Sonic Haven Ssn. 1 – Ep. 17

Sonic stared at the S.W.A.T. Bots, wondering what he was supposed to do. Just as he started to give up hope, he noticed the lights above his head flashing. The S.W.A.T. Bots all looked up at the lights in confusion, giving Sonic the opportunity that he needed to get passed them. He made sure to make use of it, blasting through the hallway and ripping through the air, creating a wake of turbulence behind him. He made his way to the end of the tunnel and into the stairway, running up to the next floor. He searched every room at supersonic speed, then moved to the next floor, then the next, and the next. He searched all the way to the top until he was forced to stop due to a barrier forming around him and locking him in place.

Sonic looked around the room as he caught his breath. There were computer screens everywhere, all of them showing something different. Huge pipes and conduits ran overhead and tile floor ran along the ground. As his eyes traced the floor, they hit a large chair towards the back of the room, upon which was seated a large man with a bushy mustache and red-black eyes. Sonic recognized him as Julian Robotnik, the man responsible for all that had destroyed his life.

"You..." Sonic said with contempt weighing heavily in his voice. "You're the madman responsible for this. How do you live with yourself?" He exclaimed.

Robotnik just stared back at him with a highly composed expression on his face. "It's nice to meet you too, you terrorist." He said with contempt.

"Terrorist? Oh, that's rich coming from you doc!" Sonic said with a smirk, "I do believe it was you that turned everyone into his own Tamagotchi army, wasn't it?"

"Silence you insignificant mongrel! I've captured you, and soon, I'll have your friends! Once that happens, nothing will stand between me and progress towards a perfect society!" Robotnik replied.

"Perfect society? Seriously? You're enslaving people! Forcing them to do whatever you want! That's not a perfect society! That's a synthetic army!" Sonic exclaimed, a note of disgust creeping into his tone.

"Hah! That's the point. You see, society has always had a problem. No mater how similar people are or seem to be, everyone is always working towards a different agenda." Robotnik started to reply. "Politicians, activists, the common person, everyone wants something different. And they all can only do so much due to a limit on their energies and time. I have removed all of those problems! Now all of society can work together and accomplish great things without having to worry about themselves. Just look at what I've created! In one month I've completely transformed this city into a workforce that rivals an entire country's!"

"You used to be looking out for people and what was best for them, weren't you? My uncle told me that you used to work for the military before you decided that you didn't want your creations to hurt people; what changed?" Sonic asked.

"All of what you just said is true, but my viewpoint of what was best for people changed. When we were having problems with the RCS component on the Robot Suits, I started thinking of ways that we could get around it. The thought that came to mind as the easiest solution was to simply remove the brain interface, and then to put the user inside into stasis. That way, you could still use the person for the betterment of others' lives. But nobody wanted to see it my way. They refused to see the benefits of such an arrangement. I wanted to prove my point, but why stop with just the disabled? Such a small group. Why not expand the focus to include everyone in the city and get them to all work for one purpose? That's what I've done! I've created a thing of beauty! If you have a problem with it, that's not any concern of mine. And soon you'll be working with all of the others!" Robotnik said in a rather enthusiastic tone.

Sonic had a look that was a combination of both disappointment and disgust on his face. He shook his head, then looked at Robotnik. "You really have lost it doc. It's a shame. According to my uncle, you were a pretty good person."

"I'm still the same person, I've just been enlightened!" Robotnik retaliated.

"I seriously disagree!" Sonic replied.

Bunnie looked around at the room she had just woken up in, trying to remember what happened to her. She seemed to remember something to do with a S.W.A.T. Bot... um... and Robians, yeah, they were involved too. And something about a factory. That's right, she was on a mission to shut down one of Robotnik's factories when she was suddenly launched into the air and landed hard. That was the last thing that she could remember.

She stood up from the table she'd been laying on... and put a hand to her head as the room started to spin. As she stepped away from the table, she felt her arm jerked back and she looked at it to find a tube going from her arm back to some kind of canister on the table beside her. It had a viscous green fluid inside of it. Had she been drugged as well to keep her down? Must've been. But, why had it stopped?

She looked closer at the canister of disgusting juices and noticed that the display on the top said "EMERGENCY STOP ACTIVATED." She thought that that was odd, until the message changed. "HI BUNNIE, I'M HERE TO HELP." She continued to watch until she saw it change again to say: "MY NAME'S TYLER, I'M WORKING WITH NICOLE." She let a breath out of her chest. At least it was a friend on the other side. Now she had a chance to get out of here! She just needed some help.

