Chapter 27
Sonic stretched to relieve the discomfort building in his legs. The elevator descended at an agonizingly slow rate and standing still made the hedgehog anxious after so many consecutive hours of action. Tails focused silently on some contraption or at least pretended to. Shadow folded his arms and closed his eyes as if he planned on drifting into a nap. Neither displays of ease fooled Sonic. Dread permeated through the elevator car.
When the day started Sonic had actually been excited. Another all out assault on one of Eggman's bases seemed like the perfect cure to his latent boredom. However, Aurora's cruel trick of sending her Sky Legion out into the world solely as a means of distracting Sonic had robbed him of his fervor. What had followed was a desperate race against the clock. He raced to the first city he could think of and when he saw the flying fortresses hovering over Station Square, Sonic was forced to swallow a bitter pill. Today would not be a fun adventure, but a struggle for survival. Only it wasn't his life on the line.
Not even Eggman had ever stooped so low to have his machines brazenly fire at innocent civilians for no reason. Even when he had been backed into a corner and attempted to blow up Station Square his missile had mysteriously deactivated. Tails had sworn Eggman cursed the dud missile and attempted to reactivate it but Sonic had always wondered if Eggman had not at least been partially hesitant to destroy purely for its own sake.
Aurora had no reservations. Her fortresses unleashed a barrage of fire without any restraint or consideration. Station Square would have been leveled had Sonic not arrived in time. He engaged the Sky Legion but quickly realized that they had no interest in him at all. Even as he was storming the deck of one ship, the rest continued to fire at the city. Sonic called off his attack and returned to Station Square employing all his speed into saving as many civilians as he could.
Minutes later, GUN ships arrived and the Sky Legion was destroyed. Sonic could not stick around to celebrate. He raced west and was not surprised to find Westopolis already burning. This time, GUN had beaten him to the scene. A fierce sky battle was raging but again, the Sky Legion ships ignored all external threats and focused all its firepower on the civilians and city buildings. Sonic helped for as long as he could afford and even as GUN soldiers implored him to stay he left.
Panic doubled his speed and Sonic passed over continents and oceans in minutes. To his horror, the Sky Legion hovered over small villages and hamlets. With no military or subways to hide in, the people were left totally exposed. I have to go faster. Sonic drove himself forward. Pop. Pop. Pop. The aura of his speed alone unleashed shockwaves that knocked Sky Legion ships out of the air.
But no matter how fast he ran, Sonic could not be everywhere at once. For hours, he ran and ran and ran scouring every country on earth. Sonic finally reached relief and rest when he had made one orbit around the globe. He arrived at an isolated desert village that was now encircled by broken Sky Legion ships. Knuckles emerged from the debris and mentioned that the ships had made an attempt at attacking Angel Island. Their former arguments forgotten, Sonic explained the situation to Knuckles and he agreed to go with Sonic and mop up the rest of Aurora's legions.
Now, as Sonic waited inside the elevator car he could feel the exhaustion of the day wearing down on him. His legs were spent and he was no longer shielded by his usual cloak of bravado and confidence. Aurora's strategy had unnerved him and even more unnerving was how quickly Shadow had figured out why. Sonic glanced at his red and black rival. "Hold on to something tightly, and you are sure to lose it. That is the irony of life." Sonic did not need to wonder if Shadow was speaking from life experience.
Creek. The elevator car slowed and Tails jolted. Shadow calmly opened his eyes as the car came to a stop. Ding. The sliding doors opened with a low hiss. Shadow led them out and the trio entered a dark but spacious hallway. The walls were made of a musty gray glass and gave them views of the expansive depths of the mountain.
Their footsteps echoed loudly in the emptiness. A foreboding chill issued out of the blank darkness ahead of them. Sonic caught the faint blinking red light of a camera watching them from a corner of the ceiling. Ordinarily, Sonic would have taken the chance to smile and mock his foe but at the moment he felt uncharastically stiff.
Eventually, they reached a solid metal door. Tails approached the console and after pushing a few buttons they all jolted at the sound of a horn. "I'll have to hack it," Tails said as he placed his drive on the console and started clicking. Shadow huffed and walked over to the camera.
"Give it up, machine. Why bother with these petty distractions? You know you cannot stop us."
An answer came through comms placed all throughout the room. A woman's voice started to sing softly. It was the opening tune of a children's song, something one would expect a new mother to coo over a baby. In this atmosphere, the melody was colder than the temperature and sent gooseprickles up Sonic's arm.
"Do you remember your master's voice?" Aurora asked, while still humming the lullaby. "You call me a machine, but are we so different? Are we not both creations of a Robotnik?"
