Nicole was currently in the ships controls, piloting it to the orbital prison. As the resistance fighters along with the G.U.N. soldiers were getting ready, Gear was looking around for Gadget. Ever since the group stole the space shuttle, his friend looked as if something was bothering him.
Eventually, Gear found him sleeping next to the viewport window. What he quickly noticed is that Gadget's shaking like a leaf, almost as if he was having a nightmare.
"Hey, Gadget. Wake up." Gear place his hand on the red wolf's shoulder and shook him a little.
Gadget startled awake, looking around breathing uncontrollably. After looking at Gear, he calmed down a little. "Ohh, hey Gear. Umm... are we there yet?"
"Not yet. I was just seeing how you were doing." Gear told him.
"I'm fine. Just had a... bad dream." Gadget replied.
Gear looked at Gadget skeptically. "I could tell. Do you want to talk about it?"
Gadget didn't say anything. He just had a worried look on his face as he stared into space. Gear could tell that what ever it was, Gadget was too afraid to talk about it. Soon the heard a female's voice on their comms.
"Knuckles! Can you hear me?" The female voice asked.
"Rouge! It's about time! How's Sonic doing?" Knuckles said with relief on the radio.
'Rouge? I never met her, but Topaz said good things about her. Most of the time at least.' Gear thought.
"He's been better. They're getting ready to banish him into space." Rouge said.
Gadget and Gear looked at each other in shock. They knew Eggman was cruel, but not that much.
"What? You can't be serious!" Silver said on the radio.
"Eggman's been keeping Sonic alive all this time. He's been waiting to show him his completed empire before banishing him." Rouge explained
"And torturing Sonic just to pass the time. That's low, even for Eggman." Knuckles added.
"Eggman got wind of our rescue plan and is moving forward with his plan ahead of schedule. The clock is ticking, boss." Rouge told Knuckles.
"But we don't even know where he's being held captive." Amy said.
"Yes we do. Eggman rebuilt the Death Egg. That's where he's keeping Sonic." Rouge said.
"The Death Egg? Oh, man, that's not good." Vector said, not believing that the death egg was rebuilt.
"None of this is good, Vector. That's why it's called war." Knuckles said darkly. "You all know what to do. Let's go get Sonic."
Gadget and Gear made their way back to the cockpit. On route, Gear looked at his friend with a compassionate look. Gadget was still looking a bit down on something.
"Gadget, just so you know. I think your one of the bravest people I know." Gear told his friend.
The wolf stopped for a moment and looked at Gear in surprise. "You… you mean it?"
Gear nodded. "Of course. I don't know what's got you down, but I do know that despite it, your here helping us. That make's you more brave than most people."
Gadget took a moment to take in what his friend told him. "…Thanks, Gear. I appreciate it."
Once the two arrived at the cockpit, they could see the Death Egg. It was a gargantuan spherical orbital fortress and space station shaped as Eggman's logo. Gear and Gadget knew Eggman has an massive ego, but this is a bit much.
Fortunately, it didn't appear the automated defensives recognize their ship as the one that was stolen. Nicole slowly piloted the ship to the hanger. Once landed, Nicole transferred back into Gear's nanites and the group exited the ship.
Leaving the shuttle, everyone quickly took care the egg pawns in the hanger. Knuckles punched through the Egg Pawns as Amy smashed them with her hammer. Charmy flew around distracting the robots, allowing Vector and Espio to quickly take care with them. Gadget destroyed a group of badniks with his burst wispon with Gear crushing the ones behind his friend. The G.U.N. and Resistance soldiers took down the remaining Egg Pawns with their rifles and wispons. Once the hanger was secured Gear ran to a terminal and placed his hand on it. Nicole gain access to it and searched through the data.
"I have the schematic for the space station. I don't have Sonic's location, but I've located prison's Security Center. We can locate and free him there. And I've discovered that there are other prison cells here as well." Nicole told everyone.
"Wait? Could that mean the Resistance soldiers that went missing ended up here." Vector said.
"Considering the amount of prison cells here, I would say that it's likely." Nicole concluded.
"Alright then. We can form separate groups take different paths so we divide their defenses. I'll stay here with Charmy and guard the ship." Amy told everyone.
"Understood. Let's go, Gadget." Gear said as Nicole transferred back into his nanites.
Gadget nodded in response and followed Gear towards a large hall. Everyone else, including some of the other Resistance and G.U.N. soldiers took the other corridors. After a short while, Gear, Nicole, and Gadget heard Knuckles on the radio.
