A/N: After a long time editing my mess when I first started writing this story, it's time for chapter 19! Celebrations for defeating the Eggman Empire were cut short as a monkey known as Ken Khan arrives just as a concert was about to begin. What is his reason for interrupting this joyous celebration, and what could it spell for the heroes? Let's see.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega or Archie Comics except my OC.
"What kind of lazy, self-congratulatory jerks revel when the rest of the world suffers? Where are these so-called 'heroes' of Mobius?! I want you to look me in the eye and tell me why you're so great!" Ken yells to the crowd.
"I'll show ya why we're so great!" Sonic yells back, going into a spin dash. "You just crashed a good party you know!"
Ken glares at the hedgehog before rushing to meet him head on. However, before they make physical contact, Sally jumps in-between them. "STOP!" Both of them come to a halt just inches from colliding.
"While I do agree with Sonic that the celebration was rudely interrupted, we have a good reason to do so. Recently, he finally managed to defeat Eggman once and for all, and now the Eggman Empire is no more." The princess explained.
The rest of the Freedom Fighters join them on stage at this point. However, Ken shakes his head, calming himself before explaining.
"That is where you're wrong princess...the Eggman Empire was never defeated, they merely had a change in leadership." He stated.
"Riiight, so whose calling the shots now?" Sonic asked.
"They refer to themselves as the 'Iron Dominion'. They've taken control of the Dragon Kingdom over the years and simply moved their seat of power to the Eggman Empire after it was vacated by the evil doctor himself. Although I do applaud you for defeating Eggman, the Iron Dominion is still a very real threat..." Ken explained.
Elias, who overheard the conversation, calls to Antoine. "Antoine, see if you can gather the rest of the Council. We need to decide on this matter immediately!"
The coyote nods but Ken stops them. "That won't be necessary your highness. I don't believe your so-called 'Council' has been handling things properly..." The monkey said bitterly.
"Not the only one who thinks that..." Kor muttered.
"Aw come on Monkey Boy! They can't be that tough!" Sonic says with a grin.
"We also might be able to get some help from the Dragon Kingdom Freedom Fighters." Sally adds.
However, Ken lowers his head at the mention of them. "There...aren't any Freedom Fighters in the Dragon Kingdom anymore..." He says hesitantly.
"All of them were wiped out?" Kor asks, to which the monkey nods. "...Sorry for your loss, but whose the big boss in this 'Iron Dominion'?" The fox asks.
"They refer to themselves as the Iron King and Queen. The King possesses incredible strength that would make even the fiercest of enemies quiver, and the Queen is a mage in for form of Magitek." Ken said.
Kor was about to ask what 'magitek' was but Sonic spoke before him. "Wait, aren't those the same jokers we dealt with when me and Tails stopped by?" Sonic asksed, to which Ken simply nods. "Indeed they are. Despite their defeat, they've grown considerably in power since..."
"Well, why don't we head over to New Megaopolis and show those Iron Losers how we handle things here?" Sonic said with his signature smirk.
"I would gladly appreciate that." Ken said with his own grin.
"Now hold on Sonic. These guys can't be just mere pushovers if they've caused this much trouble..." Sally pointed out.
"Come on Sal. We've dealt with these guys before like a year ago. So what if they have an army? We've dealt with the same thing when it came to Eggman. Only difference is they don't have any robots to hide behind." He pointed out.
Sally looked at the blue blur for a minute before looking at the floor in thought. After a couple minutes, she made her decision. "Alright, you two can go, but on ONE condition: You'll treat this as a recon mission, nothing more. We still don't know what they're capable of and I'd hate to see you both get captured or worse." She stated.
"You're the best Sal!" Sonic said, already halfway out the coliseum with Ken in pursuit.
"So what do we do now Sal?" Bunnie asked.
"Nothing to do now but wait and prepare..." The chipmunk told her.
