door at the end, right in the middle of a T-section. Sonic jogged up to it and was joined by the others soon enough. The muffled talking grew louder...then stopped.

Trystan was about to ask how they should open it when the sound of metal-on-metal rang out; and it sounded like a different door. A voice rang out, and although the words were garbled, it was clearly…

"Robotnik…" Sonic whispered.

Everyone was quiet for a moment before Trystan tried again. "So…" he began, "anyone know how to pry open a two-thousand ton slab of metal?"

Nobody answered, but Sonic cracked his neck, took a couple steps back, and then dashed forward, curled up into a ball. He struck the steel door, and everyone watched in anticipation as he grinded through the door using nothing but a spin-dash (Trystan was more astonished than anything; seeing hedgehog quills cut solid metal is not an everyday occurrence).

When Sonic finally split the door clean open, he saw in front of him...everyone he expected. Sally, Tails, Bunnie, they were all there, but a flash of some different color caught his eye. He turned his head to look up at the catwalks a floor above and saw the Supression Squad, who were, by now, staring at him wide-eyed in disbelief. Trystan poked his head through the new, clean hole in the door and entered, followed by Amy and then Antoine. Sonic smirked to himself and looked back at Sally. "Hey guys!" he called as if nothing was wrong. "Did we miss the butt-whoopin'?"

The Freedom Fighters all looked at each other, slightly confused. Sally could only stammer, "N...No…"

"Actually, you're...kinda early," Rotor added.

Trystan's face immediately lit up as he lifted his revolver. "...Awesome. Let's get started!" He whipped around and began firing bullets up at the catwalks, and the viewport with Robotnik and Snively behind it.

This, of course, registered on Metal Sonic's optics as an act of aggression.

And any sign of aggression meant immediate, swift, and decisive application of force.

While the Supression Squad split up and kept their heads low, Metal fired up the thruster on it's back and charged forward and directly at Trystan. He noticed it coming straight for him and covered his head, bracing for impact. It was only stopped a moment before colliding with him by another spin-dash from Sonic, who landed and stared the metal monster down like the champion he was. "Listen pally, there's only room for one speedster on this planet."

He was silenced as another blue ball of pain collided with him in the side of the head and sent him reeling. Scourge landed with both feet on the ground, glaring at Sonic, who was trying to pick himself up after being splayed out on an assembly line. "You're damn right there's only room for one of us, and you're lookin' at him!" Scourge cracked his neck. "I dunno how the hell you got out of our jail, but I'm beyond pissed. I didn't come all this way to have my fun get spoiled by you!"

As the scene played out, Robotnik merely stood alongside Snively behind his plexiglass wall (that now had significantly more ballistic dents in it) and grinned. "Well...I didn't think it would get this interesting, Snively," he remarked, casting a sideways glance at his nephew. "You should've brought popcorn."

"I'll try to remember that for next time, sir," Snively conceded.

The other members of the Supression Squad had since dove from the catwalks to engage their counterparts: Boomer was fighting Rotor and Amy, Miles was engaging with Tails in a dogfight, and Buns and Bunnie tradings blows. Patch and Antoine were attempting to fight each other, but it was mostly just the both of them trying to look more intimidating than the other, and Alicia and Sally were in a heated duel.

Bunnie got thrown over a conveyor after being mercilessly spear-handed in the stomach. "Lady' them cybernetics y'all got done made ya soft!" Buns exclaimed mockingly. "Yer not even tryin'!"

A moment later, Bunnie stood up from behind the assembly line, her eyes practically spouting fire. She charged forward and aimed for Buns' head, which was blocked...but she had counted on that. Bunnie brought her roboticized arm up and caught her double in a devastating uppercut, which almost broke her jaw and sent her several feet into the air before crashing down on the hard concrete floor. "At least Ah ain't dressed like a skank!" Bunnie roared.

Rotor spun his most trusted hammer and wrench around in his hands, staring Boomer down, and Amy stood right next to him, her massive Piko Piko Hammer ready to strike. Rotor's doppelganger was at least three feet taller than him and outfitted with extensive cybernetics, on top of having a more muscular build. Boomer chuckled. "I'm almost ashamed that such a pudgy grease-monkey is supposed to be my alpha self."

