Chapter Zero: Paved With Good Intentions

Emerging from the portal, Buster took in his surroundings. Heavy industries covered the city, a thick layer of smog was being polluted from tall smokestacks that poisoned Buster's lungs and stung his eyes. His vision was limited due to the resulting haze that clung to the air. The sun scarcely could be seen through the smog, creating a darkness that seemed to swallow the city whole in an aura of inescapable despair.

The city's downtrodden sat in alleyways, gutters, and beside the lifeless streets as they inhaled the city's toxic fumes. Broken bottles and syringes littered the ground around them, the populace not content to leave the pollution as the only substance to poison their body as they tried desperately and ultimately in vain to liberate their mind from their putrid existence.

Those few who had possessed the will to stand against Eggman had one by one disappeared through the years as they were spirited away in the dead of night by Eggman's Swat Bots. A few Swat Bots still patrolled the streets but they were no longer needed to maintain order. The broken people that remained had lost, not by defeat in combat due to overwhelming force, or through death or capture, like better Men and Women had, but by moral capitulation.

Buster pitied them.

Though, he could spare them little more than fleeting sympathy. Buster had a mission to carry out. He would not end up like these broken people. These wretched beings, living, yet lifeless. Alive, yet with nothing deemed worth striving for… or worth fighting for. They had succumbed to despair and had ceded their will to live life, to create a world where their hopes and desires could be made reality by the power of their own action and ambition.

As he walked toward Eggman's Looming Tower, keeping his eyes out for the rare Swat Bot, the masses of flesh moved toward Buster, hunched and ashamed, as if some part of them knew how low they had fallen. They extended their hands and begged like starving dogs. They begged for anything and everything. Drugs, metal scraps, food, a warm embrace…

Buster averted their dead and hollow gazes. To Buster they could not be saved. To Buster these people were irredeemable. They had their life, their mind, and had yet a chance to better their world. To set wrongs right. Yet, day after day they chose subjugation. They chose to piss their gift of life away. Wasting their days by shooting chems into their bloodstream, sitting on their rears all day begging. Doing anything and everything so they could avoid the responsibility of their own choices that brought them to their reprehensible state of existence. All in a vain attempt to avoid the hardships of existing during interesting times.

As Buster continued onward toward the Tower, passing by groups of debilitated huddled masses, some of the people he passed on the street gawked at him in equal parts wonder and derangement. It was then Buster realized he had been wrong. He did not pity these broken people.

He was a fool for having pitied them at all.

Rather, Buster felt a different emotion swelling inside him… hatred.

Buster hated them.

He despised them.

He felt sick in his stomach to even look at them. To look at what they represented.

He hoped they would suffer. He hoped that Eggman's opioids and drugs would run dry so the masses could see the city they helped create, the world they had abandoned. That they could see the wretched world he and his sisters had to live in day after day. Parentless and alone. If only for one hellish lucid day...

That would bring him some twisted satisfaction, though Buster was not proud of the realization.

Buster's earpiece buzzed to life as he heard Colette speak, "Radio Check!" In the background Annabella was barely heard reminding her sister of the proper radio etiquette. "Oh, over!"

"Read you loud & clear. Over." Buster said.

"Up ahead is Eggman's tower. The building is a typical glass and steel building. Like all the other mass produced buildings around here. At this site though, deep underground is where some of Eggman's local factories and labs are hidden." Annabella said.

"As well as the Chaos Emerald... over." Buster said.

"Right. Please, be careful Buster. Colette and I will see you soon. Over."

Buster then quietly grumbled, "Love you losers. Buster Out."

"Yay!" Colette cheered.

"Say again?. We couldn't hear you. There was some sudden static. Over" Annabela teased.

"You heard me! Buster out." Buster examined the Tower and looked for a means of entry. "Now, how to sneak in?" Buster said to himself. He looked around and noticed a large industrial crane nearby.

"Little sis one do you copy? Over." Buster said.

"Roger, go ahead big bro one."

"Can Colette hack into a nearby industrial crane?"

"Let me ask her… she said which one do you need hacked?"

Buster grinned.

…

A crane's metal jib slammed into the glass windows of Eggman's steel tower, tearing through several of the top rooms and floors. Buster wasted no time in climbing the crane and rushing inside the tower.