"Listen up, rookies. Our other forces are busy with enemies. It looks like you three took the best route. It's up to ya'll to save sonic now. Find him." Knuckles ordered.
Gear and Gadget continued running forward until the both of them went down a large circular stair case. As they were coming up to a curved turn to the left, Gear grabbed hold of Gadget's hand as the wolf fired his grappling hook to the side, allowing them to slide to the side without losing momentum. The two of them kept going, barely passing the security doors before they closed on them.
"The prisoners are being held in a kind of interment facility. Sonic is probably there, too. Security is tight, so stay on your toes." Rouge informed us as Gadget went ahead and set the robots in front of them on fire.
"Nothing in this room either." Silver said.
"Man! We're still trying to fight our way out. They've got us pinned down!" Vector complained.
As they continued on, the two came up on a wall. A couple of badniks jumped down from behind to ambush them, but the Dire Dog quickly crushed them with his Smack Hands. A handle bar came down shortly after that. Gadget grabbed hold of the handle and was lifted upwards. Gear launched himself with the Smack hands and caught up with him. The both of them ran as they destroyed any egg pawn that got in the way.
"Looks like this place was used up until recently." Vector said.
"It appears that many of our brethren were held here." Espio said.
"That's one more thing Eggman will answer for." Silver added with anger in his voice.
After making their way through some platforms and jump pads, Gear and Gadget reached a long corridor with cells as an alarm sounded.
"Uh-oh. They're on high alert now." Rouge said.
Gadget and Gear rushed through, passing by the many empty cells. Suddenly, a couple of Egg Chasers flew above them. These were similar to the Egg Pawns, excepts these are capable of high-speed flight and possesses laser blasters. The Egg Chasers flew ahead and fired lasers at them both. Gadget dodged to the side as Gear jumped in the air, destroying the Egg Chasers by smacking them against the walls.
Eventually, Gear and Gadget finally reached the Prison's Security Center. Not wanting to waste time, Gear ripped the doors with open with his Smack Hands. Gadget went in first to clear the room, torching the Egg Pawns. Gear placed his hand on the console, allowing Nicole to enter the console and show up on the monitor.
"I'm in. I've located Sonic, he's being held in a different orbital prison facility along with some other prisoners. But it looks like Zavok is there. I'm unlocking all cells." Nicole told them.
'I remember hearing about Zavok. Chris said Zavok is a large red Zeti, a powerful creature with the ability to control electronics with magnetic fields. He's also the leader of a group of other Zeti, but they haven't been seen anywhere since the war started. Basically, the last person I want to pick a fight with.' Gear thought to himself. "Alright. Sonic can handle Zavok. But how do we rescue him and the other prisoners?"
"Maybe we can radio Amy at the shuttle, she can pick them up." Gadget suggested
"Good thinking, Gadget. But would the prison facility let a ship near it? Eggman probably has a couple battleships protecting it." Gear asked.
"I agree. However, I've located the Death Egg's Control Center for the unmanned fighter ships. We can take command of the fighter ships there and have them target the enemy battleships." Nicole said.
Gadget got on his PDA radio to inform everyone else. "Everyone, we found Sonic. He's on a space facility near the Death Egg along with other prisoners. Nicole deactivated the cells, but we need to pick him up. We're heading to the Death Egg's control center to take control of the fighter ships. Amy, can you take the shuttle there?" Gadget asked.
"Of course. We'll get the ship and head over there." Amy enthusiastically replied.
"Copy that. We found all the other prisoners here…" Knuckles said but was cut off by the sound of a loud explosion.
"Commander Knuckles, you alright?" Gear asked, worried what that explosion was.
"There's badniks trying to swarm us! Hey! BACK OFF!" The three heard the sound of a badnik getting crushed from the radio.
"Do you need help?" Gear asked. All that was heard on the radio was more fighting. "I'll take that as a yes."
"Gear, I know you want to help. But we're pressed for time. The longer we're here, the more difficult it will be to escape. And we still need to reach the control center." Nicole told him." Nicole reasoned with him.
"I know. Still…" Gear responded. While she had a point, it sounded like their friends need help.
While Gear was trying to think of a way to do both, Gadget looked hesitant at first, but gave the Dire Dog and Nicole a determined look. "I'll go help them."
