Disclaimer: All non-original characters are property of SEGA, DiC and/or their respective creators.
Inescapable Past, Act 11: Reunions
"So, let me get this straight," said Espio. "You've been hiding down here from GUN since they took Metropolis. You're on their wanted list because you were an engineer for Robotnik, but only because you were abducted by the badniks who burnt down your village, which just so happened to be the same village Amy's from."
Sitting cross-legged on the opposite side of a plush yellow rug in the disused bunker below the Emerald Hill Zone, Tekno tilted her head. "You're a good listener, huh."
"It's a living," said the chameleon, consuming another mouthful of ramen from the plastic bowl in his lap.
Sitting beside the canary, Amy narrowed her eyes at Espio. "What do you mean she 'just so happens' to be from my village'?"
"It doesn't strike you as a little convenient that you climb down a hole in the ground and suddenly find a friend you thought you'd lost five years ago?"
"Think what you want," said Tekno coolly. "It's the truth."
Espio bounced his eyebrows at the riposte.
"If I may ask, why is it you were taken when it appears so many others, well, weren't?"
Amy looked at him openmouthed. "How can you ask-"
"It's okay," said the canary, placing a hand on the pink hedgehog's shoulder. "My daddy was kind of famous in Green Glades. He used to build Extreme Gears in his workshop. After those idiots blew it up, I guess they hoped he might have taught me a thing or two."
"Had he?"
"Mommy used to say I played with wrenches instead of rattles when I was a baby."
Espio smiled grimly. "What did Robotnik make you work on?"
"Airships, mostly. He wanted to try and build a giant Aero engines. Y'know, like the Rogues ha-"
"Fair enough," the chameleon cut in. "How exactly did you make it out of Metropolis after GUN-"
"Ugh," Amy groaned. "How many more questions are you going to ask?"
"It's called diligence, kiddo. Do honestly think Mr Sleepy Hog over there" – he pointed at Shadow, who was passed out on the inflatable orange couch – "wouldn't be asking the same questions, seeing as Rouge sent us here?"
The pink hedgehog rolled her eyes.
"Wait, you know Rouge?" Tekno piped up.
"Regrettably," replied Espio. "Do you?"
"She saved my life." said the canary flatly.
"Did she really?" he said, looking searchingly at the misty blue eye not obscured by Tekno's green feathery bangs.
"What now?" Amy grumbled, glaring at the detective. "Pictures or it didn't happen?"
"Pictures would help," he quipped.
"Sorry, we were both a little busy dodging shells to take selfies," said Tekno. She drew back the bangs veiling the left side of her face, revealing a patch of featherless burnt flesh.
Amy gasped and looked away.
Espio held the canary's misty-blue gaze and raised his hands. "My apologies."
"Accepted," said Tekno, letting her bangs fall back into place.
All of the sudden, the chameleon's golden eyes started darting between their three empty plastic bowls and the unlit camping stove on the far side of the bunker.
"I don't suppose you'd mind if I see what food you have down here?"
The canary blinked, looking to Amy. "Is he serious?"
"Our friend up there's a picky eater," said Espio, motioning towards Shadow. "I'm hoping a solid meal or three might help with this incessant napping."
"Oh," said Tekno, raising her hand towards a doorway in the same direction as the camping stove. "It's all just through there."
Nodding his thanks, the chameleon stood up and walked off on his mission of nutrition.
〜
"You're going where?" blurted Sonia, jumping up out of her chair.
Sonic sighed. She'd heard perfectly well.
"I promise I'll be back before the Echo Beach show."
"What about the mayor's fundraiser tonight? Those donors are expecting you to be there."
"Didn't they already sign their cheques weeks ago?" asked Manic, taking a cigarette out of his mouth. The youngest of the triplets was sitting on a couch across from Sonia.
"That's not the point," replied his minutes-older sister.
"Look, I'm sorry, but this is my last chance to do this incognito," said Sonic.
"Incognito?" echoed Sonia. "Wait, you're not even running there? How do you plan-"
"It'll be fine," snapped her older brother. Spinning on his heel, he stalked towards the door of the suite the triplets had shared overnight.
