Disclaimer: All non-original characters are property of SEGA, DiC and/or their respective creators.
Inescapable Past, Act 12: Vendetta's End
Topaz blinked furiously as the cloth hood was whipped off her head.
"Good morning, sergeant," said Colonel Sleet, the Guardian Unit of Nations' unofficial third-in-command.
"Is this my court martial?" asked the lioness, her purple eyes still adjusting to the daylight coming in through the windows.
"Does this look like a court martial to you, sergeant?" replied the wolf.
Conceding she'd drawn that conclusion from the fact her wrists were bound behind her back, Topaz looked around. They were in an office as blandly decorated as everywhere else in GUN's Metropolis headquarters: whitewashed walls, fiberglass ceiling tiles and grey vinyl floor. The only splash of character was a black flag hanging behind Sleet's desk.
Tattered and frayed around the edges, the letters 'DOW' has been daubed on it in white paint. The letters stood for 'Dogs of War'; the canine militia group that had been integrated into GUN soon after Robotnik's defeat to ease the Unit's manpower crisis. Sleet had attained his lofty rank by virtue of being the group's leader.
"I guess not," she said, "Are you skipping the show trial completely, sir?"
Sleet flashed a toothy grin, much to Topaz's consternation. "Lieutenant Urchino, would you be so kind?"
"Righto," said the topless, musclebound dingo in purple wraparound shades standing behind the wolf.
Topaz tensed as Urchino rounded the desk, crouched down beside her and uncuffed her.
"Were you expecting him to cut them off, sergeant?" asked Sleet, watching the lioness gaze intently at her liberated wrists as she flexed them.
"S-sorry, sir," she said, snapping out of her carpal reverie. "It's just I thought-"
"You were under arrest?" the colonel interjected. "I suppose I – well, we – owe you an apology for that little charade."
Topaz's brow furrowed. "What little charade?"
The wolf sighed. "Do you recall the grounds for your arrest, sergeant?"
The lioness shut her eyes tight, racking her brains. She mostly remembered being a nervous wreck over Rouge ghosting her when they'd knocked on her door. "Something about mercs and Operation Shadowhunt?"
"Indeed," said Sleet, "And didn't that sound a little ridiculous to you?"
"Should it have?" said Topaz, mystified.
"You know how shorthanded we are, sergeant. Anything we can do to keep our own people out of the firing line is to be encouraged."
The lioness felt her temper flare. "Then why did I just spend two nights in your dungeon?"
"Because soldiers love to gossip, sergeant," replied Sleet coolly. "It would've been more than a little awkward arresting Vice Commander Trusk for mishandling an operation that doesn't officially exist."
Topaz sat back in her chair, reluctantly acknowledging the colonel's crude logic. Alas, knowing she still had a job would do nothing to ease the backache her cell's steel bunk had given her.
"Can I ask what the cover story is, sir?"
"We thought we'd let the rumormongers fill that blank in themselves," said the wolf.
"What's going to happen to Vice Commander Trusk?"
"Never you mind, sergeant. Besides, aren't you more interested in what's going to happen to you?"
Topaz narrowed her eyelids, hoping Sleet hadn't intended for that to sound as ominous as it had.
"Am I back on Operation Shadowhunt, sir?"
Behind her, Lieutenant Urchino snorted.
"Actually, sergeant, after due deliberation, Commander Volta and I are both of the opinion that things would be better for everyone if we pretend that misbegotten shitshow never happened."
Topaz leaned forward. That 'misbegotten shitshow' had been her life for the last several weeks. Sleet gave her another toothy grin.
"Settle down, sergeant. Your own efforts involving the whatchamacallit-"
"DNA tracker," she cut in.
"Yes, that doodad. Rest assured your efforts haven't gone unnoticed."
"Really? And what good will that do me, sir?"
"For starters, how does 'Captain Topaz' sound to you, sergeant?"
The lioness blinked. In all honesty, she thought it made her sound like a superhero, but she could probably get used to it.
〜
"That you, Jian?" crackled a voice over the F-6t Big Foot's cockpit radio.
"Isn't it obvious, sir?" replied the white tigress. Sections of the mech's exterior were painted in imitation of her fur.
"Sorry, corporal. Lotta' different butts have sat in that seat recently. Just a sec."
Jian grimaced at the veiled reference to GUN's dwindling mecha fleet. While hardly suited to the tightly-packed streets of Metropolis's South Sector, a network of high-rise slums where most Metropolitans now lived, Big Foots had been kept in service for deterrent purposes. Few things dispersed a restive mob quicker than a heavily-armed mech towering over it. Alas, this also gave them great symbolic value as targets for Eggheads.