Buster's heart was pounding as his feet landed on the cold metal floors and shattered glass. He crouched down low and prepared to dash and dodge as he checked his surroundings. Who knew how many traps and turrets could be lying dormant. Buster was surprised to find… nothing. No Swat Bots, no alarms, just empty barren rooms, metal floors, and glass windows that allowed one to look at the world below. As Buster made his way down the hallway, he stopped after a few minutes to look out across the city when a terrifying thought crossed his mind.

It shouldn't be this easy-

Just then something grabbed Buster and picked him up, it's razer sharp claws digging into his fur and skin. An invisible assailant momentarily materialized before Buster as the robot's cold bipedal exterior made contact with his body, holding him tightly, with Buster just barely able to move his arms.

The robot threw itself along with his captive into the large glass window. The glass cracked but failed to break.

"Uh oh." Buster said.

"What's wrong? Over." Annabella

Buster struggled, and tried to break free but the robot's stealth field made it difficult to see the robot, and thus where best to apply leverage to free himself from its grasp.

Buster then broke radio etiquette as he began shouting a great many words that were unfit for Colette's ears.

"Buster! What's happening?" Annabella shouted, her heart racing out of fear.

Lining itself up with the glass wall once more, the robot hurled itself and Buster into the glass, shattering it, causing the pair to begin falling toward their doom. Buster managed to free his arm by squirming around the robot's grip, losing his shades in the process. The robot was still holding tightly to Buster's waist but now Buster had a chance at living. Buster grabbed his grappling hook, aimed it, and launched it toward the building with the press of a button. The grappling hook rocketed into a wind, then latched onto an internal window sill. A moment later the grappling hooks rope became taut and the pair went swinging toward another window on Eggman's Tower, smashing through it, with the resulting impact sending Buster rolling free from his captor.

"Buster, is everything okay? Your heart rate has spiked." Annabella asked.

"Busy!" Buster yelled into his headset as he pulled out a flare, lit it, and threw it on the ground. The flares pyrotechnic composition ignited causing the entire room to be illuminated suddenly. As the flare flickered the robot's camouflage system struggled to conform to the ever changing luminosity.

"There you are, you bastard." The robot disengaged it's camouflage revealing itself to be a yellow bipedal robotic chameleon.

"Buster! You can't get caught up fighting Eggman's robots. Get out of there!" Annabella shouted.

"It's not your normal Swat Bot. I can destroy this one. I have to destroy this one!" Buster screamed through the headset. "It's taken too many good people. He deserves to be put to rest!"

Overhearing all of this, Colette begged her brother to flee, "Please, just run away, it's already dead!"

Buster grabbed the robot killer device Colette had given him, activated it, and was just about to stab the robot with the weapon when suddenly something grabbed his hand mid swing.

Buster's heart stopped as he turned to see what had halted his attack. He did not have time to even process what he saw, nor even scream, as he was violently thrown onto the ground by a Swat Bot, his arm almost being pulled out of its socket in the process. As he landed on the ground, his head bounced repeatedly on the hard floor causing him to instinctively close his eyes...

…

Buster felt as light as a feather. As if he was flying through the air. There was a slight pain in his arm and skull but that was easily ignored when one could enjoy the sensation of flying like a bird. He tried to open his eyes but when he did so there was just white light blinding him. His eyes rolled around as he tried to focus but it was futile.

Buster felt there was something he was forgetting. Something important, something that was causing Buster to have a bad feeling in his gut, like there was some sort of danger he had been in. Something about robots? His eyes fluttered open once more and the taste of stomach acid lined his throat. Had he thrown up? He blinked again and was now being put on his back. He heard a ringing in his ears. Strange… the only noise he should hear in his ear should be from his sisters…

"Oh chaos." He thought.

Buster's eyes shot open as the world seemed to spin all around him. His legs were strapped onto a table and his left and right hands were about to be restrained as well when Buster raised himself and sat upright. The Chameleon robot shoved him back on the table pushing hard on his chest. A Swat Bot from earlier, pressed a nearby button which caused a machine directly behind Buster to begin to hum to life, Buster spared a glance behind him as a large machine three times his size roared as it began to cause the conveyor belt to move Buster drawing him into and closer to the fiendish machine.

Upon seeing the machine, Buster immediately knew what that machine did. What it's purpose was. He had heard horror stories from his father about this device, which was why Annabella had given him the gun in case it came to this.

