Eggman sat at his table in his headquarters in Metropolis, working on the computers. He examined several files and then leaned back in his chair, frowning.
"I still don't understand it, it's still showing 99%. I'm glad it hasn't mysteriously dropped any further, but what caused this change in the first place."
The doctor tugged absentmindedly at his mustache.
"After several investigations, I can rule out a technical error. But what is it then? Hmm, it changed from 100% to 99% after the Resistance attacked Metropolis, but I don't understand the connection-"
Eggman was brought out from his musings when the door to the room opened and Infinite and Cinder entered, the Fall Maiden´s cybernetic body having been mostly repaired but was currently lacking additional pair of arms. Eggman quickly closed the files and programs on his computers and got up from his chair. Folding his arms behind his back, the doctor addressed his subordinates.
"The Death Egg has been destroyed." That was all he said. But the tone clearly demanded an explanation from both of them. The duo shared a nervous look. After the big escape pod landed and Cinder woke up, the two generals of the Eggman Empire were of course extremely angry about their defeat. But the anger had cooled over time and now there was just the fear of having to explain themselves to their boss.
Infinite decided to ease the tension a bit with some good news. "Me and Cinder were able to escape and successfully let the cargo go with us. Production of modified Grimm can therefore continue."
"That wouldn't even be a concern if you had successfully defended the Death Egg." Eggman's tone was suspiciously calm. Like an ocean before the storm.
"Everything went well at the beginning. The security systems kept most of the resistance at bay and we were able to successfully split up and surprise those who were able to infiltrate the space station," Cinder tried to explain. "But some were still able to find each other and work together to…"
Cinder gritted her teeth. She didn't want to think about how she had been defeated, how she stood triumphantly over her as if the brat were something better. Eggman waved the Cyborg Maiden off.
"Excuses, excuses."
His dismissal tone, despite her fear, set Cinder off.
"Excuse you. At least we did something. We were actually fighting! Where were you when the Resistance attacked your precious Death Egg?"
"A man of my genius is multi-faceted. That's why I need people like you to be the muscles of my operation. Doesn't mean you're the boss here, it would be good to remember that, miss."
Cinder's organic eye lit up and a bit of Maiden magic flickered from the iris. She opened her mouth, but Infinite gave a warning, "Cinder."
The Cyborg Maiden briefly looked at her companion. She snorted like an irritated bull, but forced herself to swallow her anger and pride and deactivated her magic. She took a step back and let Infinite take the lead, although she didn't stop shooting Eggman venomous looks.
The masked entity just sighed in relief internally. "Cinder is right in that our enemies managed to surprise us. They even escaped when I banished them into Null Space and-"
"Wait, WHAT?" The Doctor interrupted the reality bender. "You banished them into Null Space. The same Null Space Ruby Rose escaped from and there was shortly the green Chaos Emerald missing. You send now several people there?" Eggman let the last sentence ring trough the silence that followed after. Made his minions realize some very nasty implication for them and the empire. Finally, Eggman continued.
"Infinite," the Doctor began with a barely contained tremble in his voice. "Open Null Space now and bring the remaining Chaos Emeralds here."
"I-"
"DO IT!"
The entity did as he was told. He raised a hand and summoned a billowing cloud of purple mist. Infinite focused and the cloud wavered and pulsated as he tried to summon the Chaos Emeralds from the depths of Null Space. But nothing appeared.
"You fool." The tremble in Eggman´s voice had gotten stronger. "You utter buffoon! You tried to contain our enemies inside Null Space, the very same Null Space we locked away the Chaos Emeralds so the very same enemies would have no access to them but we would! What made you think that this was a good idea!"
Eggman glared at the masked entity from behind his glasses. Even Cinder looked genuinely baffled at her partner. She knew him to be more cunning than this, so, and she really hated to admit that, the Doctor made a valid point.
Infinite himself was just standing there, staring wide-eyed at the still present Null Space mist. The face beneath the mask gaping.
"I… they… i-it… it was…" The entity stammered, the usual calm and confidence gone. Cinder gave him a slight nudge to get Infinite out from his stupor. It worked and the masked being finally managed to get a coherent sentence out.