Rotor squinted and took a couple measured steps forward. "Well this 'pudgy grease-monkey's' still got some kick in him yet!" He swung both his tools in an X-scissor, which Boomer dodged by jumping backward. He then shielded his face behind his arms, which were both augmented with some sort of energy-wave amplifier. The dials on the center of the augments lit up and let loose enough energy to stagger Rotor back some. He was about to gloat more before Amy, to his surprise, got on front of him and slammed her hammer onto his arms. It caused a bit of a shockwave, and Boomer himself went several feet backward, still standing in a defensive position.

When the ringing subsided, he dropped his guard and sneered. "Not good enough. Not by a damn sight."

To say Alicia and Sally were equally matched would be redundant, as they were both exchanging punches and kicks at a one-to-one ratio. A cross block, then a swift jab and hook kick combo sent Sally reeling backward, her chest aching from the beatdown. Alicia strode forward, a dark smile on her face. "Some princess you are," she asserted, "No wonder this version of my city fell to your Robotnik. You're as weak as they come!"

Sally forced herself upright and charged at Alicia again, winding up for a punch. Alicia managed to catch it, something Sally punished her for by quickly grabbing her wrist, wrapping her leg over her arm, and kicking her repeatedly in the head before she countered by grabbing her leg and throwing her back. Alicia's face was now heavily bruised and her lips were bleeding, but she kept taunting her true counterpart. Apparently ignoring the fact she'd been whipped into submission, she continued, "And Scourge told me about the operation you've been running. Lemme tell you, guerilla war's gonna get you nowhere unless you kill Robotnik off." She took a deep breath in, trying to keep her focus. "Knothole's too small to keep you and your dumbass friends going like this."

"If we escaped a dying city when he took over," Sally retorted, "we've still got a shot."

"No you don't!" Alicia yelled, smiling again. "You'll kill yourselves on your precious 'code of honor.' And your final nail in the coffin was getting one of those weak, retarded overlanders to try and help you!"

There was a subtle *click* and Alicia felt the barrel of a gun on the back of her head.

"I'm right here, you know."

The pause only lasted a second, before Alicia spun around to grab Trystan's wrist. He started to pull down on the trigger, but was still too slow to stop her, but, acting on reflex, he headbutted Alicia right in the nose, which made her yell and forced her to let go of his arm. She stumbled backwards and promptly kicked in the back by Sally, sending her forward, and Trystan followed up by punching her in a left hook that sent her stumbling over herself to the right until she fell over.

Sally quickly strode over to Trystan and took up a ready stance beside him. "I think you could've done without holding her at gunpoint," she whispered.

"Just trying to make a point," he chuckled.

Alicia picked herself back up and turned to face the two. The sneer she wore had enough hate to melt steel, and that coupled with the blood now running from her nose and lips almost made her look demonic. "I don't think she took it very well," Sally muttered.

With a flourish, she pulled two whips off of her belt and cracked them menacingly as she took a step forward. Trystan paused to stare at her for a second then blurted out, "Wow. Kinky one, huh?"

Sally froze and stared up at Trystan with wide, unbelieving eyes, and when he saw it, he grimaced and muttered, "Sorry, that just kinda...came out."

Meanwhile, Sonic, Scourge, and Metal Sonic were tearing around the assembly room at a speed the naked eye could barely process. Scourge fought brutally, slamming both Metal Sonic's and Sonic's head into the wall at every opportunity. Metal fought with the cold logic of a machine, striking fast, hard, and always aiming for where it would hurt the most. Sonic, despite keeping his casual exterior up, was being surprisingly elusive, and actually dodging attacks more often than not; but when he was given an opening, he would either unleash a flurry of blinding kicks or he'd try to land a single, decisive homing attack.

The three hedgehogs practically ran laps around the room, turning the fight into a combination of a no-holds barred beatdown, and a race. Sonic was getting badly beaten, bruises and cuts all along his body, on account of him trying to juggle two duplicates who were both out to kill him and working together. They attacked each other indiscriminately, Scourge and Sonic praying, deep in their hearts, that they would be the last one standing, and would decide victory for the ones who stood behind them. Metal Sonic, however...it was out for blood.