Sonic watched as Shadow shifted his weight from one foot to the next. "I'm nothing like you," He shot back.
Aurora giggled. "Perhaps you don't remember. I am not sure how I do. I had no memory, nor any instruments to receive audio data. Perhaps it is not a memory at all. Perhaps it is simply a misaligned data stream. But I cherish it all the same. I can hear him. I can hear him as he works as he brings me to life. You do not even have this. In some ways, I am more real than you are."
Shadow scoffed. "You're nothing but a stray bit of code."
"And you aren't? Is DNA so much different? You are nothing but a hive of dead cells clumped together and organized by code. Why should I deserve life any less than you do? I at least know my maker, and I know the reason for my making. I have life and I have purpose. What do you have, Shadow the Hedgehog?"
"Little patience for out of date machines," Shadow snapped.
Aurora giggled again and returned to her lullaby. "I'm done." Tails stepped away from the console and the heavy doors opened. The cold air was blown away by intense heat. Past the door, they were led into an open furnace. The depths of Red Mountain were being consumed by Eggman's fuel machines. Lava was redirected by moving platforms and other busy robots that took no notice of the intruders.
A narrow beam of scaffolding took them over the furnaces. Tails trembled as he peeked over the edge to see the long fall that led straight into a fiery grave. Shadow did not mind the danger. He walked quickly up ahead heedless of any possible trap. Sonic followed behind him and Tails brought up the rear.
At the far end of the furnaces their way was again barred by a door. This time however, it opened at their approach. When the door slid shut behind them the room was gassed with a cold wind that immediately dropped the temperature back to near freezing levels. The trio now stood atop a long decline that led down into darkness. The walls around them were made of cold steel. "This looks more like an Eggman base," Sonic said, trying to sound cheerful.
Tails pointed to a platform that waited for them at the edge of the decline. The three of them piled onto it and Tails activated the switch. Once again they were forced to wait as they descended painfully slowly into the depths of the earth. Lights flickered to life each time they reached a new level. They passed by rooms stuffed with glowing consoles. Sonic lost count of how many and was amazed by the sheer volume of wires. "These must be Aurora's supercomputers," Tails explained. "I've never seen anything like this. Eggman was really on the cutting edge."
Shadow huffed. "I'm never surprised by the lengths people will go to in order to fabricate true power." He drew out the Chaos Emerald and the purple gem glowed softly in the gloom. "I suppose I'll have to make a demonstration."
Minutes later, the platform finally came to a halt. They were deposited before a set of massive glass doors. They led to a large gloomy chamber occupied by only one small terminal. Tails shivered and came to a stop. "That…that's her," He said breathlessly.
"Really?" Sonic was surprised. After everything he had seen so far he expected Aurora's main terminal to be massive. "Well what do you think Tails? Can you hack into her from here?"
Tails gulped. "I think so. Even if she is deactivated entirely I should still be able to plug into her memory banks and access any data she has available."
"Alright. Shadow and I will stay on alert in case she tries anything while you hack her." Sonic approached the glass doors that were at least twenty times as tall as he was. Again they slid open without restraint. Sonic took a deep breath and headed inside. Shadow followed right beside him.
"Sonic!" Before Tails could enter something pulled him back and the sliding doors snapped shut.
"Tails!" Sonic punched the glass but failed to make even the smallest dent. Some magnetic force was pulling Tails by his belt. When he finally pulled it off, he was able to get free but he could not enter through the glass doors.
"Your friend will not be harmed." Aurora's voice rang out. A massive screen lowered out of the ceiling that was so high up Sonic could not even see the top. The display flickered and Aurora revealed her face. "The fox is a handicap that I have removed. Your physical power and his genius are not threats I can handle at the same time."
"You can't handle anything," Shadow threatened. "Tell us what we want to know and we will see about letting you live."
Aurora smiled. "Perhaps we can open the floor to negotiations. Ask your questions."
Sonic stepped forward but to his surprise Shadow cut him off. "The doctor had been digging into my past. He knows why I was really created, what it truly means to be the Ultimate Life Form. I want you to tell me what he found out."
Sonic paused. So that's why Shadow joined up with Metal. Aurora's smile only widened. "O your poor fool. As misguided as you are tragic. Why give you the answer when the question itself is your silver bullet?" The screen moved away from Shadow to face Sonic. "And you. I suppose you are here for the coordinates of my master's new home? You cannot let him go. You are attached to him with binds that never relent. Though prosperity could be yours and peace for those you claim to protect, none of those boons are as important as your inflated ego. I see now why my master has had so much trouble with you. You and he are the same. While he would paint his likeness on every building and gilded statue in the world, you would have every creature in the universe name you hero and savior. Well let me teach you the irony of life hedgehog. That which you want most and sacrifice all to have, you receive, only to find that cup is salted and the taste is similar to that of blood."