"That sounded emotional," said Mighty as Sonic stepped out into the corridor. He was leant against a wall beside the suite's entrance.
"We've had worse fights," said the blue hedgehog. "Look, are you sure you can get me there and back before-"
The armadillo silenced him with a raised palm and jangled a set of car keys.
Sonic's eyes homed in on a keychain shaped like a red thunderbolt. "How did you-"
"Gotta go fast, right?" said Mighty. The one-time cellmates exchanged grins.
〜
"How do I even tie this thing?" asked Tekno, holding both ends of the silken red necktie out in front of her.
"I'm, uh, actually not sure," Amy admitted, pinching the knot of her own tie.
It wasn't a question she'd anticipated when she'd offered the canary her spare Alicia Acorn Academy school uniform. She'd mainly to be fishing for an excuse to go somewhere Espio wasn't for a little while, and it'd occurred to Amy that Tekno might appreciate some clothing designed for a preteen Mobian. The onesie she'd been wearing looked like it would've comfortably fit Big.
The canary had eagerly led her up one of the bunker's many doorways to a round room lit by floodlights rather of fairy-lights. It was empty except for two workbenches. Upon sat three unloaded crossbows and as many quivers of arrows. The other, which Amy was leaning against, was strewn with crossbow components. Two dartboards with mugshots of Dr Robotnik tacked over the bullseyes hung on the wall.
Giving up on her necktie, Tekno went back to fussing over whether or not to tuck in her white dress shirt. Amy looked on intently. She was struggling to see this apparently 'normal' fellow twelve-year-old as the same canary who'd looked all too ready to shoot Shadow and Espio when they teleported in. There was also the pain in the back of her neck.
"Say, uh. how come you weren't more surprised to me earlier?" asked Amy as Tekno went about stuffing her shirt into her pleated gray skirt's waistband.
The canary's head snapped up. "Huh?"
"It's just, well, it's like Espio said, I genuinely thought I'd never see you again."
A crooked smile broke out on Tekno's beak as she resumed tucking.
"Do you know what telemetry is?" she asked.
Amy shook her head.
"Well, when I wasn't in the lab, Buttnik's goons used to make me analyze the data every busted badnik beamed back-"
"Every badnik?" said Amy, eyes wide.
"It wasn't all bad. I mean, there was whole lot of footage of that Sonic guy, but every now and then, I caught a glimpse of you," said Tekno brightly.
"You mean you knew all along?"
Tekno's feathery bangs bounced as she nodded. For a split-second, Amy wasn't sure whether to be jealous or pleased the canary had been spared a little of the overwhelming sense of loss she'd felt during her first days in Knothole. She promptly kicked herself for being so selfish. The six days she'd spent wandering the Great Forest half-starved before Sonic found her was practically a vacation compared to five years of enslavement.
"Want me to give that necktie a go?" asked Amy, grasping for a change of subject.
Tekno shrugged, fastening her top button in preparation.
"Amy?" came a call from down the tunnel.
"I guess that's our cue," said the canary, undoing the top button and heading for the door.
The pink hedgehog sighed and followed on. What questions had Espio dreamt up now?
On their return to the bunker, the preteen duo found Shadow sitting up on the orange inflatable couch, gorging himself on whatever was in the plastic bowl in his lap. Meanwhile, Espio loomed over his shoulder like an expectant waiter.
"Mr. Sleepy Hog here has something he'd like to ask," said the chameleon.
Despite her current feelings about the Chaotix detective, Amy couldn't help but giggle as Shadow stopped mid-chew and shot Espio a glance. Gulping down his mouthful, the black hedgehog turned his head towards Tekno.
"Rouge said Omega would be down here," he said measuredly. "Is he?"
"Uh, sure, he's just down-"
The canary stopped short as Shadow put aside his bowl and rose from the couch unsupported. His first step on his right leg was also his last. Tekno lurched forward to catch the toppling hedgehog.
"I'll take you to see him," she said, slowly but steadily helping Shadow towards another of the bunker's mysterious doorways.