For her part, Jian had felt more like she was driving an oversized candy dispenser than a mobile weapons platform this patrol. Most of her patrol had been spent looming over a busy intersection with her cockpit's windshield up, making it rain candy on uniformed youngsters on their ways to school. It was one of Colonel Sleet's more innovative tactics to try to win over the people GUN now effectively governed.
Retrieving a leftover candy from the sack at her feet, the tigress chewed away as she watched the outer gates of GUN's headquarters gradually open. By and by, the Big Foot lumbered forwards onto a narrow concrete bridge spanning the deep trench that encircled the base. Under the previous management, it had been a moat brimming with so-called 'mega-mack', the fluorescent purple runoff from Robotnik's manufactories.
The trench was the only part of Eggman's old stronghold the new tenants had retained. All else had been flattened within days. Where the ovoid central citadel once stood, there was now a plate-glass tower, topped with an enormous four-sided sculpture of GUN's insignia that lit up at night. Jian thought the building looked more like a bank than the nerve center of a military installation, but maybe that was the point.
The achingly slow trudge towards the base's inner gates reminded Jian why she didn't miss this job. Her reassignment back to the mecha corps had been as unwelcome as it was unexpected. Yesterday morning, she'd reported for duty at the Operation Shadowhunt command center, only to find Colonel Sleet overseeing its dismantlement. She'd seen a staffer hand the wolf the DNA tracker which he'd proceeded to crush beneath his boot heel.
Fears about losing her job in the Intelligence Wing had been quickly overtaken by concern regarding Topaz's whereabouts. Calls to several well-placed friends across GUN had turned up nothing. Her empty quarters and failure to answer any of her multiple cellphones had Jian wondering if the lioness had taken the rap for their shakedown of Vice Commander Trusk.
Resolving to kill Topaz if she'd taken the fall for her, Jian brought the Big Foot to a standstill at the bridge's far end. Mercifully, the sluggish inner gates were already half-open. Soon enough, she squeezed through into the base proper. Pausing to grab another piece of candy, the tigress gazed idly out of the cockpit's windshield as she chewed. Around her were hangars, barracks, and workshops all wreathed in scaffolding. This place was still very much under construction.
Just then, the Big Foot's windshield turned completely opaque. Jian rolled her eyes. The mech's blackout filter was intended to protect pilots from the blinding effects of flash grenades. Knowing how overworked the maintenance crews were, the tigress assumed it was a faulty sensor someone had missed. Once transparency was restored, she saw E-123 Omega standing in front of her.
The silhouette was unmistakable: GUN's mech pilots routinely shredded cardboard cut-outs of the killer robot on the practice range. She moved frenziedly to arm the Big Foot's missile pods. A split-second later, the blackout filter reengaged. When the windshield cleared a second time, Jian found herself staring down the twelve barrels of two miniguns.
She felt every sinew in her body tighten as Omega opened fire. Thanking her dearly departed drill instructor for always nagging to keep her windshield down, she watched the glass become a mosaic of weblike cracks. Three interminable seconds later, the cyclone of bullets abated. Jian experienced a fleeting sensation of weightlessness as the mech's bullet-stricken legs crumpled under the armored chassis' weight.
The cockpit rattled with loose candy as it landed on its side. Too panicked to undo her elaborate seven-point seat harness, Jian slashed at the seatbelts with her claws until she fell free. Stuffing a handful of candy in her jumpsuit's pocket, she pulled the windshield's emergency ejection lever.
Pressurized air hissed from a dozen tiny vents as the glass canopy popped off. Crawling out of the wreck on all fours, Jian looked up. Omega's red optics stared back. For a few unbearable seconds, she held the robot's gaze. Then, its arms started to move...upwards.
Feeling almost faint with relief, Jian glanced up. A small swarm of Gun Hawk drones was converging on hers and Omega's position. Momentarily paralyzed by disbelief at her own good fortune, the corporal forced herself to her feet and ran as alarms began to blare across the base.
〜
A ray of sunlight sliced through the slender gap in the purple drapes as Sally Acorn stirred. Yawning, she automatically reached for her cellphone. The chipmunk's eyes widened as her hand felt nothing but the cold glass of her bedside table. Rolling over, she found the right side of the bed where Sonic had spent the night empty.
"Hershey? Sonic?" she called out. No reply.
Throwing back the covers, Sally willed her stiff limbs to life and slid out of bed. Walking to the window, she opened the drapes. She staggered back almost as far as the bed, dazzled by the sun's brightness, She wasn't sure she'd ever seen the sun so high in the sky from this window. Just how late was it?