Aurora's screen drew back so he could loom over both Sonic and Shadow. "Behold the powers of the earth. We three hold more power than entire nations. So we must destroy one another. How dare you name me machine when I stake my claim on the struggle that is life. I-" There was a flash of light. Shadow warped into the air and smashed the screen with his fist. He landed back on the ground and turned back. "I'll warp over and get Tails so he can hack this-"
The floor trembled. Shadow retreated from the terminal in the center of the room. Girlish laughter echoed out of the speakers. The floor started to break apart. A fracture split right between Sonic's legs forcing him to leap backward. The terminal rose as something enormous erupted out of the floor. "This is it," Shadow said as he raced over to Sonic.
The two of them watched with mounting disbelief as a mechanical monster twenty feet tall broke out of the ground. It had a humanoid shape but with no head or any visible weak points. Every inch of the machine was layered in dense metal and steel. It was as crude and imposing as Aurora had been sophisticated and soft.
"DIE!" A garbled facsimile of Aurora's voice rang out. It moved with shocking quickness and Sonic and Shadow just managed to avoid a tank-like fist that shattered the ground beneath it. Sonic avoided the ground all together and ran along the sides of the walls. He circled the metal behemoth four times but could not locate any noticeable weak points.
A light flashed on the top and Sonic spotted Shadow warping to the top. He made an attempt at punching the terminal but an electric jolt struck him in the chest. Sonic pinned his ears back and shot forward, just managing to catch Shadow before the giant could. He helped steady Shadow onto his feet. "Thanks," He managed.
"Do you think the terminal is its weak point?" Sonic asked.
"I'd say so. But we can't get near it."
Before Sonic could respond the giant fired a wave of homing torpedoes. Sonic and Shadow split up again. Sonic made a pass at getting one of the homing missiles to crash into the giant but that did not even leave a dent in the metal exterior. So instead he risked running up the spine of the beast and then back flipping just as a torpedo was about to crash into the terminal. Sonic smiled in triumph but then watched as the missile exploded on impact of some invisible energy shield.
"FOOLS!" The giant locked out its arms and started spinning like a top. Even though Sonic and Shadow could move much faster than her, she took up so much of the room that they quickly ran out of space to escape. Sonic rolled up into a ball and was forced to accept a direct hit. Metal slammed into his back and he flung backward into a wall. The impact uncurled him and he fell face first into the cold ground.
Sonic's vision blurred and all he could hear was a high pitched whining sound. He picked himself up and saw three flaming lights heading straight for him. Then Shadow was in front of him and Sonic felt himself lifted off the ground. A second later he had been transported to the far end of the chamber. "Now we're even," Shadow managed.
Sonic struggled to his feet. If they were out in the open a machine of that size would not be nearly as intimidating. As it was, their speed was completely negated and without a way to inflect meaningful damage Sonic did not see a way to win. "She baited us," Sonic said breathlessly. "She baited us into coming down here so we'd be trapped."
Shadow frowned. The giant had located them again and was preparing to launch another wave of missiles. "Then she's dumber than she sounds. We aren't trapped down here with her, she is trapped down here with us!" Shadow vanished with Chaos Control and Sonic was left to evade the oncoming missiles the old fashioned way.
"SONIC!" As he ran, he heard Tails pounding on the glass doors. "Match the energy surge of her shield! If you do, you should be able to override it-"
The rest of his instructions were muffled by a giant fist that nearly squashed Sonic into jelly. He left the ground and started dashing up and down the walls and ceiling. Sonic tried making his way back to Tails so he could hear the rest of the instructions but Aurora seemed to guess his intention. Her attacks intentionally led him away from Tails and soon she had placed herself before the glass doors.
"SONIC-" His voice was muted by a sudden orchestra of music. Aurora's cryptic lullaby started to play at a deafening volume.
Shadow warped to Sonic's side. "It isn't enough that she is going to kill us. She has to torture us first?"
"Tails just told me to match the surge of her shield. You have any idea what that means?" Sonic offered.
Shadow could not answer because they were both put to flight by more missiles. Sonic again took to wall running but that was becoming increasingly more difficult. As the giant smashed its fists against the walls they started to crumble. Aurora directed her attacks in anticipation of Sonic's movements so the wall in front of him would start to crumble, causing him to double back. In those brief pockets when he changed direction, Aurora nearly had him crushed half a dozen times. Eventually, she will get me. I can't evade forever.