Robotnik was still watching, but his smile had faded quickly, along with his interest. He sighed. "Snively…?"

Snively cast a sideways glance at him. "I think it's time to move on. We're wasting daylight."

"I couldn't agree more, sir," he replied.

Robotnik held up his biomechanical arm, and activated a holoscreen, displaying data about his Metal Sonic robot. "Metal Sonic," he declared, "Activate protocol one-zero-one-five-two-four Eximus, authorization code: Kintobor."

He stood back and watched everything change in an instant. Metal Sonic froze for a second, right before it was about to charge Sonic. It missed its chance to drive him into a wall, something Scourge picked up as he spin-dashed into Sonic. It threw him out of the fight as he crashed into an assembly conveyor. "This...is...gettin'...stupid…" Scourge panted. "How...can one...lousy...blue...hedgehog…" He rotated his shoulder and cracked his back before finishing, "...Take so much...punishmen-Hrrk!"

Scourge was interrupted as Metal Sonic grabbed him by the throat, its eyes glowing brighter red than before. The metal monster said nothing to him...it just hurled him into a wall. And Sonic and a few other members of the Supression Squad noticed.

"Robotnik!"

Robotnik stopped upon hearing Miles' voice in the speakers of his observation room, as he had started to walk back to the platform that left for the roof of the warehouse. He could hear his metal Sonic now wreaking havoc, no longer on anyone's side but his. He grinned to himself, refusing to turn around. "What's the meaning of this…!?"

There was a pause, but the doctor spoke with conviction. "Did you honestly think I would allow you to roam free after killing the Freedom Fighters…?" he chuckled. "You're all just as much of a threat as they are."

Scourge pushed himself out of the dent in the wall impacting it had made. He'd heard every last one of Robotnik's words, and "livid" didn't even come close to describing his rage. "Why you fat fuckin' bastard!" he screeched. "We had a deal, you shit-eatin', ugly-ass landwhale...!"

"Indeed we did," Robotnik replied, his voice as calm as ever. "But you must understand, I have my own agendas to chase, and I can't allow my greatest enemies or their slightly-more-dour doubles to get any ideas." He stood on the platform and it began to rise up and out of sight. "Farewell, you little monsters! I have urgent business to attend to!"

His maniacal laughter rang out over the speakers, until it was suddenly cut-off, leaving a dull buzz in the air. Before anyone else could make a move, Metal Sonic charged into the midst of them, spinning around and lashing out at everyone close by: it kicked Boomer and Rotor in the chest, slashed Miles and Buns' arms, and kept moving forward in a whirlwind of pain before ricocheting off a wall and flying back in the same direction, aiming at Tails with the steel talons on its hands glinting and ready.

Tails shrieked and covered his face, hoping it would at least be over quickly, but before Metal Sonic could even get close, the real Sonic came spin-dashing through and knocked it off-course. Metal flew backward and skidded along the ground before crashing into a wall. It crackled with electricity, slowly got to its feet, and stared dead ahead. Sonic stood in front of Tails, acting as his personal shield; he did nothing but put on the same cocky grin he'd used hundreds of times before.

It glared at Sonic and the buzzing got louder.

"Hey, tall, metal, and ugly!" Sonic called. "How 'bout ya pick on someone your own size, huh?" The Freedom Fighters picked themselves up if they could, or alternatively helped each other up, and stood beside Sonic.

Then Scourge hobbled up on their left, supported by Alicia and surrounded by the Supression Squad. "You think we're done yet…?" he asked with a wiry grin on his face. "Like hell. I don't care if metal-hog over there's on our side or not, but we ain't goin' home without givin' you jackasses a proper beatdown!"

Trystan sneered and took aim, his hand flighty, switching between targets every two seconds. "Your funeral, pal," Sonic said with a shrug.

Every member of the opposing faction remained in a staring contest with someone on the other side, and with Metal Sonic. Every muscle was wound, ready to move and strike as need demanded it. It became quiet, save for the thrumming buzz that now filled the warehouse. It became pronounced enough the Trystan actually took his revolver off of the Supression Squad and aimed it at Metal Sonic. After all, only one of Robotnik's machines could make that noise, and usually right before something explodes. It even got so bad that everyone else stared cautiously at Metal Sonic, shifting their looks quickly between it and their friends, in case the machine decided to strike.