Putting her face against the glass, Sally squinted down at her graveled driveway. The black sedan was gone. Confused to the point of disorientation, the chipmunk headed downstairs in a daze. Entering the dining room, she looked at the table. It was empty. The heap of paperwork she'd abandoned last night was nowhere to be seen.
Trying to work out what on Mobius was going on, Sally's ears pricked as she heard a furious tapping sound emanate from the kitchen. She headed on through. In there, she found Sonic with knife in hand, dicing onions at supersonic speed on a wooden chopping board. A floppy white chef's hat was perched between his ears.
"Sonic?" uttered Sally quietly, watching him scrape the onions into a pot on the unlit stove.
Inhaling sharply, the hedgehog dropped his knife and whirled around, hand on heart. "H-hey, Sal."
She looked him up and down, fighting back a smirk at his full-length checkered apron. "Where's my phone?"
"Uh, yeah," he replied, adjusting the sagging chef's hat. "Hershey's got it."
"How did she get it?"
"I gave it to her."
"Why'd you do that?"
"She asked me to."
"When?"
"After you passed out. You went out like a light last night."
Sally blinked. "What's me being tired got to do with anything?"
"You were more than just tired, Sal. Do you want to know how many times I had to roll you over because you wouldn't wake up?" said Sonic. "Hershey filled me in. I knew you the school was keeping you busy, Sal, but holy crap-!"
"Wait, what time is it?" the chipmunk cut in.
The hedgehog shot a glance at the microwave. "Nearly eleven."
Sally's cerulean eyes widened. "But that means-"
She felt a slight breeze waft over her as Sonic zipped across the kitchen.
"It's fine, Sal," said the hedgehog, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Hershey made some calls. Rosie and Nicole said they'd fill in-"
"Nicole?" Sally interrupted, none the calmer. "But what about her search? It's important. What if it's something Cream might have-"
"Sal!" Sonic snapped, gently shaking his girlfriend. "Do you know much data Elise's people sent Nicole?"
His question met with silence.
"Over a petabyte," he went on. "I'm not even sure what that means. I only know because Tails told me they needed his help to compile it all. That search is going to take time, just like you need to right now."
"Huh. Since when did you start telling people to slow down?"
"Since someone showed me how to myself," said Sonic, looking her straight in the eye.
Managing a weak smile, Sally craned her neck, peering over his shoulder at the pot on the unlit stove. "What's for lunch?"
"Chili."
The hedgehog nearly jumped as Sally sniggered. Silly question, really.
〜
"On three," said Lieutenant Urchino, peering out from behind the stack of oil drums he and his comrades were crouched behind.
Watching the burly dingo's count down with his fingers, Captain Topaz flinched as something exploded elsewhere in the base. When Urchino's index finger dropped, Colonel Sleet was first to break cover, running across the empty parade ground with a hand on his head, holding his black peaked cap in place. Another explosion prompted the lioness to go second.
Up ahead, the sloping steel roof of Hangar 18 loomed large. Apparently it was where everyone on base was gathering. If Sleet knew who or what was attacking them, he'd kept that information to himself. When his office phone had rung, the wolf had sounded more interested in ensuring any and all updates went to him rather than Commander Volta. For all Topaz knew, Vice Commander Trusk had stolen a Big Foot and was exacting his revenge.
"Open the bloody door!" yelled Urchino, hammering a fist on Hangar 18's side-entrance once the trio had regrouped.
"C-colonel?" gibbered the awestruck dhole who answered the door. Sleet swept past without acknowledging him.
Inside, they found a motley assortment of personnel scattered in small groups around the vast floorspace. The biggest group was concentrated around the enormous front wheel of the hangar's resident airplane. Most wore mechanics' overalls or the dress uniforms of office staffers. Topaz could only see a handful of troopers in fatigues. Most were out policing the South Sector's slums, keeping a Mobian face on Metropolis's new overlords.
"Who's in charge here?" Sleet asked aloud.
"That'd be me I guess, sir," replied Corporal Jian, leaning out of a booth to their collective left.
"Jian?" blurted Topaz as the trio's heads turned in unison.
"Paz?" said the white tigress.
The lioness's toe claws made a skittering sound on the smooth cement as the two felines ran into each other's arms. The tips of their long tails became entwined as they kissed.
"Oops," whispered Jian, flashing a mischievous smile.
"Screw it," murmured Topaz, engaging her suddenly not-so-secret lover in another hearty smooch. A promotion wasn't the only thing she'd gotten out of Operation Shadowhunt.
"What are you wearing?" asked Jian, glancing down at the barefooted lioness's gray tanktop and shorts. They were the pajamas she'd been arrested in.