She felt her breath catch in her throat as she heard a banging on the closed door. Her captors were apparently trying to get back into the room! She decided to brace the door with something, anything! She grabbed the table, flipped it onto it's side, and slid it over to the wall in front of the door. And just in time, as the Robian hand that had been banging on the door suddenly burst through and started grabbing for her. She screamed in surprise as it threw a backpack like object through the hole it'd made.

She watched the backpack for a moment, waiting to see what would happen, until suddenly, the backpack moved! It sprouted arms and legs and it then started making its way toward her! She kicked at it to keep it away. It twisted and stuttered in its gait, but continued forward undeterred. She backed away from it until she hit her back against the wall. She looked at the backpack in fear as it loomed ever closer, threatening to turn her into one of those things!

She ripped a pipe off of the wall, though it took all of her effort. She then smacked the backpack away with a vicious swing, knocking it to the other side of the room. The light on the top turned from red to green, then back to red. Then the pack reached over and grabbed a pipe of its own.

"Ah can't believe that Ah'm fightin' a blasted backpack! Mah life has certainly gotten weird!" She said to herself as it came at her with the pipe in its substitute hand.

"We need to get back in there!" Knuckles excaimed, a sharp contrast to his usually quiet self.

"I know, but we can't exactly go back up the garbage chute now, can we?" Sally asked in an irritated tone.

We can't let Robotnik win! Even the slightest victory is unacceptable! He can already mop the floor with us, we can't let him get any more momentum!" Knuckles was borderline irate, yelling at Sally and the rest of the team.

"Listen, I agree that we need to get in there. I agree that we can't let Robotnik have any victory. But yelling at me won't help!" She retorted sternly.

"If I may," Rotor interjected, "Knuckles, they already know we're here. Our surprise attack is over, so just smash the wall."

"I do believe he es aving ze point." Antoine added skittishly.

"Do it." Sally said succinctly.

Knuckles nodded his head, then pulled back his arm and let loose a furious punch that took out a five-square-foot chunk of the wall next to them. The group quickly moved through the generous opening and back into the building they'd just escaped.

"Alright, we need to move before the S.W.A.T. Bots figure out where we are. Let's go." Sally commanded.

The team moved through the hole in the wall and made their way inside. They wasted no time standing around, immediately beginning to dash through the halls. As they ran inside, the S.W.A.T. Bots began to catch on quickly. They turned one corner to see the Bots coming after them, forcing them to turn around. They ran down the hall and turned another corner to find the same thing. Finally, they came to a T-shaped intersection, the hallway splitting off to their right and left, S.W.A.T. Bots painting the corridor on either side.

"We are being doomed!" Antoine exclaimed as he began trembling with fear.

"Not yet!" Knuckles said as he punched through the wall in front of them, creating yet another exit.

They again moved quickly through the hole and scrambled through the hallway on the other side of the wall, but not for long. They were again cornered by S.W.A.T. Bots only moments later.

Sally dropped her head in defeat. They'd done all they could, now it was looking like Bunnie wasn't the only one in need of saving.

"You see Sonic? Your friends will also soon be part of my army. And when that happens, you will join them." Robotnik said menacingly. He then turned towards someone standing in front of a terminal. "Snively, you know those pesky programs that have been running amok in the mainframe?"

"Yes sir. Do you want me to exterminate them now?" Snively asked.

"Yes Snively. Release Swarm." Robotnik said, growling out his words.

"Of course sir." Snively said, already plucking away at the keys on his keyboard.

"What's Swarm?" Sonic demanded.

"You'll see soon enough hedgehog." Robotnik said contemptuously.

Nicole jumped slightly at the noise she heard from behind her. "Please tell me that was you being funny." She pleaded with Tyler.

"I wish it was." Tyler responded hesitantly.

"Then what was it?" She asked.

"Probably something bad. Keep your eyes open." He said.

The two of them waited as the hum that came from behind them slowly became a clattering. They turned toward the source and watched as a shadowy figure shuffled toward them. It was about as big as they were, and wasn't moving very fast. It was pitch black from head to toe, save for glowing yellow eyes, and otherwise virtually featureless.

"What is that?" Nicole asked apprehensively.