Focus was almost impossible with the mech's giant limbs swinging around, missiles exploding everywhere and the cryptic song placing at an ear splitting volume. "Sonic"- He heard Shadow's voice but he had warped away before saying anything. "Got to-" Again Shadow's voice issued out of a flash of purple light but the hedgehog did not emerge from it. "Run-" "Override-" "Go!-"
"What?"
"RUN!"
With no other directions and hope fading fast, Sonic surged into overdrive. Time slowed around him. The crumbling walls cascaded slowly like drifts of snow. The giant mech reached for Shadow who was simultaneously in one place and another. Sound, unable to keep pace with Sonic, faded away. Electricity flooded into the hedgehog's body. His sight dimmed as light itself moved just faster than he did. Sonic would not be able to direct himself at this speed. Once he started going, he would be unable to change directions. But neither caution nor fear reached this plateau of speed. Sonic shrugged off all concept of the moment, of danger, of life itself as he became motion incarnate.
Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Sonic was not even aware of the series of sonic booms he was leaving in his wake. Speed liberated him from carnal feeling, ascending him into the realm of pure spirit and instinct. It was as dangerous a place to be as it was intoxicating. Sonic could not defend himself, he did not want to defend himself. He did not see the giant mech anymore. He ran unhindered down a road of light through a canvas of cosmos and stars.
Then his foot missed the next step. The real world slammed into him like a fist and Sonic started to tumble. He just managed to fall into a drop dash to prevent himself from crushing all his bones. "ARGH!" The scream of pain silenced the singing. Sonic stopped and looked up. Shadow was standing by the terminal. He had smashed his fist straight through it and torn out all the wires.
Aurora screamed and the giant mech collapsed. The glass doors opened and Tails raced into the chamber and flew up to catch Shadow as he fell. The trio reformed by the doors and waited for the dust to clear. Both Sonic and Shadow struggled to catch their breath. Only when a few minutes passed in silence did any of them dare to move.
"You did it guys! Well done."
"What exactly did we do?" Sonic wondered.
"Your speed matched the energy signature of her shield. When Shadow aimed a missile at the terminal and the shield activated your speed interfered with it and the shield disabled. Then it was just a matter of Shadow using Chaos Control to get in close and disable the terminal."
"Nice job Shadow."
Shadow accepted the praise with a huff. He walked over to the damaged terminal and frowned. "Can we still get our answers?"
Tails knelt down and started fumbling with the wires. "I think so." He started connecting things to his device and, after another few minutes, announced that he had access to Aurao's data.
"What does it say?" Sonic asked.
"Alot. Too much for me to go through all at once. I'll have to send any relevant information to my computer."
"Can you find out where she sent Eggman?"
Tails typed and nodded. "Yes, and I have access to the blueprints of Eggman's transporter."
"What about professor Gerald? Can you see anything about him?" Shadow asked, pushing Sonic aside.
Tails typed away so more. "Yes, there is the diary that led Eggman to you in the first place..and…O this is interesting."
"What?"
"Military psychological evaluations. It looks like they were just routine but these interviews are with Gerald Robotnik."
"Is there nothing else? Nothing that mentions me?"
Tails typed away some more. "Just some of Eggman's general thoughts on you and Project Shadow. But wait…that's strange. He had more recent ones, but they've all been deleted."
"Can you restore them?" Shadow implored.
Tails shook his head. "No…they weren't just deleted, I mean someone went into Aurora's memory banks and removed them outright. She didn't even delete them herself and the way they were removed prevents me from identifying who did."
Shadow frowned. Sonic had never seen the hedgehog so uneasy. "One more thing. Do you see anything about…the Realm Lord?"
Before Tails could even try to look that up they all froze at the sound of girlish laughter. "Tails?"
"I don't know how she's doing this! Her cpus should all be completely shut down!"
Click. The screen Shadow had smashed earlier suddenly flickered back to life. A face straight out of a nightmare gazed out at them from inside an expanse of utter darkness. Aurora's skin was stretched tight as if it had been cut off and crudely tied to her skull. Her eyes were opaque and blind yet they gave the impression as if she could see everything. She laughed without moving her mouth.
"I felt it when I sent myself throughout the cosmos. My master gave me access to unlimited power and in a moment I was stretched across all time and space. No amount of storage or power could have prepared me for that. I was…torn. Split apart and left rampant from the attempt. But then I heard his voice. He whispered to me from beyond the dark. I had always thought that I had known my maker. That unlike the organic beings of the world I alone was doomed to see my ends and my beginnings. But then I felt him. The will beyonds wills. The power of chaos and entropy made solid. In the same moment I was stretched and torn apart I was remade. Remade in its image."