"Speak for yourself," countered Topaz. The tigress had unzipped her black jumpsuit as far as her waist, revealing a tube-top the same shade of red as the bandana flattening her ears.
Sleet cleared his throat ostentatiously as he and Urchino passed the couple. The felines hastily disentangled themselves and followed the canine duo, walking hand-in-hand. The four of them squeezed into the hangar's control booth – a small glass box of a room – and closed the door.
"Corporal Jian?" said Sleet, fixing his orange eyes on Jian.
"Yes, sir?"
"I'm informed you reported seeing E-123 Omega within the perimeter wall-"
"Because I did, sir," the tigress cut in. Topaz felt her girlfriend's grip on her hand tighten. "That...thing is what's out there."
Sleet let her words hang in the air, as if giving her the opportunity to amend her testimony. Then, pulling his peaked cap's visor down over his eyes, he slowly turned his back to them. Muttering something under his breath too quiet for Topaz to hear, the wolf threw his cap on the floor and spun on his heel.
"Lieutenant, take Captain Topaz and-"
Urchino and Jian both flinched as the lioness emitted a low, rumbling growl.
"Why haven't you radioed Commander Volta already, sir?" she asked, glaring at Sleet.
The wolf sighed and bent down to retrieve his cap. Smoothing the mussed blue fur atop his head, he put it back on.
"Well, captain, I believe you know a thing or two about the Commander's appetite for grudges, so you won't be surprised to learn there're more names than Shadow's on his shitlist. Suffice it to say if our fearless leader heard Omega was loose in this base, we might have all already died in some 'glorious' counterattack by now."
He paused for breath.
"I don't know about you ladies, but my hounds didn't agree to join this two-bit organization of yours to help one petty bastard settle a score over something that happened in a damned warzone, so let's just make sure our brave Commander stays safely in his office until we have some good news for him."
"Struth, tell us how you really feel!" blurted Urchino while Topaz and Jian gawked at the colonel, stunned into silence by his mutinous tirade.
Sleet shot the dingo a glare before looking back at Topaz. "Satisfied, captain?"
The lioness managed a stiff, mechanical nod.
"Good. Now then, Corporal Jian?"
"S-sir?" gibbered the tigress, letting go of Topaz's hand as she instinctively stood to attention.
"Go see Major Maw. Tell him that under no circumstances is he to recall the South Sector patrols. It might be just what the Eggheads are counting on."
Throwing a salute, Jian summarily kissed Topaz on the cheek and scarpered out of the booth.
"As for you, captain, kindly accompany the lieutenant to Research & Development. I'll see what can be done to contain this situation in the meantime."
Topaz eyed the wolf questioningly. "R&D? Why there?"
"You appear to be overestimating the privileges your new rank confers, captain, but as you asked so nicely, if Omega really is out there, we'll be needing some specialized firepower."
Urchino gasped. "Wait, you don't mean-"
"Yes, lieutenant," sighed Sleet, "The BBG."
"Bonzer!" said the burly dingo, grinning ear-to-ear.
"What's a BBG?" asked Topaz.
"Err, stands for 'Big Bastard Gun', sir," replied Urchino. "Named it myself."
〜
Three-hundred feet above Hangar 18, Amy Rose dared to uncover her ears, just in time for something else to explode down on the ground. She clapped her hands back in place and hoped Omega was keeping his promise not to hurt anyone he didn't have to. Crouched as she was in a trench below the tower's rooftop sculpture, the pink hedgehog had no way of seeing for herself.
Beside her, the dozing Shadow didn't so much as twitch. Nor, for that matter, did Tekno. The canary was crouched on one knee a few feet away, close to a door Espio had disappeared through what felt like ages ago. Like Amy, she was dressed in an Alicia Acorn Academy school uniform. The only difference between their outfits was the small quiver of arrows Tekno had clipped to her pleated gray skirt's waistband.
Amy had declined the canary's offer of her own crossbow. The Knothole Freedom Fighters' taboo against guns meant she lacked confidence with anything involving a trigger. For evidence of her not-so-long-lost friend's aptitude with her six-chambered repeater-crossbow, she needed look no further than the security camera above the door with an arrow protruding from its lens.
Flinching bodily as Omega blew something else up, Amy glanced yearningly at a fluorescent orange maintenance phone on the wall by the door. Espio had given them strict instructions to go nowhere (other than teleporting to safety) until that phone rang. Amy trusted the chameleon would come through. She just wished he'd hurry up about it.
〜
Twenty-two floors down, the chameleon was feeling equally impatient. He quickly drew himself deeper inside the alcove he was squatting in, lest the trooper running down the corridor trip over his camouflaged horn. Espio watched forlornly as the peccary bypassed the alcove altogether. Omega's diversion seemed to be working almost too well.