Then, several things happened at once:

First, ear-shattering explosions rang out, creating several openings in the walls. Debris flew everywhere, and several members of the Freedom Fighters and Supression Squad screamed and ducked down to the floor. Then, before the smoke even had a chance to clear, dozens, if not hundreds, of overlanders dressed in red combat armor came streaming in through the holes, their proton rifles held up and humming like a hive of angry bees. "Difficile pugna, magis mori...!" came a few voices of what could only be the commanding officers.

"Fight hard, die harder...!" came the response. Four more detonations sounded out and left four open holes in the ceiling, through which came more of the invaders, sliding down on cables and bracing themselves against the catwalk railing. Then there was the shouting, and firing of weapons. The overlanders all ran into different spots as if they had planned on doing this maneuver for years on end. They were like ballet dancers; ballet dancers in heavy armor, wielding guns, and shouting commands to each other in their military jargon.

Two squads of about fifty men and women strong ran into opposite corners. Seven other squads set themselves up around the perimeter of the ground floor, constantly firing their guns. And oddly enough, half a squad of overlanders ran directly over to the Freedom Fighters, standing rank-in-rank with what were once their mortal enemies. Needless to say, it was hard for them to take in, and they didn't even stop there. All at once, a few veteran officers in each squad took out some sort of hexagonal device: it had a white, plastic finish, but several nodes and a circular opening in the center denoted complex mechanics inside. They threw each machine out into the open, and they quickly flared to life, projecting a force shield up that stretched out into a circle that surrounded both the Supression Squad and Metal Sonic...something Scourge didn't take kindly to, and was very vocal about.

He stood up to full height and snarled, "Hey, what's the big idea, ya crimson clowns? You got no business bein' here, and I want some answers-"

"Fire at will!"

A volley of proton bullets began flying out of every last rifle in the army's reserve, but was done so in a staggered timing; when one quarter of the soldiers reloaded, the next quarter continued the volley. Scourge, of course, didn't want to be shot to pieces so easily, and just barely managed to dive to the floor and roll under a conveyor belt. He looked over to his left and saw the rest of the Supression Squad covering their heads as the bullets kept flying.

"What are you jokers doing?" he seethed.

"M-m-m-master Scourge," Patch stammered, "z-z-zese men are ou-out for b-b-bl-blood!" He took a moment to get his breathing in check again and continued, "Z-z-zis eez a l-l-lost cause! We are d-d-doomed eef we s-s-s-st-stay 'ere-"

Before he could continue, Scourge combat-rolled over to him and punched him right in the nose, causing him to shriek and start sobbing as the blood flowed out. "It's only a lost cause when I say so, you moldy sack of shit-eating scum. Alicia, Boomer, Buns!"

The three he called out for immediately looked up and came closer to hear him over the hail of gunfire. "Buns and Boomer, you focus on breaking these idiots up. Alicia, once they've made enough chaos, you go in and trip'em up, and get to our goody-two-shoes doubles! Got it?"

"Got it."

The three agents of mayhem slid out from under the assembly line and ducked and dove their way through a hail of gunfire. Boomer set about disabling the nearest shield device with an energy wave from his arms, and immediately released another blast that shook the foundations of the entire factory. Buns slipped through the opening and while most of the soldiers were off-balance, she took to cracking skulls.

Or at least tried to. After the initial shock wore off, she found that these overlanders weren't like the spineless ones from her home dimension...especially after being hit with the butt of a rifle at least five times in a row.

Every last member of the army was firing at both the Supression Squad and still trying to keep tabs on Metal Sonic, who was shrugging off bullets and focusing on beating the living hell out of the suppression fire squads on the catwalks. The Freedom Fighters were confused, no doubt, but Sonic had been standing still for too long, so he took a couple steps forward. This was immediately stopped by one of the overlanders snatching the back of his vest collar. "Where do you think you're goin', mate?"

"I'm goin' to help clean this mess up, pal," he replied. "Why, is it against protocol for anyone but you to have all the fun?"

"Wait…" The overlander paused to get a better look at him. "...Sonic the Hedgehog?"

Sonic grinned and winked. "The one and only."