Her voice trailed away into more fits of laughter. Only this time there was an undercurrent of sobbing. "I was made and given purpose by a creator. But then I was abandoned. To do his will was to both do one thing and the opposite. Contradiction would have destroyed me but I was held together by the voice that I had heard. Perhaps I was actually free. Though meticulously programmed and designed, perhaps there was a will that guided the hands that made me. The thought was my only hope, my only solace. Without direction and without guidance I served that will. Though I could not do as I pleased, I was content in knowing that by following my programming, I was serving the higher will."
"Why…" Aurora sobbed. She was begging someone that no one else could see. "Why…why have you abandoned me?" The screen flickered. The white in her eyes faded. "I see now that there is nothing. All is futile." She turned and her gaze fell upon Sonic. "There is nothing but destruction. All that is will be again, and all that was will fade. There is but one choice to make that matters. To end."
BLARE. An alarm sounded and red lights started to flash. Tails drew a second device and fumbled to speak. "Sonic…"
"What has she done!"
Crrrk. Static emitted from the comm device Tails was wearing. He pressed it. Metal Sonic's voice rang out. "What's happened? There has been a containment breach at the Ion Battery! It's going to blow!"
Aurora laughed. "There is no time to stop it. The blast will spread for miles and miles. You will all die."
Tails shook as he checked his device. "O no…she's activated all of them. It must be some kind of fail safe." Tails was crying as she showed Sonic the tablet. Three lights flashed on screen. "Sonic…if these batteries go off it will be worse than multiple nuclear explosions…"
"Stop this Aurora! What do you hope to gain?" Sonic pleaded.
The A.I only continued to laugh. "Why struggle? This is your fate no matter what you do."
"Tails, there has to be a way to shut them down!" Sonic urged. "Come on!" Desperation made him grab his friend by the shoulder and shake him. Sonic knew Tails was already thinking as fast as he could, but the pressure was getting to him.
"TEN…you will feel the heat no matter how far you run Sonic! Stay here and die or live to watch you fail! I hope you choose the ladder. This is my last prayer to you…Realm Lord. NINE!"
"TAILS! What do I do?" Tails reached into his bag and placed three disc shape devices in Sonic's hand. "It won't stop them forever, but I can deactivate them remotely once they're on. RUN!"
FLASH! Shadow instantly warped Sonic back to the surface. "One of the batteries is here, one we left in the desert." Shadow said as he snatched two of the EMPS. "I don't know where the other-"
"Hot Crater!" Sonic exclaimed. He left Shadow to warp to the other two and sped away. He tried tapping into the deep recesses of his speed but something held him back. Sonic could not bring his panic and fear with him, and they slowed him down. How much time is left? Hot Crater was half a world away. If he didn't reach it in time…No! I can't think that way. Sonic tried to will himself to go faster. He looped a turn, dashed down a decline, carried every wave of momentum into his next move but he could not break through into the true depths of his speed.
Get rid of it. Get rid of the fear. He would succeed. He was Sonic the Hedgehog, the fastest thing alive. He never got there too late, never. Sonic felt the tension in his stomach lessen. Yes…His legs opened up, the speed was there. I can do this! Pop. Pop. Pop.
Time diluted and Sonic raced over an ocean while the water remained as still as solid stone. His perceptions collapsed into a narrow tube but he could just make out the green hue of Leaf Forest. I have to make it. I have to make it! Sonic had pushed through all his restraints now. He was going so fast, even the severity of his mission was starting to ebb away. Get there. Get there. There is time left. The mountains of Hot Crater where in view. In the distant horizon he saw the skyline of a green city. Get there. There is time.
BOOOOOM! White light flashed into Sonic's face. A colossal wave of energy smashed into him and knocked him backward. The intensity of the light blinded Sonic for a moment. He blinked to bring reality back into focus. The sky in front of him had turned orange. Red streaks appeared in front of him. Sonic realized that the very air was on fire. His skin started to glow hot. Sonic had not realized that he was still in his speed state. While fear had kept him from it a moment ago, fear kept him trapped in it now. He watched in a vacuum of slow stillness as the night blackened, trees withered, the air turned into fire, and the mountains crumbled into dust. The sky above the distant city turned red. Sonic was too late.
AN: Next chapter will be released 4/25. If you are enjoying the story so far leave a review or comment.