'Ah it appears I am starting to get accustomed to my predicament.' I let out a huff and crossed my arms as Lady took control. 'What with me making egg puns now. Next thing you know I'll be calling Robotnik, Dr. Eggman now.'
The use of the pseudonym was rising rapidly over time which was no surprise considering who coined it, I mean come on even Robotnik himself used it and the man was egotistical as all hell. Maybe it was because of the whole 'arch-nemesis' thing he had going with Sonic that he was fine with being known and referring to himself as 'Eggman'. Despite this I did not want to call him Eggman myself, it felt too much like a step towards disrespect for the man. While I may not like him at all to say the least there was no choice but to respect the threat he represented. Also in all likelihood at this point Robotnik would have noticed my insistence upon his actual name, and thus probably interpret calling him Eggman as a lack of respect.
Finding myself at a pause in my musings I glance over my shoulder at the convoy before grimacing.
Despite what I had said back in Metropolis we had slowed down greatly with the addition of the humans accompanying us. The problem wasn't even their vehicle which was a shiny and sleek black car, a recent and expensive model as far as I was aware. According to the humans I was traveling at a frightening pace and even on the highway they were unwilling to go as fast as I would like. Possibly they were right, Lady was basically the first vehicle I had regularly operated and also had no speedometer so I had no reference for how fast we were going. It certainly didn't feel like we were going too fast but again, no reference for that.
Just suck it up, you are still within the expected schedule.' With a barely restrained grumble I slunk down in my seat.
It had been exceedingly uncommon that I had taken rides in vehicles, let alone briefly operate one. It had been mostly intentional. Vehicles were a human invention so I didn't want to tarnish the experience of traveling the world and visiting mobian communities by going about like a human. My ancestors had spread to the far corners of the world by the power of their own limbs and so I would see the world the same way as much as possible. Being a mobian who lived traditionally I was already fit and trim but the globe spanning hike had certainly toned me up. All of that had been done for the pleasure of the experience but all that pride and reluctance went out the window the moment my life was on the line. Now that I was in the 'employ' of Robotnik and had no choice but to make use of mechanized transportation for regular travel…
Well it was certainly extremely convenient. Because of this there was now a traitorous part of me that wondered if my travels would really have been ruined by getting ahold of actual transportation. Said ancestors had traveled by foot out of sheer necessity, no? Surely they would have traveled in vehicles if they were available… right?
Something inside of me twisted and a massive urge to completely hate what I was doing surged up. I wanted to double down on my heritage as a mobian, hate the technology the humans invented. My people's ways worked for countless generations and even now the humans with all their new weapons and tech struggle to take what is ours. Unfortunately for such desires I was now a part of the problem, if Robotnik ordered I make my people abandon their ways and traditions in favor of his own methods at gunpoint… well as much as I want to believe I would decide that enough was enough my own actions have proven I value my life far more.
'Damn dirty coward… if you had any pride in yourself you'd let the next enemy kill you since you're too gutless to get yourself killed resisting Robotnik.'
Gritting my teeth I find myself gripping onto Lady's antenna as hard as I can. Briefly the image of myself driving Lady off the highway fills my mind, the further mental image of myself splatting across the countryside brings up dark and terrible emotions. Shaking my head I take a deep hissing breath through my teeth.
'I need to distract myself from my own drama.'
Reaching up I manipulate the communicator built into my helmet. Robotnik's communication network had no stations meant for music or recreation of any kind. Well, the regular network anyway. In all likelihood Robotnik's personal network was probably tapped into every conceivable network in existence so he could listen or watch whatever he wished. I didn't exactly know the truth of the matter, again despite being his right hand man the amount of actual authority I had in the Empire was dubious. What I did have was unlimited access to the regular channels full of robotic voices beeping or endlessly uploading updates. The noise became almost like music if you listened to it long enough but that might be desperation talking.
I had in fact almost convinced myself there was some kind of rhythm to the machine noise spluttering over the radio when there was an abrupt change.
"Situation Update! Foreign sea craft violating Empire borders!"