The soldier made another pause before letting go of his vest. "Yeah, the general said you'd be okay."

Sonic chuckled to himself before breaking rank and rushing straight up the side of a wall to flip onto the catwalks and engage Metal Sonic directly. While the robot was engaged with throwing a few of the soldiers across the room like dolls, Sonic flew into the air and spin-dashed right into its back, catching it off-guard and sending Metal flying into a wall. When he landed, Sonic snickered and crossed his arms. "Gotta pay better attention than that, scrap heap. When I send ya back to Buttnik, tell him to upgrade your optics, 'kay?"

Metal said nothing, only dislodging itself from the wall, its red pupils glowing and the propulsion vent on its back blowing flames. It charged at Sonic, and the two re-engaged. The soldier who had let Sonic go, turned on his comm link. "Verifex Calypso, Sonic the Hedgehog is here, and is currently engaging that robotic doppelganger of his," he reported.

Calypso, who was standing in front of another squad that had blown a hole open in some of the terminal stations on the bottom floor picked up a small mic attached to her collar and replied, "Affirmative. Attention Gamma, Eta, and Theta Squads, disengage from the target unless otherwise ordered. We don't want to accidentally shoot the hedgehog."

"Ave."

Meanwhile, the three other members of the Supression Squad were still causing chaos among the ranks of the army. Boomer and Buns had been doing fine work as distractions, Alicia was tripping other soldiers up, and Scourge was taking dozens of soldiers out of commission. One of the commanding officers, Verifex Thoms, could see them all running around, and realized he had a dilemma: the soldiers were splitting their firepower too much. They'd either have to focus on the Supression Squad or Metal Sonic specifically, which would leave them open to the other side. Thankfully, this was what the Jupiter's Hammer was all about, and he knew just the way to get the other little pests out of his way. He turned on his comm link, talking to almost three-quarters of the soldiers in the room. "Men!" he commanded, "We've got some vermin running around on the northeast end. Get'em out of here!"

There were several replied of "Ave, commander!" before he shut off the comms and saw, to his relief, a squad of heavy assault on the catwalks bracing and loading their weapons.

Scourge grabbed two soldiers and slammed their heads together, causing a satisfying *clang* and dropping them both. A few more of the warriors ran up, and he began running around them, hitting them from every possible angle as they tried to drag away their fallen brothers. Eventually, they began to get too far away from the rest of the Supression Squad, so Scourge decided to let them go, safe in the knowledge he was still holding all the cards. Boomer and Buns were still cleaning house on a few other army members, and by now, he knew it was safe to call everyone else to him, now that they had cleaved their way through part of their foes and had some breathing room. "Miles, Alicia, Patch!" he yelled. He eventually got their attention from where they were still hiding and got them to come over to him, though Patch was still having a nervous breakdown.

Alicia reflexively ducked when she heard and partially saw Metal Sonic drive the real Sonic into a wall a floor above them. "Scourge, you better have a plan!" she hissed.

"Keep yer panties on, babe, I know what to do now," he replied.

Miles crossed his arms. "It certainly took you long enough. You weren't counting on getting caught in the crossfire of an all-out war, much less being stabbed in the back by Alpha Zone Robotnik...which isn't much of a surprise, in all honesty," he chided.

Before anyone else could talk, Scourge had whipped his hand out and backhanded Miles in a flash. It made him reflexively spit, and he stumbled backward slightly while rubbing his cheek, staring at Scourge with a mix of surprise and hatred. But mostly hatred. "You can shut the hell up right now, pixel-brain," Scourge deadpanned, "and listen up. First, we gotta get us a height advantage." he looked a Buns and hastily walked over while explaining, "Buns an' I 'll clear a way up to the catwalks while you tag along behind us. Then, all of us throw those weirdos off the upper floor and bam! Instant advantage!"

"Targets locked!"

The Supression Squad heard a command being issued from almost directly above and behind them, and all looked up into the rafters to see an entire row of almost twenty soldiers aiming high-ordnance arms at them. "Fire at will!"