The idea had been to empty the tower of as many GUN personnel as possible, clearing the way for Espio to stroll down to the base's command center. What the chameleon hadn't counted on – a little naively, in hindsight - was the room's handleless door being protected by a handprint scanner. In the absence of any conveniently-placed ventilation shafts, he was going to have to tailgate the next staffer who entered, assuming one even turned up.
Espio tried to find comfort in the fact he'd almost certainly guessed the right place. After a spot of light hacking in Tekno's Emerald Hill hideaway overnight, he'd found the base's blueprints on the computer of a Station Square-based architect better known for luxury hotels. The plans gave no indication of where the Commander's office was, but the number of power outlets on the tenth floor suggested it would be the best place to find that information.
Just then, his ninjitsu-trained ears picked up the electronic 'bing-bong' of a synthesized elevator bell over the blaring alarms. Espio cocked his head to the left. A white tigress in a red bandana was running down the corridor towards him. He adjusted his posture, ready to tackle the Mobian and hope she had clearance if she didn't stop at the alcove. In the event, she did stop.
Espio hastily reared up as the tigress came within inches of kicking his invisible horn as she slapped a paw on the handprint scanner. There was a soft hiss as the handleless door slid open. It remained open long enough for the chameleon to slip inside a few paces behind the unsuspecting Jian.
At first glance, the base's command center put Espio in mind of the control room at a television station he'd recently broken into on a Chaotix client's behalf. Three of its four walls were covered from floor to ceiling with screens. In front of them stood one long hemispherical desk, dotted with workstations. In the middle of the room, a high-backed chair mounted on a dais overlooked it all.
"Major Maw, sir?" said the tigress, stopping a short distance from the chair.
Slowly, the chair turned, eventually revealing a yellow-furred thylacine with black chevron-shaped stripes on his forehead and tapered muzzle. He wore mottled grey fatigues.
"Yes, corporal?" said Maw, cocking a brow.
Jian saluted and stepped closer to the chair. Unable to eavesdrop over the background noise of comm traffic, Espio occupied himself looking at the screens. They were playing footage from all manner of sources: static CCTV camera feeds; grainy real-time surveillance footage from drones, offering glimpses of Omega's trail of destruction; even a few rolling news channels.
"Sergeant Gala?" said the thylacine, spinning his chair round 180 degrees.
"Sir?" said a blue dog, looking up from their workstation in front of the screen wall.
"Go with the corporal, I'll handle things here."
The dog glanced nervously to her left and right. She was only the operator present. "Are you sure, sir?"
"Positive," snapped Maw.
Under the major's stern violet gaze, the chastened Gala sheepishly removed her headset and skulked towards the door. The thylacine swiveled back round to face Jian.
"Dismissed, corporal."
The instant the handleless door slid shut behind the tigress and dog, Espio's eyes shifted to the thylacine, who was getting out of his chair. The chameleon looked the GUN officer up and down, taking note of the holstered handgun on his right hip. Slipping two fingers under the wrist-guard on his right arm, just in case, he crept towards the dais as Maw headed to Gala's vacated workstation.
Peering out from behind the high-backed chair, Espio scrutinized the major's every keystroke. Once he was logged in, the chameleon's focus shifted to how he was going to disarm the guy. He had one idea, but he didn't much like it.
"This is Major Maw to all South Sector patrols. Return to headquarters immediately. I repeat, this is Major Maw to all-"
The thylacine stopped short as Espio plucked the headset off head with his tongue. Whirling around, Maw grunted as a scalpel struck his right arm. The chameleon charged, landing an uppercut on the underside of the major's muzzle. The only Mobian the blow hurt was Espio.
Maw flashed a grin, showing off a mouthful of steel teeth, and lunged. The chameleon quickly threw up his left forearm. The wrist-guard did some good, but he still felt several teeth puncture his scaly skin. Fresh out of ninjitsu tricks, Espio rammed a knee into the thylacine's midriff.
"Fuckin' Egghead," wheezed Maw as he doubled over, employing a slur that insinuated loyalty to Robotnik.
Espio answered the insult with an elbow to the back of the stooped GUN officer's head. Mercifully, that part of his skull was all bone. The chameleon seized his bitten forearm as a delayed rush of pain hit him. Gritting his teeth, he flexed the fingers on his left hand. They still worked well enough. With that, he turned his attention to the workstation, ignoring the blood that dripped onto the console's keyboard as he typed.