"They kept attacking and overwhelming us and… I just… wanted to defeat them. And suddenly there was this thought in my head and I was compelled to act on it-"
"Well… YOU ACTED WRONG!" Eggman yelled, his face red, and then pulled out a remote from a pocket of his coat. Infinite and Cinder froze up and then tried to stop him, but the Doctor already pushed the red button. The duo collapsed on to the ground in pain as the implants inside of them gave them shocks that made Cinder´s childhood time look like nothing. Eggman kept them like this for a while, until his thumb left the button.
"Leave," he sneered. "I need some time to think in how to salvage this situation and I don't need your imbeciles´ presence dragging my intellect down to you level."
Groaning, the two addressed barely managed to get back on their feet. They had to support each other to leave the room, but not before Cinder gave Eggman one last look filled with nothing but hatred. Then the Cyborg Maiden and reality manipulator disappeared.
Eggman put the remote away and went to one of the statues decorating his room, this one depicting the Death Egg. One of his most glorious creations, especially this time. And yet again it was…
His face still red, the Doctor grabbed it and threw it on to the ground with a yell, where it shattered. Then he stomped toward the wide window that functioned as the room´s back wall and stared trough it. The view over his city, his empire, his rule, it gave him… only showed him what he could lose now because of the stubbornness of his enemies and the foolishness of his subordinates. Eggman started pounding and smashing his fists against the thick glass, growling incoherent words of anger during his meltdown. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he calmed down. Breathing heavily, Eggman lowered his fists. They throbbed painfully but were still in a better condition than the glass that was now full with cracks. The mad scientist walked to his desk and pushed a button, he told Orbot and Cubot to come to his room and clean up the mess of the destroyed statue. The robots appeared quickly, hearing from the tone of their boss´ voice that he was in a really bad mood. While the mechanical duo cleaned up, the Doctor went back to the window and looked between all the cracks outside.
"You know what´s hard about being the smartest person in the world?" he addressed his minions, his voice having returned to a deceptive calm. Orbot and Cubot looked at one another but didn't stop their cleaning activities. The yellow one asked/answered: "Uh… everyone else seems stupid?"
"Stupid, yes! Way to go, Cubot! You got it in one. If I weren't so mad I would honestly be impressed by you actually being smart for once. Yes, I´m surrounded by idiots!"
"Wow, I would feel insulted and say it out loud if I were lacking self-awareness," Cubot quietly told his red counter part.
"Same here, but replace `awareness´ with `preservation´."
"What are you two mumbling about?! Keep working!"
"We are!" Cubot said but fastened his pace.
"We were just saying how right you are!" Orbot added for good measure.
"Hrm, you better." Eggman thought about the current situation. "Tell me: Do Infinite and Cinder suspect anything about the true plan?"
"Nope, nothing at all."
"Indeed. And as for the construction for the project goes, they are going smoothly. In fact, they are done at 97,8%. Wait, let me update that to 97,9%."
"At least something goes right," the mad doctor grumbled, but he was somewhat at ease at hearing that. Still, with your arch-nemesis being The Fastest Thing Alive, things couldn't be done quickly enough. Especially if he and his allies had now access to all seven Chaos Emeralds. They could come and attack him any moment now.
Then I have to make sure that they attack under my conditions. Eggman nodded slightly. Yes, that could work. If I plan it all right, I could buy enough time for everything to fall into place. Maybe even…
His mind was working overdrive as he was thinking trough all the different variables and possibilities. How he could turn Infinite´s failure into the key for his victory. And with mentally examining the assets and resources still in his possession, the mad Doctor soon came up with something that could work just fine.
Oh Sonic, I bet you and your little friends are currently celebrating your victory. Well, enjoy it as much as you can because this will be the last time you ever experience your precious freedom. The vision of the Eggman Empire will remain true and nobody will stand in my way. Not Sonic, not Tails, not Ruby or anyone else! And certainly not the stupidity of my own `allies´.
Three days later…
Eggman wasn't wrong about the Resistance experiencing levity in their atmosphere.
The people had been tense when their fleet had returned from space with losses and the absence of Team Dark, Team Sonic and Silver. Especially Amy and Knuckles had been worried. But that had only made everyone´s awe and excitement only higher when the before mentioned people returned not only with news about the Death Egg being destroyed, but also all seven Chaos Emeralds in their possession. People had been celebrating.