The table he was on started to move backwards as Buster struggled to keep his arms free.

"No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Buster whimpered.

He grabbed the EMP grenade he had tucked away in his pocket but his hand was grabbed almost immediately. "No!" In a last ditch effort he twisted the EMP grenade as it was pried out of his hand. He continued fighting, resisting, managing to keep one arm free, the other was quickly and forcibly locked inside the metal strap attached to the table, eventually Buster was overpowered and slowly brought into the center of the machine, Buster's whole body was enveloped by the diabolical device.

Time seemed to stand still for Buster as his mind raced.

He was going to be turned into a robot, to be used as a pawn in Eggman's army, and likely used to capture or destroy the very people he loved most.

Buster used his one free arm to retrieve his revolver and pressed it to his head. He took several deep breaths.

He thought of his sisters and his parents, all of whom he loved dearly.

He put his finger around the trigger and was just about to begin to pull...

But he couldn't do it.

He could not kill himself. He had too much to live for. Too much still to do. There had to be a way to free himself. His mind raced. Mere seconds had passed since he had awoken. He had yet several more seconds to live. He calmed his mind and looked around.

He considered shooting at the machine but due to the metal cage he found himself quickly swallowed by, such an action would surely result in self injury or death due to the bullet ricocheting.

The conveyor belt stopped and Buster looked up at the machine's inner workings, into the face of his demise. A large red lense, like a demonic eye, was revealed, parting so that it could begin scanning his body. The machine whirled to life as it began to activate, the noise becoming deafening… then it stopped.

Buster laid on the bed. Frozen in fear until he regained his faculties and pried his arm and legs free from the conveyor belt they had been strapped into. He exited the Roboticizer and saw the EMP grenade had detonated, emitting an electromagnetic pulse that had disabled the robots and the machine.

Blood oozed out of the side of his head, he was nauseous from receiving what he assumed had been a mild concussion, his arm felt like it was broken, every little movement in his right hand caused acute pain, and to make matters worse, his radio transmitter was either lost or destroyed along with Colette's gift.

He took a ragged breath. He just had to find the Chaos Emerald. Then everything could be...

Buster fell to the ground. A lifetime of hardship and despair caught up to him in an instant. All it took was one truly near death experience and all his naive ambitions and perceptions had been shattered. Everything that had seemed so simple was revealed for what it was… A fool's errand.

Who was he kidding? He was never leaving here alive...

Buster cried. He cried for the pain he was in, he wiped away tears for his youngest sister who had been born blind through no fault of her own, due to genetic probability, he cried for his dead parents and the bedtime stories they would never get to hear, he sobbed for Sonic and Amy who never got the chance to settle down together. He cried because he and his sisters were attempting to change the past. Something that had never done before, and could just as well be impossible, or lead to a horrible never ending paradox, or their own demise.

Buster cried, ultimately because he was a twelve year old boy whose Father had died years ago, a boy who acted tough but deep down was a terrified child who never got the chance to learn how to be a Man.

Yet… some subconscious and irrational part of his mind churned forth a feeling… an emotion… like a child crying out.

An angry, hate filled, vengeful, lonely, and broken hearted child inside of him, screamed out from the depths of his being, that despite the odds he had to press on. No matter the cost. No matter the sacrifices he would need to make. No matter the blood he might need to wet his gloved hands in. He had to press on.

For his Sisters.

For Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles.

For his Parents.

For himself.

For Eggman… so he could be made to suffer as Buster had endured. So that Eggman could be made to suffer the living hell the Prower family had been made to suffer.

At this thought Buster smiled. He still had his gun… Eggman was but a man after all...

If the time machine worked, well…

After rescuing his parents and everyone else, Buster would have all the time in the world for vengeance.

To that end, he and his sisters were about to ignite a war with Eggman. A war that Buster, despite his second wind, for all his bravado and big talk, felt overwhelmingly unprepared for.

A war that a rational part of Buster's mind feared they would lose.

This was after all, only the beginning.

...

After Buster composed himself. He discovered he had been brought down to the underbelly of the vast industrial complex.

He could not believe his eyes. In the very next room over, the Chaos Emerald was out in the open. It floated a few inches above a bonafide marble pedestal that bathed in a bright industrial grade floodlight. He checked the area quickly. No traps. No cameras. No patrols. No alarms. Or at least none he was aware of.