"Query: Position of craft in relation to borders?"
"Craft currently washed ashore! Under observation by aerial units!"
"Alarm Query: Status of sensor net?"
"Sensor net fully functional!"
"Confused Query: Quality of invading craft?"
"Fishing vessel! Chun-Nan markings! Readings show as dead in the water! No lifesigns and minimal electrical readings!"
"Response Suggestion: Maintain observation of craft, patrols shall investigate once scheduled routes intersect."
"Acknowledged!"
Spoken at a frequency and speed utterly incomprehensible to most people, a pair of machine voices crackled and squeaked at one another. Although there are times where I find myself wishing I was a mobian with abilities better suited for combat, times like this frequently remind me that sometimes something as boring as 'enhanced hearing' can be endlessly useful.
Hmmm… I should be able to just insert myself into this…
"This is Underboss, Reginald the Rabbit." Though my audience were merely machines I nonetheless attempted an air of dignity in my announcement. "What is the location of the vessel in relation to the statue Metropolis is tasked to build?"
"Sir! The invading craft is beached on the western coastline! The route Metropolis must take to the statue runs right past it!"
What was originally just an inquiry made out of a combination of boredom and curiosity suddenly had a chill going down my spine. According to the shouty machine it was merely a dead fishing vessel that washed ashore. Little better than a pile of driftwood and flotsam. But after surviving a battle where half of the enemies wielded literal stone age weaponry against killbots and winning I found myself suspicious of such a thing.
Already thoughts of my convoy passing a seemingly lifeless shipwreck only to be ambushed from behind by warriors with primitive weapons filled my mind. Once there was a time where such thoughts would have me smirk in delight, warriors weidling traditional weapons running roughshod over machines wielding weapons more advanced than what even GUN could make. It was a thought that should have brought up feelings of pride but now that I was potentially the target of such a force… I could only feel fear for my life.
'I have to investigate this.' The thought formed in my mind and to my own dismay I could not disagree.
It wasn't my job to investigate it but the danger it posed was too much to ignore. The badnik horde could because even if it was a problem they could drown it in numbers eventually, they cared not for their continued existence or the lives of their power sources. Although I doubted I was viewed as any less expendable by Robotnik I very much viewed myself as important. I wanted to live, survive and thrive no matter how little I deserved to. Despite my terror at the idea of investigating this potential threat my previous experience had taught me it was best to have the initiative. The times I hadn't had it before had gone badly for us, the first time we had lost dozens of badniks to a tiny ambushing force and the last time we had lost.
'On top of that I know I can't take the entire or even the majority of the convoy forces with me.'
My task was to collect Robotnik's taxes, not go take care of breaches in the Empire's borders. It seemed like a reasonable thing to deviate away from given goals to take care of, can't collect taxes in the middle of an invasion, right? Robotnik's mercurial nature made that an uncertain thing however. Would he approve of me showing initiative and being proactive? Or would he find the idea of a minion that made decisions for himself offensive? Counterpoint, would see me sticking to a given task despite more important problems springing up as being maliciously obedient? It was one thing to expect such inflexibility from a machine but I was flesh and blood, my thought process wasn't a rigid series of ones and zeroes and thus I should know better.
'Well… guess I'll have to settle for the worst of both choices.'
"Two squads of fast movers and one squadron with me!" I barked out as I ramped up Lady's throttle. "Saffron take point with the flyers! Deffy, guard the convoy and maintain course!"
Speeding down the highway with a relatively tiny force of wheeled and flying badniks I could only grit my teeth at the ball of ice settling in my chest. Ideally I'd tackle a potential ambush with my entire force but I had to ensure the timely delivery of the taxes. So I had no choice but to leave behind the majority of my badniks to ensure the security of our cargo, including what I considered my most potent killbot! On top of that due to how little badniks I had with me I wouldn't be able to get away with hiding behind a wall of murderous metal.
'Leading the charge on this one… spirits why?' Pushing aside feelings of despair with some struggle I cranked Lady's throttle harder and sped along the highway.