Amy went to follow, only for Espio to grab her by the back of her shirt's collar.
"Give him some space, kiddo."
〜
"G'day, sarge," said Lieutenant Urchino, sliding open the hatch of Sergeant Topaz's cell door.
"Is it?" groaned the lioness, stirring on her bare steel bunk.
Her stay in the same cell as the disgraced Vice Commander Trusk had been mercifully short, but she remained incarcerated in the dungeon below GUN's Metropolis headquarters. Moreover, she was still wearing the same gray tanktop and shorts she'd been arrested in.
"Fair point," said the burly dingo as he opened a slim rectangular hatch halfway down the door. "Anyway, want some lunch?"
With a heavy sigh, the lioness staggered to her feet and across the cell, slowed by cramps and other aches. Meanwhile, Urchino posted an aluminum tray through the food hatch. Upon it was a plastic bowl of a pale porridge-like substance that made every GUN employee wretch. They lived on it throughout boot camp and hoped never to eat it again. Topaz considered shoving the tray back through the hatch, but her stomach overruled her.
"Do you know what's happened to Corporal Jian?" she asked, trying to ignore her disheveled reflection in the dingo's purple wraparound sunglasses.
"Your Intelligence Wing mate?" replied Urchino. "Sure, saw her heading out in a Bigfoot."
Topaz stood looking blankly at the inspection hatch, several seconds after the lieutenant had slid it shut. Jian was piloting a mech while she was locked up in here? Why wasn't she under arrest, too?
〜
"Just a...little further," wheezed Tekno, straining under Shadow's weight as she paused to adjust the sagging arm draped over her shoulders.
The black hedgehog maintained a tactful silence, like he had during the previous three stoppages. He'd contemplated summoning Espio or Amy to assist – truth be told, he was surprised they hadn't followed along in the first place – but again, he demurred. It was less to spare this mysterious kid's feelings than it was to spare himself even more delays.
Espio had given him the briefest of briefings about their feathery young host: a Robotnik abductee-turned-fugitive from GUN with close ties to both Amy and Rouge. His head pulsated with questions, but none so burning that he dared distract Tekno from the task at hand. His priorities were crystal clear: Omega first, everything else later.
He felt his spirits rise fractionally as he spied an end to the string of fairy-lights illuminating the tunnel. They rose yet further as Tekno managed to execute the awkward maneuver of rotating them both ninety degrees without incident. After a tense few moments spent shuffling down an unlit passageway, Shadow found himself blinded by the glare of floodlights reflecting off chrome.
Squinting through the pain, he took stock as best he could. This round room was a muddle of workbenches bearing Buzz Bombers and other antiquated badniks in varying states of disassembly. The ceiling seemed to reach all the way to the surface. On the far side of the bank of workbenches stood the bulky form of E-123 Omega.
On closer inspection, he didn't look quite as bulky as Shadow remembered. Where he expected to see red and black armor plating, he saw only exposed wiring and other aspects of the robot's inner workings.
"What happened to him?"
"A low-grade EMP, I think," replied Tekno matter-of-factly, suddenly sounding like a Mobian twice her age. "Whatever it was, it fried a ton of circuitry."
"Is he, uh, still-"
"Operational? Yeah, mostly. The organic battery and chassis were both okay. It's just those damned wrist servos that I haven't been able to fix."
Shadow glanced down at the dormant robot's arms. Rather than fingers, six guns barrels protruded from each wrist.
"Anyway, let's boot him up," said Tekno, helping Shadow over to a plastic crate just in front of Omega.
The black hedgehog watched with due impatience while the canary took oof her purple blazer and clambered up Omega's armorless chassis like it was a jungle gym. He kept his eyes fixed on the dull orbs beneath Omega's boxy yellow brow while she tinkered away.
"Two lifeforms detected," whirred Omega's vocal synthesizer as his red optics gradually lit up. "Non-hostile."
"Omega?" said Shadow breathily, hot tears welling in his eyes.
"Shadow?"
"It's me," said the black hedgehog, wiping his eyes.