Buster could not believe his luck.

Really, he could not believe his luck, "It has to be a trap." he said to himself. A bead of blood and sweat sliding down his face. "This doesn't just happen randomly."

He checked the area again. Then a third time. There was nothing. The place was seemingly abandoned.

Buster walked toward the podium. Reached out… and took the floating Chaos Emerald.

The only sound Buster heard was that of his own heartbeat.

Buster did not know what to make of this.

This… this was so unlike Eggman. It had to be a trap.

"What can I really do given the situation? Not take the Chaos Emerald?" Buster asked himself.

That was not an option for him. He had come so far. The Emerald was right here in his hand!

There was only one choice to be made.

Buster put the Chaos Emerald in his pocket… and went home.

…

"You're telling me it was just sitting there when you walked out of the room?" Annabella said, incredulously.

"Floating, but yeah. It was." Buster said.

"No traps?"

"None that I saw."

"No patrols? No alarms or falling boulders?"

"Nothing."

"It's definitely a trap." Colette mumbled with her mouth full of mushrooms as she held her beloved Sonic plush toy aunt Amy had given her in her lap.

"There were no traps. I just said-" Buster began to say.

"Not out there." Colette pointed to the wall. "There." Colette pointed to another wall.

"Colette," Annabella said sweetly. "You just pointed at a wall twice."

"Oh my gosh!" A miffed and cranky Colette yelled. "The time machine. Wherever it is. Why do you think Eggman did not try that hard to stop you? There was one little trap where you could have been roboticized if he succeeded. It was just a token defense to keep out intruders and to keep up appearances. Now when we leave to travel to the past, that is when the real trap will be sprung. It's so obvious even I can see it."

"Colette, what are you getting at? If Eggman knew we were making a time machine why would he-"

Colette slammed a bowl of mushrooms she had been eating as hard and angrily as her adorable little hands would allow, sending a couple stray mushrooms flying onto the table, "Because he wants us to make a time machine. Duh!" Colette said with her mouth still full, spewing mushrooms all over the table.

"Eww. Don't talk with your mouth full. And there is just one problem with that theory, Colette. How would he know we were working on one? We kept everything off the grid, created entirely in house. There's no way he could know!" Buster said.

"I… I don't… I don't know how he would know." Colette lowered her head, admitting defeat.

Annabella looked down in thought as she furrowed her brow, "There is one way. No point worrying about it now though. If I'm right there is nothing we could do about it anyway."

"Fan-freaking-tastic. I love our little uplifting talks." Buster complained. "Just what I need before another deadly mission."

He shoved some of Colette's mushrooms in his mouth, as he tried not to gag at the horrible taste and texture.

"So… is everything ready then?" Buster asked after he had finished eating.

"Yes. As much as can be." Annabella said.

The three then walked to the time machine they had built as Annabella entered some data into the machine's console. She then walked over to Buster and handed him a large watch.

"I've already programmed it. All you'll do is press the button on the side and pray that it works. This is our ticket home from the past. It can open spacial portals normally, but with the Chaos Emerald inside of it, it should make a link in time between the past and the future and allow us to open inter-dimensional portals whenever we want."

"Handy, too bad it's ugly as sin." Buster commented.

"Function over form Ben. It is the 1.0 version after all."

"Let's hope that's all we need." Buster said ominously.

"I don't like the idea of traveling through time. It sounds messy." Colette said.

"It is. Very much so." Annabella said with a face filled with worry.

"Since we're going to the past, are there any rules we should follow? Anything we should watch out for?"

"I don't know." Annabella said, truthfully.

Colette's jaw dropped, and Buster stared at Annabella in disbelief.

"You… you still don't know?" What do you mean you don't know? How could you not know?" Buster shouted.

"We're doomed. We're so doomed. Mommy... Daddy..." Colette lamented.

"Just calm down. Good grief you guys. This is fine. I have some ideas but there are so many untested and unproven theories. We're going to learn how it works by observing the effects of our actions… hopefully… in theory… maybe." Annabella admitted.

"Oh, great, hey Colette, how about we run a science experiment while we rescue our parents. Doesn't that sound fun!" Buster sassed. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"If nothing else, at least I'll get to hug Mom, Dad, uncle and aunt Sonamy again." Colette said as she wiped moisture from her eyes, smiling at the thought as she hugged her sonic plush toy.