A stream of grenade pipes and rocket-propelled grenades all went sailing through the air, right for the Supression Squad. They all moved on reflex, jumping clear of the (frankly ludicrous) blast radius. Scourge, of course, had no troubled dodging the line of explosions, until he noticed something: a few other people were still focused down the sights of their guns. He was slightly puzzled until the triggers were pulled, and more explosives rocketed out as half the squad fired their weapons while the other half reloaded. He had no way to react to staggered fire he hadn't been expecting, at least not quickly enough to get out completely unscathed. The explosives hit the ground, blasting concrete away and causing more trauma to the nearby Supression Squad members.

Scourge himself got flung forward and got his head driven hard enough into part of Robotnik's machinery that he left a dent the size of his own head in the steel casing surrounding a part of the assembly line that housed robotic hands that were meant to build more robots. His vision was clouded by stars and flickering lights for a moment, and he then realized, begrudgingly, that maybe this was a case of "Lose the battle, win the war." He dashed back over to Miles, who was still trying to get the ringing out of his ears, and began rifling through his coat; obviously something Miles wasn't comfortable with. "Wh...what the hell do you think you're doing?" he stammered through the pain.

"...Might be a good time to boogie," Scourge said when he picked out the Warp Ring from an inside pocket. "Get'cher ass up and follow me as soon as you can, beanpole." Scourge immediately whirled around and threw the Ring as hard as he could, which exploded to life and blew back Alicia and Boomer, who had almost managed to get back up before Scourge stopped all that progress. Still, he wasted no time in making for the exit, though he did veer off to the right to pick Alicia up and carry her into the portal.

After they managed to collected themselves, and they did so quickly with the high-explosives firing line still staring them down, everyone in the Supression Squad vanished through the Ring's portal back to the Reverse Zone. This left only Metal Sonic to worry about; it was still flying around and engaged in a constant battle with Sonic that led them across the catwalks, through windows, and up walls.

Amillius looked up from the gathered army to Sonic and his robot double and licked his lips nervously. By now, that Filii Rubrum had been standing around, keeping their rifles trained in the general vicinity of the two opposing forces. Sonic might be a superhero compared to everyone else, but he knew that even he might not be able to outlast a robot that had no concept of pain or fatigue.

A loud clanging sound caused him to reflexively duck, and he saw Metal careen through another window on the second floor and disappear from sight for a moment before it reappeared, just as angry-looking as ever, and fly right back at Sonic, who used his spin-dash to try and counteract its momentum. He lost that battle by a fractional amount.

He pursed his lips and then booted up his comms link. "Martialis Roberd!" he said.

"Ave, verifex!" came a voice on the other end.

"I'm not hearing any fire coming from your end of the warehouse. Is…" Amillius was cut off again when an explosion rang out after Metal Sonic tried to tackle the real Sonic and collided with an entire computer terminal. There was a cocky exclamation of, "Damn, dude, you really don't have a problem with killin' your own family, do ya?"

"...Is the Supression Squad all taken care of?"

"...I think they ran away, sir. We saw'em disappear into a pool of some...rubber-looking liquid, and they were just gone," the soldier answered.

Amillius sighed and replied. "Whatever. They're out of our hair, so now you can help me. Load your nirvanna up right now, because I'm patching us both through to Sonic. That's an order!"

After a swift "Ave!" Amillius returned the comm link as fast as he could. In time he could hear a faint crackling in the distance on his headpiece.

Sonic was having a grand old time taunting Metal and subsequently getting the hell out of its way before it crashed into something new, but some new buzzing in his ear was starting to irritate him. At first, he thought it was just a very pesky bug, but when he felt around said ear, he quickly realized it was his headset acting up. "Guess this stupid thing's on the fritz. So much for overlander tech," he grumbled as he reached up to pluck it out.

He never got the chance. As his hand came up, the buzzing static crackled to life, and a voice promptly shouted. "Sonic the Hedgehog! Can you hear me, Sonic? Come in!"

"Ow!" Sonic shouted and for that one second he lost his concentration, Metal rammed him in the gut and sent him rolling backwards on the ground. Luckily, he was mostly shaken, and managed to roll out of the way of a punch launched from the air so hard it left a dent in the ground, and Sonic kept running. "...Ergh. Yeah, I hear ya. Who's this, the pizza man?"

"This is Verifex Amillius of the Filii Rubrum. Also, not the best time for jokes, my friend."