"Long time. No see."
"Oh, yeah," said Tekno meekly, seeing Shadow's quizzical expression from her perch on Omega's shoulder. "I, uh, may have augmented his vocabulary a little."
Shadow grunted wryly.
"Long time, no see is right. What happened to you, friend?"
The query met with stony silence as Tekno swiftly climbed down and sat beside Shadow.
"Umm, his memory banks are, like, completely blank from the time you blasted that Black Comet thingy to the first time I booted him up," she murmured conspiratorially, as if she was in danger of embarrassing Omega.
"Fair enough," Shadow sighed. He was no stranger to ignorance.
Reading the room, the canary hastily put her purple blazer back on and excused herself, leaving the old comrades in silence.
〜
Scribbling her signature for the umpteenth time, Sally Acorn leant back in her chair at her dining room table. In front of her sat a heap of paperwork she'd put off so she could play at being playground monitor that afternoon. Hershey lay crashed out on a couch in the corner, beneath an oil painting of a red biplane flying towards a sunset, a hedgehog silhouetted on its upper wing.
The chipmunk was about to look at whatever was next when a buzzer sounded out in the hallway. She was amazed to see Hershey not even twitch in response. Anxious not to pass up a legitimate distraction, Sally necked the last of her lukewarm coffee and made for the front door.
"Hello?" she said, stabbing a button on the intercom for her front gate.
"Delivery for Miss Acorn," said an unfamiliar male voice.
"Who from?"
"Courier didn't say, miss."
Sally frowned. Standard procedure in these situations was for her to remain inside the house no matter what while Hershey did her bodyguard thing. Glancing over her shoulder at the dining room door, she heard the black cat's snores emanating from within. She looked back at the intercom.
"Just a minute."
Grabbing the gate remote and her blue gilet off the nearby coat-stand, the chipmunk ventured out into the encroaching twilight. She crunched her way along the graveled driveway, glancing every so often at the marble statuettes of her royal ancestors lining the route.
As she approached the oak tree cars had to drive around to reach the gate, she heard the screech of tires as a nearby car sped off. Almost certain a delivery driver wouldn't be driving anything with an engine that powerful, Sally didn't speed up as she rounded the oak. Then, she froze.
"Hey, Sal," Sonic called from the other side of the gate.
Words eluding her, she squeezed the gate remote with her thumb. All sense of teacherly composure abandoned her as she tried in vain to blink back the tears that were soon streaming down her face. Gravel flew as the gates parted wide enough for the blue hedgehog to pass between them.
"It's okay, Sal," said Sonic, taking his girlfriend in his arms. "I'm here now."
〜
"Perfect!" exclaimed the in-game announcer as the word flashed onscreen in big yellow letters.
Amy groaned as her faith in her gaming abilities sustained another blow. After three rounds against Tekno on Princess Blaze's Battle Royale – a beat-'em-up she'd kicked most of the Knothole Freedom Fighters' asses at - she still hadn't dealt an iota of damage to her opponent.
The canary chuckled guiltily. "Sorry. We can play something co-op if you-"
"Nuh-uh," uttered Amy defiantly.
She sat forward on the inflatable couch as she navigated the Character Select grid towards Silver. Maybe he'd pull through where Blaze, Marine and Captain Whisker had let her down. Tekno obligingly waited while the hedgehog studied Silver's move list, rehearsing the various button combos on her controller.
Watching the preteen duo from across the bunker, Espio couldn't help grimacing to himself. Dressed as they were, they looked for all the world like a pair of schoolkids indulging in an afterschool gaming session. If it weren't for the arrow he was turning over in his hand, the sight might've changed his mind about the plan he was about to pitch to Shadow.
While Tekno was busy reuniting the Ultimate Life Form with his favorite killer robot, Amy had shown him the canary's crossbow collection and private shooting range. Far from freaking him out like it had Amy, it'd given him an idea. As Amy threw up her arms in triumph at landing her first blow (seconds before her fourth consecutive loss), Espio turned and disappeared up the tunnel to Tekno's workshop.