"Welp, guess I'll head over to the airport. Hornet NEEDS some serious repairin'." Kor said. "Mind if I help?" Tails asked. "Sure little buddy." The red fox said with a smile.
After a minute of walking, the 2 foxes reach the hanger the Hornet resides in. Upon entering they immediately set out to get the gunship in top condition. Tails begins to reapply paint on its body while Kor restocks its weapons. It took about 20 minutes before they were finished. "Phew, that should do." Kor said.
"You think we'll have to use it against the Dominion?" Tails asked.
"If it comes down to it. From the way Ken spoke, it seems they heavily out-number us, but they can't be as bad as Eggman right?"
"True." The kit chuckled.
"However, I wonder what this 'magitek' thing Ken spoke of means." Kor said.
"Maybe you can ask him when he returns. I don't remember much of it myself, but I can bet it's nothing good." Tails stated.
"Well, that's just dandy..." The engineer sighed.
Afterwards, the two went their separate ways: Kor went back to his house while Tails went to assist the other Freedom Fighters if they needed it. The engineer sat back in his chair and looked over his half-done work. On the blueprint, it showed the first and second stages of a considerably larger sentry compared to the first one Kor ever used. On the blueprint, the main housing was comprised to have roughly 4in. of metal to protect it from small arms fire and rocket impacts. The top of the sentry was curved backward which might help deflect bullets, and the base of the sentry was much sturdier so it wouldn't flinch much when firing.
The first stage was similar to the regular sentries, using only a small semi-automatic cannon, but the second stage differed greatly. In this stage, both sides of the main housing push outward, allowing two bofors guns to deploy while bullet chains from the sentry's main compartment attach to them. The base also changed as well to accompany the potential recoil force from the guns. The third stage was incomplete, yet one could see the top of the sentry slides down to allow a rocket battery to come out the back. It also sported additional bofors gun on top of the ones already deployed, making the sentry look similar to a quad-mounted AA gun.
Kor continued drawing up the third stage's base. He wanted to put it on a sitting platform first before drawing up a movable one, which he considered using either wheels or treads. He also had to figure out how all of this would fit inside a toolbox he might have to carry, which would be a headache waiting to happen.
-A hour later-
Sonic and Ken return to the city, a little bruised from their so-called 'recon' mission. They meet up with Sally, Knuckles, and Elias in the castle. "I thought I told you guys it was just a recon mission..." Sally said, arms crossed while frowning at them both.
"Well it was, until we got ambushed. Don't know how they knew we were coming, but we got smacked by ninja bats, the Dark Egg Legion, the Iron King, and surprisingly, Espio..." Sonic said the part with a heavy voice.
"Wait, Espio's with them now?!" Knuckles said, shocked beyong belief.
"Unfortunately he is. Espio is part of the Shinobi Clan, one of the 4 clans under the Dominion's control." Ken stated.
"But...I don't understand. There aren't any ninja clans from where he came from..." Knuckles said.
"It would seem your 'friend' has lied to you about his origins..." Ken said, leaning against the wall.
"Try not to worry too much on it Knuckles. I'll have everyone put on high alert and I'll get together with the Council immediately. It's clear the Iron Dominion has the means to attack our city...only thing that remains is when..." Elias said before departing.
Sally looks at Ken and notices his sad-ridden face. "You ok Ken?"
"No...I'm not exactly pleased with myself after having been defeated many times by the Dominion..."
"Try not to worry about that Ken. You have people to help you now, and once we sort out a plan we can make our move." Sally said, trying to comfort him.
However, Ken shakes his head and walks off. "Some king I turned out to be..." He muttered to himself. Sally and Sonic watch him leave, concerned looks plastered on their faces.
-Meanwhile at the Eggdome-
Snively and Regina were currently chatting in the queen's bedroom. After witnessing the full might of their forces put the brakes on Sonic and Ken along with forcing them to retreat, they were very confident that it wouldn't take much to make New Mobotropolis fall into their grasp.