Nicole and Gear both turned toward Gadget in surprise. "Gadget, you sure?" Gear asked.
"Nicole's right. We don't have much time left, but our friends need help. And your the only one that can get Nicole to the control room." Gadget told them.
The Dire Dog and holo-lynx was uncertain at first but nodded in agreement.
"Alright then. Nicole, is it possible to give him directions?" Gear asked the holo-lynx
Nicole nodded. "Of course. Gadget, give your PDA to Gear for a moment, I'll program the directions through Gear's nanites."
The holo-lynx transferred back into Gear's nanites as Gadget gave the Dire Dog his PDA. After a second, Gadget's PDA showed the map to the second group's location.
"Thanks. Be safe you two." Gadget said told them as he ran out of the room.
"You as well, Gadget." Gear called out. He was about to head out as well, but stopped and looked at the console. "Hey, Nicole. Did you happen to check to see if your friends were imprisoned here?" He asked the holo-lynx.
Nicole holographic form appeared next to Gear with a smile. "I did. Thankfully they weren't on the prison's database, meaning they weren't captured. Otherwise they would have been brought here in an attempt to hurt Sonic."
"That's good, now let's rescue Sonic." Gear said as he ran out of the room.
Gear and Nicole were on their way to the control center. More badniks with rapid-fire machine guns appeared and opened fire on Gear. The Dire Dog generated the Smack Hands punched through the badniks trying to stop him. The robots began firing their blasters at Gear, to which he ripped out a panel from the floor to use as a makeshift shield. Once the egg pawns ceased their fire, Gear threw the panel, destroying the badniks.
Continuing through the metal halls for a couple minutes until he reached a security door of the Control Room, Gear noticed the circuit lines on him started flaring up blue. He was getting a little light headed, imagining blue lines forming together as he stopped.
"Nicole, what's happening?" Gear asked, extremely concerned.
"It's the Omega-2 Nanite. It appears it's recreating one of your missing builds." Nicole answered.
"Really!? Do you know which one!?" Gear was extremely excited that he was getting one of his builds back. So happy that his tail started wagging without him noticing.
"I don't, but you should soon… is your tail wagging?" Nicole asked, staring at his wagging tail.
The Dire Dog's eye's widened and looked behind him. Gear saw his tail was wagging and got embarrassed, quickly grabbing his tail. "It has a mind of it's own sometimes, I promise!" He quickly said.
Nicole giggled a little. "It's actually kinda cute."
Gear just blushed even more in embarrassment from that statement. He shook it off and generated the Smack Hands. The Dire Dog spun Smack Hand and punched through the door. Once he drilled through the doors, Gear jumped through. Two Egg Pawns operating the control panel turned around and fired their blasters. Gear raised the Smack Hands to block their attack while rushing forward. Once he was within reach, Gear grabbed the badnik on the right and slammed it against the other, destroying both of them. With no other robots in the room, Gear placed his hand onto the panel. Nicole transferred herself to the controls and appeared on the screen.
"I've gained access to the fighter ships. I'll begin programming them to assist Amy and target the other Eggman shuttles." Nicole said.
Just then a large door opened up to reveal a large purple Egg Pawn wielding a huge hammer. This was an Egg Hammer, one of the larger Badniks Eggman has created. The ground shook as it approached Gear.
"That could be a problem." Gear muttered
"Gear. I need time to control all the fighter ships." Nicole told him
"Gear: Got it." The Dire Dog generated the Smack Hands and charged at the Egg Hammer. The Badnik charged back and swung it's hammer at Gear. Gear dodged to the side of the hammer and performed and uppercut of the badnik. The robot stumbled backwards a bit as Gear continued to pummel it until the Egg Hammer grabbed his smack hand and threw him to the wall. Recovering from the impact, Gear started imagining circuits forming a complete blueprint. Once the Dire Dog looked up, he saw the huge Badnik swing it's hammer from the side. Gear tried blocking the attack with his Smack Hands, only to be slammed from the hit.
Gear skid across the metal floor as his Smack Hands crumbled apart. The blueprint in Gear's head was almost complete.
'Alright. My Smack Hands aren't enough to smash this thing, so what can I do?' Gear pondered.