〜
"Anyone in here?" barked Urchino, putting his head around the door of the cavernous Research & Development facility. From the outside, only its lack of windows distinguished it from the surrounding warehouses.
"L-lieutenant?" stuttered a bespectacled mole-rat in red coveralls, leaning over the railing of a catwalk overlooking the door.
"Ha! Trust you to hole up in here, Arnie."
"It only seemed prudent that someone should-"
"Keep your specs on, mate," the dingo cut in. "Is the BBG good to go?"
The mole-rat's jaw slackened. "Are things that bad out there?"
"We're here aren't we?" said Urchino. Mounting a ladder up to the catwalk, he looked back at Topaz. "Coming, sir?"
Caught daydreaming, the lioness merely nodded. Hearing how friendly the burly dingo sounded with 'Arnie' suddenly had her wondering if there was some truth to the rumors about Sleet and Urchino's past ties to Robotnik. The mole-rat's full name was Arnem Abacus, and he'd once been a weapons engineer under the mustachioed machinist.
Dubbed 'Professor Plasma' by Rouge in her old intel reports about goings-on inside Robotnik's citadel, Abacus had been among a handful of Eggheads whose past deeds GUN had seen fit to overlook in exchange for their services. Topaz snapped out of her musings as she heard Urchino's heavy footsteps on the catwalk above.
Racing up the ladder after them, she followed the duo into a workshop at the end of the walkway. Inside, a standard-issue GUN bazooka sat atop a workbench, surrounded by a blue-tinged forcefield. Assuming it to be the so-called 'Big Bastard Gun', Topaz circled the weapon while Abacus went about disabling the security measures.
Not that she was a heavy weapons expert, but she couldn't see many differences between this bazooka and the one she'd briefly used back in bootcamp. The only obvious modifications were the yellow ring around the muzzle, and the multiplicity of tubes snaking out of the weapon's rear. These were connected to whatever was lay inside the bulky black rucksack beside the workbench.
"What even is this thing?" she wondered aloud.
"Answer the captain, Arnie," said Urchino, nudging Topaz aside as he approached the workbench.
"O-of course," the mole-rat gibbered, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his stubby nose. "The, uh, Big Bastard Gun's official designation is the Graviton Cannon. The firing mechanism was s-salvaged from Metal Sonic's abdominal sect-"
"Metal Sonic?" blurted Topaz.
"You heard the bloke," said Urchino, hefting the rucksack onto his shoulders.
Preposterous as it sounded, the lioness had to admit it wasn't implausible. Commander Volta had famously lost an eye to the mechanical hedgehog's nasal spike, grappling with the machine after his platoon shot it down during the Battle of Metropolis. Given the Intelligence Wing's difficulties in tracing Abacus's pre-Robotnik career, it was feasible he'd been working for the mad doctor when Metal Sonic was built.
"Will it work against Omega?" she asked.
"Well, Metal Sonic was originally intended to be a doppelganger that could infiltrate the Freedom Fighters, captain. It was only later that the Graviton Cannon was incorporated into its design. The trouble was, it always had to reserve a certain amount of energy to keep itself running, so you see, Metal Sonic never actually fired the weapon at full-power-"
"Thanks for the history lesson, professor, but you didn't answer my question," said Topaz.
"Because he doesn't know," said Urchino, heaving the bazooka onto one of his broad orange shoulders. "Call it a 'maybe'."
〜
Shifting uncomfortably in a chair too small for his hulking backside, Vice Commander Trusk eyed the broad silver needle mounted on a perspex plinth on the desk in front of him. Metal Sonic's nasal spike. Why any Mobian would keep the object that'd half-blinded them as a trophy eluded him.
Watching it gleam in the noon sunlight, the warthog weighed the pros and cons of using it to do what Metal Sonic had been attempting to when it thrust the spike into Commander Volta's eye socket. It wasn't like the olingo's guard was up, standing as he was at a window behind his desk, straining for a glimpse of whatever mayhem was unfolding down on the ground.
The Vice Commander glanced back and forth between the nasal spike and the distracted Volta, and then at the submachinegun in his lap. If he really wanted to kill the bastard who'd just forcibly retired him, that would probably be the thing to use. Shifting again in his seat, the warthog groaned. While it might sate his temper, it's not like it would keep him in a job.
After all, the young Commander had made it abundantly clear his hand was being forced in this matter. Trusk had briefly felt like he was counselling a junior officer, the way the olingo had whined on about Colonel Sleet threatening to pull the Dogs of War out of GUN if certain changes weren't made. The warthog wasn't surprised. There was a reason he'd always called that group the 'Sons of Bitches'.
"What the-!"