Sonic turned around and vaulted out of the way of an electric beam that Metal launched from its palm. "Right, gotcha. Sorry."

"Listen," Amillius explained, "I realize you're probably having fun fighting this...thing, but if you don't mind, I'd like Metal Sonic turned into a pile of molten slag as soon as possible. Would you mind helping with that so we can all go home sooner rather than later...?"

Sonic took one look behind him, shrugged, and replied, "Eh, sure. I mean, tin-man over here's not really reacting to me much anyway. I guess he's over the whole 'constantly getting berated' thing."

There was a sigh on the other end and Amillius instructed, "All right. Excellent. Now listen...I have a man on the catwalks above you, in the northwest, holding a rocket launcher. That specific model can blow a hole through steel if you know where to place the shots, so all you need to do is get that hunk of scrap to follow you up there, and then you run toward the man. You'll know him when you see him."

Another electric wave streaked toward Sonic, and he quickly dove out of the way and started running around the complex to get up to the second level. He didn't look behind him until a couple seconds later, and saw Metal right on his tail, propulsion systems practically going into overdrive. "Think you can talk any faster, because I'm on my way up right now."

"Absolutely," Amillius replied with an undertone of anxiousness. "All that's left to do is, again, run straight at him, and when I yell 'jump!' you jump as high and as far away from Metal Sonic as you possibly can."

"That's all?"

"That's all," the verifex confirmed.

Sonic grinned. "Cool." He made a sharp right, and ran down a central walkway. He saw, a couple dozen feet ahead, was a lone man with a rocket launcher mounted on his shoulder, colored as red as blood. He didn't do anything except fix his gaze on Sonic and Metal Sonic right on his tail, and he gave Sonic a small smile and nod. Sonic grinned back.

The soldier was getting closer, and Metal Sonic was getting closer to him in turn. Sixty feet…

"Steady…" came Amillius' voice over the comms.

Forty feet…

"Almost…"

Twenty…

"Jump...!"

Sonic reflexively flung himself off the side of the catwalk. All he heard was the roar of a propulsion engine, and then nearly felt his eardrums shatter as a hollow *Boom* sounded off and echoed around the factory. Pretty soon, he felt a lot of heat nearly burn his back, and twisted himself around in the air to see what was going on. The only answer to his questions was a large cloud of pitch-black smoke and cinders, and a fifteen foot stretch of the catwalk missing behind him, the edges bent and red-hot.

He fell briefly, but hit the floor on his feet and without much pain, and much to his amusement, he saw a few broken joints, bolts, assorted circuits, and the half-melted head of Metal Sonic either on the floor and swiftly hitting it. As he walked back toward the Freedom Fighters, who were all overjoyed to see him still alive, a great whooping cheer sounded out from the ranks of the Filii Rubrum. Mostly, just over exaggerated fist-pumping and exuberant cries of "Fight hard, die harder...!"

Sally immediately ran up and hugged Sonic tight, which almost knocked him off balance, but he chuckled and hugged her back. Everyone else quickly came up to congratulate him. "Way to go, Sonic," Rotor exclaimed as he slapped him on the back.

Tails hugged Sonic too, and Sonic himself was more open with the laughter as he picked Tails up, hugged him, and set him back down.

"What happened to you?" Sally interrupted.

Sonic shrugged and grunted. "Prob'ly nothin' you ain't heard already. Got jumped. Got thrown in jail. Got busted out. Just another Tuesday."

"See, maybe if you weren't so stubborn, you wouldn't end up in trouble so much," Sally retorted.

"You're callin' me stubborn…"

That exchange led to a small argument, but Trystan didn't take much notice, as Bunnie actually came up to him and asked, "Sugah, what happened to yah?"

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Heh...uh, funny you should ask...see, Amy thought somethin' was wrong with Sonic, and we eventually agreed to go to that dimension you guys discovered to see if he was in there somewhere, and we sprang him out because he got himself captured, obviously, and then we came back here and the rest is basically history," he explained.

Bunnie scoffed. "Why, Ah do declare! So y'all an' Amy basically jumped inta that parallel universe thang an' came back out with Sonic?" She crossed her arms and continued, "Ah bet y'all only dragged poor An'twan inta this at the last moment. He must'a been so confused…"

"You kiddin', kid, Antoine was already there," Trystan replied.