Paradoxically the following hours passed both quickly and slowly. Dreading what was to come had me hoping the miles would never end, the sheer inevitability of the task before me had those hours run out like a puddle beneath a summer sun.
In what seemed like no time at all I found myself gazing off from the road towards a somewhat distant beach. In the distance, somewhat wallowing in the surf, was a modern fishing trawler. I mention modern because for some odd reason this one appeared to have a multicolored sail strung across its superstructure.
More importantly its surroundings were very bare and open and would allow us plenty of room to surround the trawler. In fact the closest bit of cover was a nearby thickly grown treeline. Even if this is an ambush we should be able to handle it… unless…
"Observation unit, any changes in the fishing vessel since our arrival?" I questioned over the radio as I eyed the treeline.
"Negative! No activity since last report, Underboss!"
"Good…" I murmured with a relieved sigh before waving towards the beached fishing ship. "Surround the vessel!"
Saffron and the flyers swarmed the air around the ship as we drove off the road and down towards the beach. We had a brief moment where our wheels started burying themselves into the sand but the badniks were quite capable of hopping, combined with a rapid shift of the wheel treads to something more appropriate we were quickly continuing. Soon I was dismounting Lady with no little amount of trepidation.
Now closer I could make out the finer details of the vessel, its weather worn state, rust marks in the more unimportant areas, markings with characters in the language of Chun-Nan. And this close now I could see that the "sail" was perhaps not an odd addition but perhaps done out of desperation. The sail wasn't of one cloth but many, many pieces of clothing stitched together with fishing line. Most importantly were the patches of torn metal, scorch marks and blood stains.
'... Was this an actual accident?'
Perhaps I wasn't dealing with a potential ambush at all but the end result of a catastrophe at sea. Either way I found the tension draining away along with the fear. Even in the face of this discovery however I wasn't going to just go straight in.
"See anything, Saffron?" I asked as I opened up the trunk and grabbed my shotgun.
My customized buzz bomber quickly orbited the fishing trawler before suddenly stopping before the bridge. It leaned in to get a better look before looking back towards me and nodding energetically.
"... Next time I have the budget I am getting you a proper voice box, all three of you in fact." Quite belatedly I realized the downsides of having a personal minion slash bodyguard who cannot talk. All Saffron could do was confirm that it could see something, what that thing was would require either an inordinate amount of charades the robo wasp would no doubt fail at or just see it for myself.
Walking past Lady who suddenly perked up at my words I made for the fishing trawler.
The flyers closed in ever closer to ensure my protection and a motobug hopped in after me as I jumped aboard the vessel. Onboard the trawler I could make out even more blood stains and quite a few distortions in the floor circled by soot. Not only that but there was a number of blood streaks leading to the railing.
'Maybe this wasn't an accident?'
Was I seeing the aftermath of a ship attacked by pirates? Bodies dragged and thrown overboard, signs of what I was now considering to be explosion damage from fresh experience. But why would pirates attack a fishing trawler? They were going hungry at sea maybe? Just attacked the first fishing vessel they came across, killed anyone that got in the way of their looting and left it dead in the water? Then one of the victims wasn't as dead as first appeared and managed to get their damaged vessel on course with the nearest coast?
'Well… one way to find out.' I looked up towards the bridge where Saffron confirmed it found something.
Keeping my shotgun at the ready I climbed the stairs up to the bridge and found the door busted in and barely hanging by a hinge. Inside I found a large hole where the helm probably was along with a large amount of blood splattering everywhere. But that wasn't the only thing I found.
"Alfa?" Hesitantly I stepped closer to the slunk form of the coconuts badnik I had thought destroyed.
The prototype coconuts had been in a rather ramshackle condition since I had met the little murder bot but looking at him now I wondered if he wasn't scrap now. Its entire form was riddled with dents and little holes and it had made crude repairs where it could. The front half of one foot was replaced with the head of a shovel and one hand was now an iron vice I wondered was at all functional. Likely patching large holes was a number of metal plates clumsily welded onto its chassis. One eye was a shattered pile of junk and sprouting wires and its jaw was rather skeletal in appearance and only hanging on by one hinge.