Commander Volta's head snapped away from the window as Trusk reacted to a blinding white light filling the office. Fumbling his submachinegun in his lap, the warthog toppled backwards in his chair as three arrows struck his medaled chest in rapid succession. The olingo whirled, his cinnamon-hued eye fixed on the submachinegun lying on his desk.
"Don't even try it," growled a deep, masculine voice.
Volta's good eye darted to the handgun being pointed at him, then to the Mobian holding it.
"You," he glowered, narrowing his eyelid at Shadow. This was the closest he'd ever been to the so-called Ultimate Life Form, far closer than on that ruined overpass in Westopolis. "Come back to finish the job, did you?"
Shadow held the Commander's gaze impassively. Cursing his lackluster attempt at provocation, Volta straightened up and took stock of the black hedgehog's accomplices in the purple blazers. To his left, a green bird wielding some six-chambered crossbow-shaped contraption. To his right, an unarmed pink hedgehog, propping up her hateful companion.
"If you're here to shoot me, shoot me," the olingo goaded.
"I just want you to stop trying to shoot me," said Shadow tersely.
Motioning to the late Vice Commander Trusk, Volta snorted. "Funny way of showing it."
Suddenly, the office's door flew open in a hail of bullets. Tekno and Shadow pivoted leftwards and fired back. The gun-toting red iguana dropped dead in the doorway.
"Shadow!" squealed Amy as Commander Volta flipped up his eyepatch. A needle-thin red laser shot out of his eye socket, striking her left upper arm.
When Shadow snapped his head to the right, the smell of her singed blazer assaulted his nostrils. An instant later, the black hedgehog found himself in freefall as Amy's wounded arm flopped limply by her side.
Simultaneously, he heard Tekno's empty repeater-crossbow issue a dull click as she tried to stop the Commander lunging towards his desk, arm outstretched. Convinced any shot he took was more likely to miss than hit, Shadow dropped his handgun as he landed. Seeing Volta wrapping his fingers around his submachinegun's grip, the Ultimate Life Form took the blue Chaos Emerald in hand.
"Chaos Blast!"
A misty crimson aura quickly engulfed him and his companions. Commander Volta fired in vain at the expanding shockwave as it stripped the floor and walls bare, blowing out the office's windows and the olingo with them. Once the Chaos energy dissipated, Shadow slumped to the floor. If he wasn't already unconscious, the newly-exposed concrete would've rendered him so.
"What was that?" squeaked Tekno, dropping her crossbow. She drew back the feathery bangs covering half her face, staring aghast at the bare cinderblock walls and remnants of light fittings dangling precariously from wires. Meanwhile, her question fell on deaf ears.
Amy was down on her knees, alternately shaking and slapping Shadow. It was proving useless, much like her left arm now was. Any attempt to move it sent pain lancing through her. Suddenly feeling as powerless as her eight-year-old self when Metal Sonic after took her captive, she buried her face in Shadow's white chest-fur, the realities of their predicament hitting like a tidal wave.
Would he wake up before someone arrived to investigate the blast? Could Omega hold out until then? Would Shadow even have the energy to make back-to-back teleports? What if Shadow didn't wake up? Would the investigators shoot on sight? Even if they didn't, what would happen to Shadow and Tekno? Where on Mobius was Espio?
"Hello, ladies," said a familiar female voice, derailing the pink hedgehog's runaway train of thought. She lifted her head, wiping her tear-streaked face.
"Do you know these guys?" murmured Tekno, sidling up to Amy as she stood.
"Kind of," Amy whispered as they watched four hoverbikes fly in through the hole Shadow had blasted in the side of the tower.
The vehicles resembled snowmobiles, albeit with Extreme Gears in place of skis. Two of the riders – a yellow wolf and a teal fennec – Amy didn't recognize, but the white lemur and black jackal were all too familiar.
"Sonar, grab the jewel," said Infinite, jumping off his mount. "I'll get the kid."
The nervous preteens huddled closer together as the teal fennec scampered towards them. Dressed in a sleeveless pink shirt and black shorts, she was carrying what looked like a cooler. Seemingly oblivious to her audience of two, Sonar dropped down beside Shadow and began prizing his fingers off the blue Chaos Emerald.
"What're you doing?" Amy bleated.
"Her job," replied the jackal, stepping over Shadow.
The youngsters reared up as Infinite strode towards them and grabbed Tekno by the arm.
Amy launched herself at him. "Let go of her!"
The jackal pushed the pink hedgehog onto her backside and set about dragging the canary towards the hoverbikes. When digging her heels in and swatting at him didn't work, Tekno grabbed an arrow from the quiver on her skirt's waistband and nicked her abductor's forearm. Infinite yowled and rounded on her, hand poised on the hilt of the ruby cutlass strapped to his back.