The Dire Dog's thoughts were interrupted as the Egg Hammer stomps marches towards him. Just then, the blueprint was completed and Gear knew what it formed. The huge Badnik swings down it's hammer at Gear as he generated his lost build, the BFS, a giant metal sword. With one swing, Gear sliced the hammer from it's handle, causing the hammer end fell on the floor. The Egg Hammer looked at it's severed weapon before throwing it away and tried to crush him with it's bare fist. Gear jumped on the arm as it punched through the floor panel. Taking another jump, Gear brought down the BFS toward the robot. The Egg Hammer raised it's arm to defend it's self, only to be sliced in two by the giant sword.
"Gear, that was amazing! What is that?" Nicole asked looking at the giant blade.
"It's called the BFS, short for big fat sword." Gear answered
"I see. I'm happy that your build returned. And I've successfully hacked all the drone fighter ships. They're covering Amy's shuttle as we speak. Also, Gadget contacted me that he linked up with Knuckles and the rest. They're currently escorting the prisoners to the hanger." She said.
"Got it. We'll meet them there." Gear said as he placed his hand on the console.
Nicole transferred back to the nanites and Gear ran out the room. On the way to the hanger, a group of Egg pawns appeared from a side corridor and opened fire on Gear. The Dire Dog saw this coming and generated the BFS, blocking the shots with his blade. Once Gear got close, he sliced the robots to pieces. Once they were dealt with, Gear put away the BFS and continued through the station until he eventually reached the hanger.
Entering the hanger through one of the top catwalks, Gear saw the Resistance Fighters and GUN soldiers in battle with badniks. Near one of the shuttles, Gear spotted Gadget grappling to a Egg Pawn, destroying it and saving a female yellow hedgehog wearing blue dress on the floor, whose long quills were somewhat burnt on her head.
Suddenly, there was another Egg Hammer making it's way to the two of them. Jumping off the catwalk, Gear crated the BFS again, bringing it down on the Egg Hammer, making it meet the same fate as the one before it.
"Gear!" Gadget said, happy to see his friend.
"You two okay?" Gear asked.
"I am. Thanks to him." The yellow hedgehog said gratefully as Gadget helped her up.
"Oh, it was nothing." Gadget said as he blushed a little as. This did not go unnoticed by Gear and Nicole.
Just then, more badniks came from the corridors and ran towards them.
Gear turned to the yellow hedgehog. "Get to the shuttle. Gadget and I will handle this." He ordered.
The yellow hedgehog nodded her head. "Alright." She said as she ran for the shuttle.
The badniks split up into two groups. One on the catwalk connected to the ship, and some underneath it. Gadget readied his burst wispon as they got close.
"You take the catwalk while I handle the ones below." Gear suggested to his friend.
Gadget nodded his head as he charged at the Egg Pawns, setting them on fire with his wispon. Gear jumped down and proceeded to cut down Egg Pawns left and right. Some of the Egg Pawns charged at the Dire Dog at the same time. Gear reached the lever on his sword, pulling it. The top half of the blade split apart and began rotating at a high velocity, forming the Battle Saw. Gear swung the giant saw, cutting apart the Egg Pawns to pieces. The other Egg Pawns fired their blasters, to which Gear took cover behind one of the fighter ships. The robots moved to get a good angle at Gear, but once they went a around the ship, Gear was gone. The Dire Dog climbed onto of the fighter ship as they were looking form him. Gear jumped down behind the group of robots, and rushed them. With one swing, Gear sliced all of them in half.
As the severed robots fell on the floor, Gear didn't find anymore badniks below the catwalk. He switched to the Smack Hands and launched himself from the ground. Once he got back to the catwalk, Gadget was still destroying the Egg Pawns until one of the robots blasted his wispon out of the wolf's hands. The wispon was destroyed as the fire wisp within it flew out. With no way to defend himself, Gadget was cornered by the remaining three Egg Pawns. Gear rushed to help him, but before he reached him, a blue blur rushed the robots, taking each of them out with rapid homing attacks. When he landed in front of Gadget, the rescuer turned out to be none other Sonic the Hedgehog.
"Easy there! Everything's cool." Sonic assured him as he offered Gadget a hand.
Gear sighed in relief that his friend was alright. Deactivating his build, the dire dog ran up to the two as Sonic helped Gadget up to his feet.
"Are you two here to rescue me?" Sonic asked.
"Not just us." Gear said as Nicole's small holographic form appeared next to him.
"Hello, Sonic. It's been a long time." Nicole greeted.
The blue hedgehog was confused at first but quickly realized who she was.
"Nicole, that you?" Sonic exclaimed
"Yes, Sonic. It's so good to see you again." Nicole said, happy to see his friends again
"You as well, Nicole. It's been a while since I've seen friendly faces."
