Sonic Haven Ssn. 1 – Ep. 12

4:15am, Sally looked at her watch again. A low hanging fog crept across the cityscape in front of her, the rain drizzling down the sides of buildings and gently churning the puddles in the street. Thankfully, the city's barrier was raised high enough to allow it to develop a mini ecosystem inside.

She swept the wet hair off of the front of her face as she looked across the moonlit street to the alley where Knuckles and the others were waiting. She looked just in time to see Knuckles give her a thumbs-up, the symbol that they were ready to go.

The guards changed shifts at 4:25 every morning, which would give them just enough time to get inside without being noticed. That was, of course, assuming that everything went right. Sally turned around and looked to Sonic, Tails, and Bunnie. They all nodded as well. The groups had split up so that if the first group was captured, the second group could finish the mission or plan a rescue operation.

Sally felt a sick feeling weave it's way through her gut. She felt as though she wasn't ready for this. The feeling had come and gone since shortly after she realized that she was becoming the leader of this group. It wasn't that she thought that she couldn't handle it, but the pressure was really high. People's lives hung on what she decided to do at any given moment, and not just the lives of those in her team. If they were successful, they could give the Robians their lives back as well. … She shook her head; there would be time to worry later, right now she needed to focus on getting everyone through the next thirty minutes.

Knuckles looked over at Max, who nodded that it was time to go. Knuckles made a motion with his hand to indicate that they needed to move inside the building that they had been standing next to. Everyone moved; well, except for Antoine, who shook his head and planted himself firmly in place. Knuckles, knowing there was no time for argument, raised his fist in a threatening gesture. Antoine, seeing the gesture, whimpered and ran inside. Knuckles sighed and shook his head before following the others inside.

The building must have been some kind of Hotel before Robotnik took over. They walked into a small lobby area that had been decorated with stylish-but-dated carpet and an assortment of fake plants. Max walked past a pod, which had crashed through the ceiling in the invasion, and over to the staircase where he noticed that the door had been blocked. Scratching his head, he motioned for Knuckles to come and "open" the door.

Knuckles walked across the lobby, which was soggy from the rain coming through the hole in the roof, and over to the stairway door. He thrust his hands through the wall on either side of the door and pulled the door out of the wall. A pungent stench wafted though the room. Max noticed the board that had been nailed to the back of the door, presuming that the door had been sealed from the inside. The two looked at each other, knowing what they would find on the way up.

Knuckles grabbed hold of Antoine and started to drag him up the steps. Max was leading the way up, with Knuckles in the back. Sure enough, on the way up, they saw a corpse. Someone who had apparently barricaded themselves into the stairway to prevent the Robians from getting in, only to die from dehydration days later. His clothes indicated that he'd been in Mobitropolis on vacation. While the sight was definitely unsettling, he was obviously not the only one who would have died in the takeover.

The group marched forward, up to the second floor and over to a window. Looking across the alleyway that they were in only moments earlier, they saw the factory right next door. It was almost all solid concrete, the only entrance being the front door which was heavily guarded. They were making a new entrance: jumping from the second-floor windows of the hotel to the third-floor windows of the factory.

Knuckles went first, jumping up and grasping the bottom of the open window before pulling himself through. Eventually, everyone was across except for Antoine, who refused to jump. Tiara jumped back into the hotel and thrust Antoine through the window and across the gap where he was grabbed by Rotor, who hauled him up into the factory. Once everyone was inside, they took a look from the third-floor balcony to survey the factory floor below.

The new guards were walking in and taking their posts next to the door. Robians were working non-stop all across the floor, preparing different parts for the S.W.A.T. Bots. Security cameras and other various security systems were haphazardly placed around the factory to ensure the security of the building.

Knuckles pulled a piece of pipe off of the railing that encircled the third floor balcony and thrust it across the factory to the far side where it clanged off of the wall and clattered to the floor. The Robians, both workers and guards, moved to inspect the sound. Max flashed his flashlight out of the window and across the street to shine on the second group. Then they waited.

Sally noticed a flashing light coming from the window. She motioned for the others to follow her as she moved towards the factory and hustled inside before the Robians returned to work. While they moved in, Knuckles' group quietly slid across the upper floor and to the other side of the factory, situating themselves on the opposite side of where Sally's group was.

While Sally's team moved towards the central computer, Knuckles team moved behind a set of empty barrels on the upper floor. Knuckles purposefully pushed one of the barrels over the railing, causing all of the Robains to take notice. All of the Robians in the complex swarmed to Knuckles' position, climbing up ladders and even stacking on each other in an attempt to reach the upper balcony. The Robians grabbed hold of the bottom of the balcony and started pulling down. Then, with a loud crash, at least half of the balcony fell down at once! With sore bodies, Knuckles' team picked themselves up and looked straight into the faces of the Robians that now surrounded them.

Sally plugged Nicole into the computer in the middle of the room, then turned to see how the other team was doing, only to be greeted with a loud crash that rattled her. The balcony had fallen down! The other team was surrounded! Sonic was not taking any chances! He rolled into a ball, peeled out with a high pitched squeal, then launched himself over the Robians, bounced off of the wall over Tiara's head and crashed into the Robians, tossing them in every conceivable direction. Sonic turned and looked at the people standing behind him before shouting: "RUN!" He didn't need to say it twice! As one, the team began running and making their way out of the factory, Knuckles and Sonic leading the way.

As He passed Sally, Sonic asked: "How are we doing?"

Sally didn't reply immediately. Instead, she looked to Nicole.

"I need more time!" Nicole replied.

"We don't have time!" Sonic stated urgently.

Nicole paused for only a moment before she spoke again. "Leave me here." She stated bluntly.

"What?" Sonic and Sally exclaimed at the same time.

"I don't think we have a choice. I'll upload myself to Robotnik's mainframe and hide there after I've rigged the factory to overload; you guys can get me there." Nicole said in a voice that implied she wasn't open to talking about this.

As Sonic opened his mouth to reply he heard a loud whir and a thud come from over by the door.A S.W.A.T. Bot had been activated and was blocking his friends' escape. His eyes went wide. He looked to Sally and said, breathlessly: "oh no..."

Author's Note:

I'm sorry it's been so long since I uploaded an episode of Sonic Haven, but I've been busy! I am the sole creator of Super Smash Bros. SupreMacy, and I just recently released its alpha lite version, which was a chore for a long time. My YouTube channel also just went over 100 subs and I'm working on the 100 subs special for that even now. I also was just made the Global Moderator of a young forum. I also had family visit during all of this. Suffice it to say that life has been busy for me, but I'm back! I want to finish season 1 sometime soon, so be sure to keep abreast of the situation! And, as always, have a good day!