"Alfa!" In an instant I found myself kneeling by the machine's side and shaking its sea salt rusted shoulder. To my shock I found myself hoping the little irritating badnik was still functional and merely in some kind of sleep mode. This hope seemed futile at first but suddenly there was a growing hum emitting from the badnik. The hum started to stutter and crackle and with a lethal sounding pop a spark emitted from Alfa's exposed wires and the hum started dying down.
"Dammit…" With a sigh I stepped back and stared down at the badnik.
Alfa appeared to be dying and here I was nowhere near a hospital, plus I only knew enough first aid to patch wounds and handle sprains, not do field surgery to sew up mortal injuries. What the hell was I going to do! He was going to… I'm an idiot…
'Alfa is a robot, not flesh and blood.' Shaking my head at my stupidity I grabbed the monkey bot by one arm and slung its body over my shoulder in a fireman's carry. 'I could literally have it dismantled for easier transport and it would be fine. All I need to do is just bring Alfa to a mechanic and it will be back on its feet in no time.'
Coming back out with the machine slung over my shoulder I looked over the fishing trawler and a different picture of what had happened formed in my mind. Alfa had clearly hijacked this fishing vessel to make its way back to the Mother Egg. It had either killed the crew in the taking or they tried to take their ship back after Alfa took it over. Considering the sail… it likely wasn't the first vessel Alfa had taken. Likely it had hopped from ship to ship as each one ran out of fuel in its voyage across the ocean to North Arcadia. This vessel had been close enough that Alfa had simply ran out the fuel and created a sail out of the crew's clothes to get the rest of the way.
'Seems the likely series of events.' I thought with a nod and made my way back to Lady.
Briefly I wondered how in the world I was going to strap Alfa to Lady's hull before just deciding to store it in the trunk. I had to keep my shotgun strapped to myself and load myself down with ammo to make room but I managed to fold Alfa into the remaining space. After that I simply waited by the roadside for the convoy to catch up to me. It wasn't a very long wait, barely twenty minutes later I saw it appear down the road and I directed my group to start moving down the road to smoothly integrate back with the convoy.
'Well that turned out far better than I thought.' Leaning back to let Lady handle the driving I considered the little diversion I went on. 'Went in expecting an ambush and instead found Alfa. Honestly that's something of a massive relief in a way. I never realized just how goddamn lonely it is in the 'employ' of Doctor Robotnik. No wonder the man likes to make quirky robots. Even he would fall into madness with nothing to keep him company. Misery loves company as they say.'
It wasn't much longer before our final destination came into view.
Taking a place of pride at the point of an artificial ridge in a cliffside was a nearly complete statue of Robotnik. The statue was only missing the head and was set in a pose with arms stretched wide open in an almost welcoming gesture. Of course anyone who even vaguely knew the man could tell the pose was more him reaching out to grab hold and take as much as he could.
As our convoy continued along the cliffside road I leaned and glanced down the ledge. Below was a stony coastline with a close line of forest along it. Nearer the cliffs was a great mess of rocks and broken logs and I wondered just how much of the mountain was cut away to make this ledge. Absently I looked up the cliffs in curiosity and found myself frowning at a small shape that suddenly popped into view.
'What? Is that a huma-'
There was a distant boomf and my ears popped as a light appeared and closed in on us in a near instant. Vaguely I was reminded of the large crabmeats that had fired rockets at the humans as the light impacted the Robotnik head we were transporting. I had expected a small explosion and a torn metal ruin that used to be a replica of the Doctor's head. There indeed was a small explosion but it was followed by a far larger one in a near instant.
Immediately I was knocked senseless, my ears popping and ringing from the cacophony. I must have blacked out for a moment because suddenly my face was pressed into where Lady's dashboard would have been if it had one. All I could hear was seemingly the rush of my blood through my veins. My head throbbed with pain and dizziness I thought would never end and it was all I could do to hang onto Lady to keep from falling off. Then quite suddenly it was over, I could hear and merely staying in my seat wasn't a nigh impossible task.