Not only did they achieved a mayor victory, the final victory against the Eggman Empire may very well be in close reach. Of course, people still needed time to recover and relax from the stress of the last mission. Or have time to mourn for those that didn't come back from space. There was, of course, also time needed to properly plan the next steps. At least they did until…
Amy hurried trough the floors of the Resistance Headquarters. It took longer than she liked to find the entrance to the armory. She entered the code and waited impatiently for the steel bulkhead to open. Then she hurried through the armory, towards Tails' workshop. There were the people the pink hedgehog girl was looking for: Tails, Ruby and Shadow.
The fox worked alone, fiddling with several mechanical components and one of the recovered Chaos Emeralds. He constantly took notes and compared them with some older ones.
Ruby and Shadow were hunched over a table discussing some blueprints. The human girl was really excited and even the Ultimate Lifeform showed great enthusiasms… in his usual stoic way.
"If we install the mechanism several times on these steals, then in theory it could work, but you have to remember... Shadow?"
The silver eyed girl paused in her explanation when she noticed that the black hedgehog had turned to look at Amy.
"We have a visitor," he announced. Ruby also turned around and Tails stopped what he was doing. The trio looked at the newcomer.
"So this is where you're holed up. What are you all doing here?"
"Since we've been discussing how best to use the Chaos Emeralds for the last few days, this may cause problems with Omega. He's still powered by the green one. I've been working on my version of a Chaos Cartridge as a backup power source for him " replied Tails.
Ruby's answer to Amy's question was: "Me and Shadow were working on a small weapons project at his suggestion. We thought it would be a nice take our minds off from some of the hurdles we had encountered during the Death Egg mission."
Amy´s face took on a gloomy expression when she realized that her news would put an end to the fun time the two people in black and red coloration may had. Shadow took notice of this and said: "I assume you bring in some bad news."
"Unfortunately, yes. I and a few others tried to contact you, but you seemed to be very distracted." Amy nodded to the Miles-Electric and Ruby's Scroll, which lay deactivated on a table. The tinker duo rubbed the backs of their heads in embarrassment, and even Shadow looked a little sheepish that he hadn't remembered to have a communication device with him. Nevertheless, the trio went with Amy. They followed her to the command center.
There, gathered around the table in the middle, were Sonic, Knuckles, Rouge, Omega and Silver. There were also several humans and mobians present, most of them former workers from G.U.N.
"Amy, good that you found our missing people. Some were starting to get restless," said Knuckles.
"What's the problem?" Shadow got straight to the point as he and the others joined the gathering at the table.
"We had been discussing some strategies when we received news from Team Chaotix. While they were liberating a city from Eggman's grasp, they found some interesting things inside the servers there. After they were successful in their mission, they and the troops under their command decided to check them out and found something interesting. After making sure there weren't any sort of viruses or malware or anything else hidden inside its code, they then copied the Data and sent it to us. It... well, you'd better watch it yourself. Omega?"
At Knuckles' request, the machine logged into the base's system and brought up the video. At first only static appeared on the large screen in the room. It then cleared itself up and Team Chaotix´s discovery was played out.
The screen was displaying what appeared to be blueprints for…
"Is that the Phantom Ruby Reactor?" asked Silver.
"Are they seriously just gonna build another one after we barely managed to destroy the previous reactor?" complained Ruby, who, like pretty much everyone else, wasn't a big fan of the idea that their big progress could be undone by their enemies in a short amount of time. And there was another issues she addressed. "How would that even be possible with us having all seven Chaos Emeralds and a reactor requiring one?"
"Look more closely," said Tails. He pointed at certain parts of the presented data. "Instead of a Chaos Emerald, this design contains several modified Chaos Cartridges. This is a blueprint for a replacement reactor. It will most likely not be as powerful as the original but it could still spell for us trouble if Infinite becomes a mayor threat again."
"And that´s why we´re here: To properly discuss this situation." Knuckles made sure that more information appeared on the screen. "As you can see, there is precise data about the design. What and how many materials are needed, the exact location to transport said materials, etc. Tails, you should have received this information on your Miles-Electric."
Said fox pulled out his gadget and went trough everything that was send to him. "I see… yes, just like I said, this is concerning news. Apparently the construction is happening at a place called Mortar Canyon. It seemed to have not even happen yet, this Data is very new and was recently send to the… whatever the city was where the Chaotix were send."
"According to their reports, it is mainly used for harvesting metal and other resources from the ground, so it makes sense that these blueprints where send there."