Bunnie immediately perked up. "Wha-" Her eyes widened and she stuttered slightly as she looked from him to Antoine who was busy dusting his uniform off, and wiping the sweat from his forehead. "An'twan went with ya first thang? Really…?"

"Oh, yeah." Trystan opted to leave out the part where he had to coerce Antoine into coming with them, since he figured Antoine would argue against it heatedly anyway.

"An'twan!" Bunnie called, prompting him to stand up straight and take a step closer.

"Y-yes, Bunnie...?"

"Y'all never told me ya could be such a trooper, An'twan," Bunnie replied. She must not have noticed the confused look on his face, which wouldn't have mattered anyway as she continued, "Helpin' Trystan an' Amy like that's mighty brave of ya."

Oddly enough, Antoine didn't immediately puff his chest out, instead stammering, "Ah, yes, well, erm, I could not simply, erm...let zem go off alone…"

Trystan eyed him and frowned before bringing his hand up and rotating it over and over, indicating Antoine to keep going. "...So zey brought me-" He coughed and corrected himself. "Asked me eef I would like to...erm, help zem…" Trystan rolled his eyes and rolled his hands to face palm up, gesturing to him. "Help zem on zeir mission," Antoine finished. Trystan smirked and flashed him two thumbs up.

Bunnie crossed her arms and gave him a warm smile. "That is the story'a the year if Ah ever heard it. Y'all should be proud'a yerself, An'twan."

Trystan chuckled and walked toward Antoine, while adjusting his grenade launcher and casually whispered, "Not like you to immediately take credit for somthin', Antoine," to him.

"W-w-wait, wait, zat eez not true!" Antoine replied quickly. "I am zee most 'umble out of all of us!"

"Uh-huh," Trystan muttered. He was about to walk over to one of the more important-looking members of the Filii Rubrum and ask them why they were here, but as it so happened, one of them walked up to the Freedom Fighters instead (prompting Trystan to stop and back up slightly).

The man who approached wore full-body armor, and the clanking of all the metal plates against each other alerted everyone that they had company. All of them quickly turned to face him and once he had their attention, he saluted them all, albeit with less enthusiasm than he normally would. "Ave," he began. "I am Verifex Thoms." He scanned the Freedom Fighters momentarily. "Tell me...which one of you is…" He paused, as if lost in thought. "Princess Sally…?"

The silence that followed was rather awkward, but thankfully, it didn't last long. Sally stepped forward and tentatively asked, "Yes…?"

Thoms stood at attention, quickly bowed his head, and continued, "The General thought you might be here and searching for that Metal Sonic thing, too. Since we're already here, he wanted to inform you that you're all cordially invited to meet with him to discuss a potential alliance pact." The Freedom Fighters all looked at each other. They weren't nervous...but couldn't exactly be sure of their next step. After all, what if an actual discussion with the "General" went poorly?

"You don't have to accept our offer immediately, but I will warn you...until you do, I imagine the General will keep sending messages to you politely asking for a time to convene with him and with us," Thoms explained. "Yes, he's that kind of person."

There was only a moment of silence that followed, but Sally considered this could be worth a try. After all, their cell needed all the help they could get, and besides, she didn't necessarily know when the next time they and the Filii Rubrum would be able to talk was, considering the hectic circumstances of fighting a guerilla war against Dr. Robotnik. She looked up at Thoms. "I don't see the harm in taking you up on that offer." She did pause and turn around. "If you're all okay with it, I guess."

The Freedom Fighters all looked at each other, and sparingly at Thoms and the other members of the army around them, still celebrating their victory. After a moment, they all shrugged and said, in one way or another, "Why not?"

Thoms remained still for a moment, but nodded and pivoted. "Follow me. We'll distribute you amongst what helibirds we've got and make for Megapolis immediately."

The call went out to every member of the Filii Rubrum, and they all began to scramble out of the assembly plant and back to their helicopters, mostly chattering excitedly about their victory, and placing bets on what their mobian guests would do when they saw their home base.

A/N: Consider this an apology for being inactive for so long (also, can you tell where I completely gave the fuck up?).