Looking back up I could see more shapes on the cliffside along with my flying badniks swarming up to get at them. Suddenly the ground started to shake and I could hear explosions from below. The view of the coast was obscured by clouds of dust and smoke and it was only now the confusion had finally cleared my mind and I realized that we were under attack!
Some of our badniks could scale sheer rock faces and were slowly joining our flyers on the attack above. Others with built in weapons started lining up along the ledge to start firing below. But over the deafening din of combat was a noise that turned my blood to ice.
The earth rumbled and shifted beneath us and the sound of falling and crashing stones sounded up from below.
Barely warding off feelings of abject panic I gripped Lady's antenna and practically tried to tear them off with how hard I pulled a u-turn. After my turn I was met with the sight of Dessy's scorched and battered form entangled with the flaming wreck of the cargokiller that had been carrying the head. With a revving of its shredding teeth that sounded more like an outraged roar it was dragged down by the wreckage through the freshly blown hole in the road. Had this been a more calm moment I would have been furious with the amount of invested time and resources Dessy's loss represented, as it was I was far more concerned with directing Lady over the rapidly crumbling remnant of road around the hole.
More explosions filled the air and I felt my stomach drop out of me from the ground shifting even more. Cracks started appearing in the road and I had to zig and zag Lady over them to avoid trapping the tire in the new gaps. I was just managing to avoid getting caught in the cracks, no doubt mostly to sheer dumb luck, when a significant roadblock appeared before me.
The car the humans from Metropolis had been assigned handled exceedingly well on an asphalt surface, the same couldn't be said for a road that was both falling apart and falling down. The humans had likely been frozen in shell shock like I had been and now had tried to turn around on the two lane cliff road. It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the widening cracks in the road that quickly caught the tires of their car. In shared panic they remained in the car while the driver moved the car back and forth in an attempt to get loose. More importantly the car being trapped sideways blocked the road and the growing cracks meant I couldn't just drive around.
"SAFFRON!" I shouted before pointing sharply at the car. "Get them outta here!"
A near instant later the badnik in question nearly crashed into the car with how fast it flew down towards it. The legs of the machine wrapped around the car and its thrusters ramped up to full power as it lifted the vehicle. Though now clearly greatly encumbered it still started flying away at a decent clip. I was just about to drive through the cleared road when the rumbling noise ramped to a deafening volume. To my utter horror I watched as the cracked road before me started to rapidly disintegrate and disappear. Where there once was a narrow path for the foolhardy and reckless there was now nothing but nearly sheer cliffside. Looking over my shoulder I found it was the same thing where I had come from, vast swatches of road disappearing and dragging badniks down with them.
Utterly panic stricken I found myself throwing Lady in reverse anyway and tried to pull away from the disappearing road. Soon I found myself smashing back into the cliffside as I backed myself into a corner and had no choice but to watch my doom approach.
'I really should have told Saffron to grab me instead of those humans.' I thought inanely. 'That was pretty much its whole purpose.'
Then there was no more time for thought as the road fell away and Lady tumbled forward.
-TBC-
Author Note: Literal cliffhanger! How do you like it?
Here comes the climax for this arc, hope you all enjoy it!
Currently I'm fully caught up on the IDW comic up to the point of the second climax with Surge and Kit. It's been a wonderful few arcs so far and I'm just letting a bit of a backlog build up before I get back into reading them.
Also anyone looking forward to Starfield? I'm hoping it does as well for its genre as Assassin's Creed IV did though in its own RPG way with spaceships and alien planets. I'm looking forward to it but I'm not confident enough about it doing well on launch to preorder it. So far I'm getting "Fallout 4 but with tons more features and maybe a refined settlement system" vibe from it, not necessarily a bad thing if you liked Fallout 4 like I did but here's hoping it doesn't need an unofficial patch and bunch of mod overhauls to make it fun.