"About that,'' Annabella said sympathetically.

"Wha- what do you mean? What do you mean about that?" Colette said, her voice full of concern.

"Buster and I need you to stay here. We're going back to when everyone was at war with Eggman. We need you here where it's safe, and where you can act as a control group for if, no, for when we return..."

Colette was on the verge of tears, her lip quivering, the only thing holding back her tears was her rage. Her facial features formed a death glare. "You… you want me to be a control group for a d-d-d-d-damn science experiment?!"

"Colette, I'm so sorry, truly, the real reason is simply to keep you safe. We don't fully know what will happen. So many things could go wrong. We don't even fully know where or when we will arrive in the past. We can't risk something happening to you."

Colette's brow and her white eyes glared daggers as tears streamed down her face. "I hate you. I HATE YOU! You both keep secrets from me! You met and planned this. Didn't you?"

"Colette-" Buster meekly began but was cut off.

"-Didn't you!" Colette screamed.

"We did." Buster admitted.

"F-family doesn't do that. People who love each other-," Colette took a ragged breath, finding herself on the verge of losing her ability to talk, "-people who love each other don't do that!" Colette shouted.

Annabella looked at Colette, then to the ground in shame. "You're right Colette. We're sorry. We love you. We only wanted to protect you and keep you out of harm's way. Which is why you still have to stay. Please… understand why we're doing this."

Colette began to sob and collapsed on the ground.

"Sonic… Amy…" Colette tried but failed to wipe away her downpour of tears. "...I want to meet Mom and Dad again too."

Buster and Annabella's hearts were breaking.

"You promised me Benjamin, you promised me." Colette said.

"I know, and I am going to stand by that promise. We're going to save our parents, Sonic, Amy and Knuckles too. We will all be together soon."

"You promise?" Colette said through her tears.

"I do."

"Do-," Colette let out a heart broken, high pitched sob, she swallowed while wiping snot off her face. "-do you pinky promise?"

"I pinky promise." The two siblings shook pinkies. Making it official.

"All you have to do is wait here Colette." Annabella began, "Depending on the programming and the laws of physics, we should be back anywhere from one second from our departure up to a day…"

"I'm still ironing out the math." Annabella said sheepishly.

"...okay." Colette said calmly, having regained her composure somewhat.

"Alright then, let's do this." Buster began, "Annabella, show Colette the button to press."

Annabella walked Colette over and had her place her hand on the activation button then moved back beside Buster in front of the time machine.

"Ready?" Colette asked them.

"Ready!" Her siblings responded.

Colette pushed the button and heard what she assumed was a portal materializing in front of her brother and sister.

"See you soon, squirt." Buster said. With that he hesitated for a moment, unsure what else he should say, what could he say? He then decided that was enough, and he jumped through the portal.

"Stay strong Colette. We'll be back soon. We love you!"

"I love both too!" Colette said as she began to cry again. "Be safe! I'm sorry for what I said. I-I didn't mean it." Colette began to cry again. Terrified of being all alone. "Please tell Buster I love him. Hug M-Mom and D-Dad for m-me." Colette said with great effort as she tried and failed to choke back her tears.

"I will… and you will too very soon. Until then..." With that said, Annabella jumped through the portal. Only with a vague idea of when and where the mark one time machine would take them.

Then… Colette waited.

She tried to keep herself amused but found her heart filled with worry.

She was unsure how much time had passed…

Then, she heard the sound of machines in the distance.

Alarms sounded… but were quickly silenced.

Colette ran, using her spatial memory to run to her room, grasping for the bookshelf until she found it, she counted the rows of books then pulled a specific one, revealing a panic room. She rushed inside, a moment later it closed behind her. She felt around and pressed a button locking the panic room door.

Colette was terrified. She sat in the fetal position too scared to move or breathe.

She heard footsteps…

She heard books being tossed onto the ground…

She heard a robot drilling carefully to disengage the locking mechanism. The sound got louder and louder until she found it deafening. Then the sound stopped.

Colette began to silently cry.

She heard the secret passage opening as metal and steel were ripped off their hinges…

She heard footsteps and felt a presence hovering over her.

Colette held back her tears, her body shook in fear.

Then, she heard six words…

Six little words uttered from that evil man that had killed her parents…

Six words that made her heart sink and filled her with dread, terror, and absolute despair...

"You look just like your Mother."