Gadget's and Gear's communicators lit up, and Commander Knuckles's voice came through. "Hey rookies, you still in one piece?"
Before either Gear or Gadget could respond, Sonic interrupted. "Oh, sure, don't even bother to ask how I am." He said with a grin.
"Sonic!" Amy exclaimed over the radio. The volume of her voice made the three recoil. "I'm so glad."
"Hold up Amy. We're all happy Sonic is alive! But he won't be for long if he doesn't get off that egg in a hurry." Knuckles told her.
Sonic looked at the three of his rescuers. "There an exit around here?" He asked.
"One of the shuttles we've commandeered." Gear told him.
Gadget pointed at the Eggman shuttle ready for depart on the hangers on the turntable at the end of the platform.
"Your concern is touching, Knuckles. We're heading for the shuttle now." Sonic spoke into the communicator as they headed for the shuttle.
Sonic ran ahead as Gadget and Gear followed him. Gadget fired his grapple wire and zipped to the ramp of the shuttle with Sonic and Gear not to far behind. Once the ramp closed the hanger doors opened up. The shuttle flew out of the hanger into space, escaping from the Death Egg Prison.
As their shuttle was flying through the space battle, a few of the enemy ships spotted them escaping, but were too busy with the fighter ships Nicole hacked. After a few moments, the sound of battle finally stopped.
"Everyone, we've successfully escaped Eggman's forces. On route to Resistance HQ." The pilot said over the shuttle's speakers. All the rescued prisoners on the shuttle celebrated that they've escaped.
Sonic was especially happy. Being locked up for months have been making the blue hedgehog restless. "Now that we have a breather, mind filling me in on what I missed?" Sonic asked the three.
As Nicole began informing Sonic about the events this past months, Gadget sat down on a nearby seat to get some rest. Gear did the same as he looked out the window into space with a worried look. The dire dog was glad for this victory, but a part of him worried that things will become more dangerous from here on out. If Gear has learned anything about the mad doctor, is that he takes extreme actions when he's upset.
Even so, they have won a major victory, one long overdue. Eggman lost his most valuable prisoner, along with the other Resistance soldiers, and his most prized space station was breached. Now with Sonic back, not just Gear and everyone else gained something they has been missing for a while. Hope that they can turn the tide in this war.
Meanwhile, in the city of Metropolis. Eggman is watching the footage from the prison break. To say he was upset would be an understatement.
"How could this happen?!" Eggman exclaimed watching Sonic escape. "I had an entire fleet protecting the Death Egg and placed Zavok there for good measure!"
"Maybe your defenses weren't as impermeable as you thought. On the bright side, things will get interesting." The Masked Jackal said nonchalant. "Or would you rather continue your tantrum?"
"Don't start with me. Had you not failed to destroyed the Resistance at the Chemical Plant, Sonic wouldn't have escaped!" Eggman angrily told the Masked Jackal.
"And where would be the fun in that. Besides, it'll more satisfying to break that hedgehog in front of the Resistance." He said.
Before Eggman could retort, Orbot interrupted him. "Boss, you may want to take a look at this.
The screen turned to a footage of Sonic talking to Gear, Gadget, and Nicole's holographic form when they were in the hangar before escaping.
"Nicole!" Eggman exclaimed, surprised to see her.
"Who?" The Jackal asked.
"An A.I. that's part of a group called the Freedom Fighters. But Snively told me he destroyed her in a trap for the Freedom Fighters recently." Eggman said.
"Well from what I hear, Your nephew isn't exactly the most reliable person." The Jackal said.
"True, but he still has his uses. At least he keeps the Freedom Fighters occupied. Eggman said.
The Jackal looked at the footage of Gear and Nicole. "So, you want me to clean up Snively's mess?" He asked.
"Actually no, I have a more important assignment for you. As for Gear and Nicole. There's a new machine I rebuilt to serve me. And hunting them down will be a good test run." Eggman said a he grew a wicked smile.
The Jackal wondered what Eggman was referring to before remembering the deadly machine that attacked him. Like Eggman, he grew a mischievous smile underneath his mask as he chuckled. "I almost feel sorry for them."
A/N: Hey Everyone! Thanks for reading my Fanfiction. Hope you all enjoy it. I considered bringing the Freedom Fighters into the story but I plan on a sequel later on with them in it.