"Dammit, Infinite, they're little girls," said Tangle, catching the jackal's sword arm with her tail.
"Little? We're twelve!" Tekno protested.
"Exactly my point," remarked the lemur as she spun her colleague around. "Take the gem and go. She can ride with Sonar."
With a grudging snarl, Infinite snatched the cooler out of the fennec's hands and stalked back to his hoverbike.
"What's going on?" asked Amy as Tekno helped her up.
Tangle took a moment to massage the bridge of her nose. She flinched as something outside went boom. "Would 'we've come to take you kids some place safer than here' do for now?"
Amy and Tekno glanced at each other, then back at the lemur. They nodded in unison.
Tangle smiled gratefully and set about getting Shadow up.
"Wait, what about Espio?" asked Tekno.
The lemur paused mid-crouch. "Where is he?"
Amy and Tekno traded glances. "We're, uh, not sure."
"Well, he's got 'til your buddy here's on my bike if he wants a ride."
Whilst Tangle started back towards her hoverbike, dragging the unconscious Shadow, the preteen duo looked on. To give Espio as much time as possible, Amy contemplated hanging back. Within seconds, the pink hedgehog's guilt reflex had her running to the lemur's assistance. Meanwhile, Tekno crouched down to retrieve her repeater-crossbow.
"Hi. You must be Tekno."
The canary glanced up in fright. The teal fennec was looking down at her through a pair of amber-tinted goggles. "You know my name?"
"Sure I do," said Sonar, proffering a hand. "Our boss is looking forward to meeting you."
Unsure what to say, Tekno gingerly took the genial stranger's hand and let herself be led towards a hoverbike. She saw Amy had already reached Tangle's.
"What're you guys even supposed to be?" asked the pink hedgehog, finally able to spare the breath.
"Officially? Bodyguards," replied the lemur, coiling her striped tail around Shadow's waist.
"What about unofficially?"
"Whatever the boss wants us to be, I guess."
With that, Tangle draped the limp Ultimate Life Form face-down over the back of her hoverbike's saddle. She curled her lip when she saw how little space this left for Amy.
"Sorry, Whisp, looks like you're getting a passenger after all."
The lemur pointed the hedgehog to the hoverbike with the yellow wolf on. Casting a longing gaze at the office's doorway, Amy stalled. She tucked in her shirt, smoothed out her skirt and buttoned her blazer, desperately willing Espio to suddenly render himself visible. Running out of uniform to fix, Amy let out a heavy sigh and trudged towards her transportation.
〜
It was against E-123 Omega's programming to acknowledge weakness. Still, the robot knew when he was surrounded. He was stood atop the wreckage of a Diablon he'd felled, encircled by a wall of Shield Hunters. Unable to change armaments, all he could do was fire his miniguns relentlessly at the inferior machines. Most of his shots pinged harmlessly off their shields, but every so often, one toppled backwards. It would take more than these consumer models to stop the last of the E-100s.
Just then, a black eighteen-wheel truck crashed through a wall across the compound. It came careering towards the wrecked Diablo before jack-knifing to a screeching halt. Omega ignored it. A primitive automobile could pose no threat to him…or could it? His sensors detected the faintest trace of another Robotnik invention's energy signature. What was in there?
Without ceasing fire at the Shield Hunters, Omega pivoted to face the truck and scanned it. He detected two organic lifeforms. He could see one sitting in the vehicle's cab. The other came bounding out the back of the trailer, carrying an anti-tank weapon of all things.
The robot's vocal synthesizer emitted a low, modulated chuckle. Would these pathetic organics never learn?
〜
As the hoverbikes passed over the base's perimeter trench, Whisper felt the hedgehog whose arms were wrapped around her waist jolt suddenly.
"Are you okay?" she asked, forced to raise her voice uncomfortably high to be heard over the whipping headwind.
"Y-yes. Sorry," replied Amy, mindful of the wolf's initial reluctance at being held onto.
The pink hedgehog glanced over her shoulder. That last explosion had been the loudest yet. It was weird how quiet it had suddenly gone. No follow-up explosions, nor the crackle of gunfire. It only took a few seconds for her to realize what might've brought about this lull.
Sighing, Amy was about to turn away when she saw something emerge from one of the thicker columns of smoke arising from the base. Squinting hard, she could see a bird flapping its wings in fitful bursts, looking as if it was still learning to fly, or at least like it hadn't flown in a very long time. Watching the feathery critter slowly gain in altitude, a smile broke out on Amy's lips.
Omega wasn't dead. He was free.