"In all my days as a dictator, I have never seen Sonic make a hasty retreat so soon." Snively said, sipping from a cup of tea they were having.
"And it was twice as fun watching the 'pretender of the throne' wither at our might. They may have posed a formiable threat in the past, but now...now they shall learn the true of the Iron Dominion. And once we conquer that pitiful city of theirs, we can move from this dreadful dump..." Regina said.
"Speaking of the past, what was your life like before you became the Iron Queen?" Snively inquired.
Regina froze up a bit at the question. "That...is something I don't like to discuss...but because I love you sweetie I'll tell you." She pauses as she begins to reflect on the past. "I was born into a cult of Technomages located in the city of Mega Central some time before the Great War. While I was under their care, I learned how to control many robotic devices through the use of Magitek."
"Magitek?" Snively asked.
"It's the mystical art of controlling electronic signals and impulses, which allows the user to simply gain control of almost anything electrical just by the flick of their hand. How powerful the art's influence depends on how powerful the user is. Anyway, I used magitek to my advantage over the years as a child, even being able to move robots to my will from afar, but unfortunately...things became rather hard for me years later. Just as te Great War begun, magitek was considered illegal and many members of the cult, including myself, were arrested...most were imprisoned or worse, but thankfully my young age allowed the High Chancellor to show mercy and left me leave on my own. I didn't know of any other technomage cults in other human cities, and I couldn't even reside with mobians with the war raging..."
She pauses, glaring at the floor after remembering a certain incident. "...By then I realized I was the last member of my cult, so I set out to make the long forgotten art of magitek live on and eventuall dominate the world! At some point, I found myself in the Dragon Kingdom where I offered an alliance with Jun Kun. He was a local war lord at the time."
Snively stiffled a laugh. "Was that oaf actually your leader?"
"Oh heavens no! We were just partners." Regina corrected him.
"Once we were partners, I used my magic to awaken old machines found throughout the region and we used them in our conquest to conquer the entire region. Unfortunately...we suffered many defeats either from the warring clans or the free people...It wasn't until your uncle had contacted us that we began to gain ground, using his machines and technology to control the free people. I even set Mount Stormtop ablaze for 100 days since they refused to yield to our rule!" Regina laughed evily.
Then, she formed a scowl on her face. "Then that blasted hedgehog and his sidekick showed up..."
"What happened my dear?" Snively asked.
"I decided to control that fake king Monkey Khan and used him to fight Sonic. As amusing as it was, it was unfortunately short lived when that two-tailed brat damaged my beautiful staff! Being forced to retreat I was pursued. However, Kun managed to hold them off until Sonic found the Fan of Fen Xing. He defeated that idiot warlord and ended the spell I placed over the free people's village..." Regina explained, glaring at the floor.
"Since then I swore revenge against that meddlesome hedgehog...and soon...I will achieve that!" She said with a grin.
"I'm sure you will my dear. Speaking of the Dragon Kingdom, I remember there were Freedom Fighters there, but they don't seem to be giving you any trouble." The bald overlander pointed out.
"Oh dear Snively, that, is a funny story. Khan was part of the Freedom Fighter group there, but because he is a cyborg, he was susceptable to my magic." She said before grinning evilly.
"As a result...I used him to wipe each and every one of them out...I couldn't have a sweeter revenge on that moronic monkey." She finished with a laugh, Snively joining her. "That is truly evil Regina. Do you have a plan for the Freedom Fighters?"
"That I do, but for another time. The hour grows late." Regina said, putting her cup down and showing the short man out.
A/N: And that's all for this chapter. Took awhile to ring up due to lack of inspiration to write. With the Iron Dominion proving themselves to be a formiable foe, along with Espio of all people being in their ranks, time will tell what will happen with the heroes.
Also, the main design for the sentry I intend for Kor to use is based on a sentry gun called 'The Mule' drawn by Elbagast on DeviantArt. It's actually a pretty impressive looking piece of work.