Before Tyler could respond, another came into view. Then another, and another. Suddenly, their view was filled with copies of this thing; hundreds of them, maybe more.

"Oh shoot!" Tyler exclaimed as he turned to grab Nicole's arm. "We need to go!"

Nicole didn't protest as he started to drag her away from the swarm of things shambling towards them.

"Do you know what that is?" She asked.

"Actually I do. I came across it when it was in its dormant state a few months back. It's called Swarm." He started to explain.

"All of that is one thing?" Nicole asked quizzically.

"Yeah, kinda. More like several copies of one thing. Swarm is an incredibly simple program designed to attack any target Robotnik gives it and continue making copies of itself until it eliminates the target." Tyler explained.

"And we're the target." She said. It wasn't a question.

"You got it." He said, his lack of hope starting to show in his voice.

"Then what do we do?" She asked.

"Simple. We keep running until one of your friends gets us out." He said quickly as they turned a corner and kept running.

"And if they don't?" She asked.

"Let's just hope they do." He said, his tone implying that she not ask any further questions.

They ran into a rather compact part of the system, blocks of data rising up all around them and whizzing by as they ran through. As they continued to run, Nicole looked back at Swarm. At they pace they were running, they should have been breaking away. Instead, Swarm was keeping up with them and had maybe gained a step or two. She wondered how it was keeping up with them until she saw what it was doing. Swarm was copying itself and putting those copies in the front of the crowd so it could copy those and move them farther ahead yet. Almost like Swarm was leap-frogging itself to keep up.

She felt her breath catch in her throat. What would they do if Sonic and the others didn't get them out? Could they defeat Swarm like they defeated the Antivirus? She honestly didn't know.

"Swarm deployed sir." Snively said as he turned towards Robotnik.

"Excellent Snively. And what of the hedgehog's friends here in the tower?" Robotnik asked.

"They've been captured and are being taken to Roboticization sir." Snively replied.

"Very good Snively." Robotnik said, his low voice bounding off of the walls and reverberating in Sonic's ears.

Sonic turned to look at Robotnik before the doctor began speaking to him. "You see hedgehog? Your friends are finished! What will you do now?" Robotnik taunted.

"You're right doc, you got 'em. Except for one thing." Sonic said with a competitive tone.

"What's that?" Robotnik asked as he looked at the hedgehog to see what he was planning.

"I don't play fair. Because like anyone who doesn't really expect to win, I like to keep an ace up my sleeve!" Sonic taunted.

Max and Tiara jumped down from the vent in the ceiling over the roboticization chamber and landed only a couple of feet away from Bunnie. They turned toward her and watched in horror as a Roboticizer Pack had her pinned down and had attached itself to her back. Max dashed over to her and struggled with the device, trying to free her from its grip. It was all to no avail. Bunnie was being overwhelmed by the device and would soon be a Robian.

Max refused to accept defeat, searching up and down for any way to stop the device. Finally, he found something! An emergency stop button was located just under her neck on the top of the device. He pressed the button just as the device began to move up her neck, causing it to stop just shy of her head. However, the device didn't unhook itself from her.

"Guys, what's goin' on back there?" Bunnie asked, a note of terror in her voice.

"I hit the emergency stop, but it's not disconnecting." Max explained.

"Ah think Ah know why. It feels like someone's got a needle pressed into mah neck" Bunnie explained.

"Then it must have already connected itself to her nervous system." Tiara concluded.

"Can you move?" Max asked.

"No, Ah don't think so. Ah can't feel mah arms or legs." Bunnie said in a sour tone.

"Great." Max said sarcastically. He turned to look at Tiara, who was moving towards some kind of console. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"There's a terminal over here. Maybe I can figure out something over here." She said.

The moment she touched the keys, text appeared on the screen. She read it quickly and then gasped.

"What?" Max asked as he turned toward her.

"I found Nicole, she's in the system." Tiara said excitedly.

"Great, maybe she can help." Max said hopefully.

"I don't think so, She's being chased. She needs a way out. Man, I wish Sally was here! She's the one with the handheld after all." Tiara sighed.

"We don't have much time!" Max said, pointing at the door at the end of the room.

As he finished his sentence, a large metallic fist came through the door, knocking it clean off the wall. Several Robians and a S.W.A.T. Bot were standing on the other side. Max wasn't concerned about them though. He was rather concerned about the bright green glow coming from the door down the hall.