The hideout that was used by Robotnik and now being claimed by those he had recruited under the self-proclaimed command of Starline; Starline and Zachary had been hard at working designing attachments to the computers to force hack their way through the firewalls and to gain control of the systems. After countless tests and attempts; they had managed to successfully gain access to the systems as well as control over the base. "It works! Finally Dr Robotnik's files are ours' to use and to continue his glorious work!" Starline grinned as up on the monitor there was all his plans and schematics for them to use. He would be able to program the creations already built to serve his commands and how to use the reverse engineered alien fuel that Robotnik used for his Badniks after his return; in the lab that Starline had used previous he had to fit the E-Series robots with packs that had to be manually recharged once they had lost their power as they were still designed to draw power from animals as living batteries.
"Goody; now what does it say about where the bombs are? I haven't blown something up in a long time!" Bean asked looking quite anxious as he was just standing by Bark looking bored.
"Is there something that will help me punch real hard?" Bark asked looking just as anxious as ever since they had arrived; he had mostly been used as manual labor around the hideout.
Starline shook his head in agitation as it was hard to find good help but with the limited resources that they had without control over the hideout; he had to make do with what that they had. "Now that we have the base under control; I would like to use the lab to study the Warp Topaz..." Zachary spoke reaching out for the Warp Topaz that Starline was holding in a carefully created glove that he was wearing.
"Absolutely not! The Warp Topaz is not to be taken lightly; the slightest miscalculation when studying it or misuse of creating portals could send us somewhere dangerous! It stays with me!" Starline retorted covering the Warp Topaz with his hand with a glare to Zachary.
"I know what I man doing and I have been alive and being a scientist longer than you were alive! Plus I was the first to study it after my home was the first to discover it so I believe that I have a better idea on what it is than you do!" Zachary retorted back but Starline was looking defiant.
"I am in charge and I say..." Starline spoke with finality only to bel held up the collar of his jacket and made to look at Zachary in the eye as he was glaring back at him.
"Says who? You may have been acting like you were in charge since Robotnik got beat but I will now dissuade you of the thoughts that I am a minion to listen to what you say! At best we are partners and I will not tolerate you speaking to me as if I am an underling; you can do what you wish with Robotnik's files and you can use the Warp Topaz but I will be studying it to fully discover how to find other dimensions or else I will have you do away with! Remember you would still be struggling to find the on switch if I wasn't here; am I clear?" Zachary demanded and Starline and gulped in fear as he nodded. Zachary then grabbed the Warp Topaz from the glove and left leaving Starline to fume.
"I have to make do with this arrangement for now; if only Dr Robotnik was here since he would never have stood for this and he would have been able to show Dr Zachary his place..." thought Starline angrily as he looked to Robotnik's files. He saw the data on a built robot called the Pumpty and it looked promising. He grinned as he looked and saw Robotnik's research studying the Chaos Emeralds that he had in possession and thought "yes, this will do quite nicely... Look out Sonic and co; the Eggman Empire will show you that just because it was down doesn't mean that it's out!"
Aboard the new Tornado was Sonic and team as they were following a Chaos energy reading that showed up on the Kingdom's radar; "Should be there soon, not sure if this was Knuckles' Emerald being stolen or something else... You think that it could be something bad?" Tails asked afraid as he was piloting the Tornado but Antoine scoffed.
"Robotnik is behind bars; what else should we be afraid off?" Antoine asked dismissively but Sally shook her head while Sonic up on the wing was looking down at the passenger's seats to look at Sally.
"We should still be on alert as there are other threats out there; there was Naugus and don't forget the atrocities of Zachary and he is at large again..." Sally reminded Antoine who groaned at the reminder; then Sonic reached down and pulled the unexpected Sally up onto the wing with her. "WHAT? Hey! Sonic! You know I can get you into trouble with the guards for endangering the Princess like this!" Sally shouted as Sonic grinned at her as he stood up and put his arms around her waist to keep hold of her. Sally screamed but smiled at his embrace and thought that they view was exciting.