"Well, lucky thing they went trough the computer rooms of this place, otherwise we wouldn't be aware of Eggman´s plan," someone from the crowd.
"Was it really luck?" questioned Shadow, after he had slightly cringed when hearing the word `computer room´ in association with Team Chaotix. "Some of this feels a little too convenient. What if this is a trap?"
Knuckles nodded at Shadow. "That's a possibility that other people here are also concerned about."
"However, we cant turn a blind eye to this or keep stalling for counter measures," voiced Sonic his opinion. "I know Eggman the longest and the guys can get crazy fast when he REALLY wants to build something. One day there are hills and free nature and the next day there is an entire factory there. If he is building a new reactor, and we want to do something against it, then we should do if soon."
Several people murmured in agreement.
"You're right, of course, Sonic. But we can't rush anything." Shadow crossed his arms. "You've known Eggman the longest out of everyone, but the same goes the other way around. He could be counting on you to rush things."
Many people here also agreed. Some discussions began to arise, but Knuckles quickly silenced it.
"Everyone calm down. It's no use talking over one another and not being able to agree."
Amy added, "Both sides have a point. The important thing is to find the right medium between the two. Tails, do you have an idea?"
The young genius raised his hand in a gesture to show that he needed a moment. He thought about everything that had been said and analyzed the Data on the Mile-Electric bit by bit. Finally, he answered.
"In this case, we have to collect information about whether resources are actually being transported from several regions that are still under Eggman's influence to Mortar Canyon. And of course, study said place itself. Observe it undercover and see if any construction is really taking place there. But it has to be happen fast. Sonic is right when he say how quick Eggman is in building his stuff."
"That sounds reasonable. And if the whole thing turns out to be a trap or contains any other kind of surprises, we can use the Chaos Emeralds. Any objections?"
After this statement from Knuckles, there was some discussion, but in the end everyone agreed that this was the course of action. The echidna then stated, "Good, then we have to organize several scouting troops, as well as hacker groups for digital information. Of course, we still have to train properly."
Groans followed the last sentence, but no one objected. The Resistance would be very busy in the coming days, but whatever the future held, they needed to stay in top shape for it. Knuckles looked at Ruby and Tails.
"If you have any repairs or projects to carry out on our weapons, let us know and I will give you the necessary crew to carry them out as quickly and effectively as possible."
The duo nodded.
"We´re currently busy but can handle it on our own. We will tell you if we have broader projects in mind."
"Good. Amy, you and I will go trough our profiles and look who is best fitted for the hacking and scouting missions."
"We can help with that," said Rouge and gestured to herself and other workers from G.U.N.
"I can start some training exercise if you want, Knux," Sonic offered.
"I SHALL ASSIST WITH THAT. THE FEEBLE MEAT BAG BODIES OF OUR TROOPS SHALL BE TOUGHENED UP BY THIS UNIT." Omega raised a fist at his statement and his eyes flared up, clearly excited by what he has planned for these poor soldiers in training.
Sonic leaned toward Knuckles and whispered to him: "I can also make sure Omega doesn't kill anyone on accident… or on purpose."
"Good," whispered Knuckles back before he added with a louder voice, "Excellent! That all sounds perfect. Let's not wait any longer!"
The Resistance started their next move against the Eggman Empire, unaware of how big of a surprise was awaiting them.
So yeah, definitely a shorter chapter in comparison to the previous one. But I hope it sets the stage and mood perfectly for this is the start of the final battle arc. Yes, next chapter we are going to Mortar Canyon were we will see what plan Eggman is hatching against the Resistance.
To Guest: He is older and stronger, training in the Resistance headquarters also build endurance. There are also platforms he can rest on.
So, apparently one can not add security features to something.
To Guest: I hope this chapter answered your question. Why Infinite had a brainfart and send his enemies to Null Space will be explained later on.
Hm, not sure what they could be called. Maybe Team Silver/Silvery, because they all have something silver/metal colored on them?
To SuperSaiyanFever: Infinite: But it´s just so effective and fun *Insert psychotic laughter here*.
To quirky2023: Both Infinite and Neo know how to play mind games with other people. Luckily, since Ruby has been getting steady support from the Sonic cast and learned to open up and be more thoughtful about herself, she managed not to succumb to despair in this scenario.
To Monster King: I will, especially with the story being close to its end.