"Just wanted to enjoy this view with the most amazing girlfriend!" Sonic told her as Nicole from her place in the passenger's seats smiled as she looked up but Sonic had to held on tight as Tails warned them that they were there and so he was flying down. After getting off, they looked down around but saw that they were big generators around them.
"The readings are coming from here..." Tails spoke looking to the Miles Electric but then was Badniks surrounding them to their confusion and then burrowing up from the ground was a giant violet robot with a glass cage in the centre that caught the team except for Sonic inside. They screamed taken by surprise as Sonic yelled in shock but there was clapping as out from a portal was a smirking Starline.
"Starline! You set this up! This things gave off the energy reading!" Sonic demanded with a growl as Starline shook his head as if he was only figuring out the obvious.
"I have commandeered Dr Robotnik's lair for use continuing his goals and I now act as regent for his Eggman Empire as I shall conquer Mobius for him! As you can see one of his unused creations Pumpty was able to use to trap your friends! Let's see if you can free them while dealing with these!" Starline gloated sending the Badniks after Sonic while having the Pumpty robot fire missiles at him.
Sonic had to dodge the missiles while attack the Badniks while his friends had to look on through the cage. Tails then decided to look around for anything that they can use while scanning with the Miles Electric. He reached the panel in the middle of the robot and his eyes widened as he told everyone "everyone; the wiring is through here!"
Nicole jumped with joy while Sally got out her wrist blades to slice through the casing but Antoine scoffed saying "Robotnik was able to put Mobius on the edge with his machines and cunning. Do you really think that he who masterminded gaining all 7 Chaos Emeralds; would be stupid enough to put the major weakness of his prison robot inside the prison where the prisoners could get to..."
Antoine was silenced as they heard the robot malfunctioning with Sally and Nicole smirking at them and then Sonic launched himself as a Spin Ball at the robot's head destroying it and allowing everyone to escape as the robot collapsed in from himself. Starline was open mouthed as he retreated through a portal as the team dealt with the rest of the Badniks.
"Starline is back and he is leading Robotnik's Empire..." Tails groaned as Sonic looked at him assuringly and put a hand on his shoulder.
"We beat Robotnik together and we can handle his forces being run by his wannabe fanboy." Sonic told him as the group looked confident together.
Back at Robotnik's hideout; Starline was talking to Zachary as he was studying the Warp Topaz. "I can't comprehend this; how could the Doctor be so foolish in creating and building something with such an obvious flaw?" Starline asked holding his head in disbelief.
"That is foolish but do you know what else is foolish? Having all his files and schematics and not picking up on that design flaw before sending it out." retorted Zachary and Starline glared at him and they heard a small explosion and crash sounds.
Starline ran to a section of the lab where Robotnik was staring some yet to be tested powerful and advanced robots; he was open mouthed panic as just about everything was ruined and there was Bean & Bark looking nervous.
"I found some bomb devices and I wanted to test them out..." Bean spoke defensively.
"I found these machines and I didn't like the looks that they were giving me!" Bark explained and Starline was now ready to just go on his knees and cry.
Green Hill Zone; on a looping hill there was Sonic helping Sally get to the top of it as they sat and looked at the view together. "Definitely beats being up in the air while we are flying; plus the view is nicer." Sally smiled as they looked at the view together hand in hand.
"Yeah; my home is coming together again. I don't suppose that you want to show Nicole how pretty the look up here is?" Sonic asked teasingly but Sally grinned back at him.
"I could and it could give you some time to go back to the War Lands and spend time with Lupe your wife." Sally teased back as Sonic just giggled in response.
Pumpty comes from an episode of Sonic X; the early one where Knuckles is easily duped by Eggman and it shows that just because a characters acts serious and thinks that they are the sane one, doesn't mean that they are the smart one as well. Pointing out the weakness of the robot comes from the Abridged series Sonic the Abridgehog on Sonic X on YouTube by the Rollin Nolan.