'It's so very typical for me that even when things go as planned they don't go as I'd like.'

To reiterate: GUN was sending forces to Station Square and on pain of death I was not to let even a single soldier enter the city. Suffice to say I was quite willing to lower myself to commit all sorts of vileness if it meant saving my own sorry hide. If I had to attack a bunch of innocent bystanders in order to bait GUN into standing fighting instead of scattering then that's exactly what I would do.

Granted it wasn't like I had any intent of actually attacking them. Fortunately, Robotnik's orders didn't include slaughtering hapless civilians… at least not yet.

Though hardly a trained tactician, at this point I've been through enough fights to have a hopefully decent idea of what to do. The plan I had put together involved a mostly fake attack upon the refugee column. My badniks would attack the buses and render them inoperable. Provided nothing odd happened they should be able to manage this without hurting anyone badly. Once the people were driven off the buses, Sigma and Mu would stage an attack on the civilians themselves. Hopefully at that distance it would look like the badniks were mass executing the civilians and drive the GUN soldiers to get stuck in. Repeatedly I commanded that all badniks take great pains to not kill a civilian, it was foolish to do so when my forces were all machines and would perfectly remember my order but I dearly wished to avoid burdening my conscience any further.

No doubt I'd have to explain my reasoning in a much more "pragmatic" manner later for the benefit of Robotnic. The man would definitely be going over recordings of my activities and I'd need to make any errant shows of mercy on my part look acceptable to the megalomaniac.

And that was another angle of threat to this whole thing I had to keep in mind, Robotnic would be watching. Probably not at the moment but with recordings that didn't matter. So I had to conduct this plan with the thought in mind that the Doctor would be evaluating my actions, judging whether or not I fell short of the whole 'First Organic Officer of the Eggman Empire' title and expectations.

Which unfortunately meant that based on my previous actions I'd have to take something of a starring role in the attack!

I couldn't just safely sit in the back, commanding the badniks to do work. Based purely on precedent I have always been in the thick of things or far too near enough. Certainly it wasn't too unreasonable that several close calls would have taught me caution but 'reasonable' sure as hell wasn't what you'd call Robotnik. The man would likely see minions being wary in the face of mortal peril as cowardice. Doubly so since this wasn't any typical mortal peril but the peril one would expect to face during one of the Doctor's big plays for dominance. Here I am entrusted with a role in his 'grand plan' and I start getting cold feet about risking my life?

Ironically it would be safer in such circumstances to put myself in danger, on purpose…

Sigh

So while the two E-series were staging a fake slaughter, Dessy would do her best to both look like she was trying to keep the soldiers away and not do such a great job she'd actually succeed. For the part I would play I'd be joining the majority of my forces in the ambush once GUN committed themselves to a charge. Merely being part of the ambush should be enough to look like I was getting myself in the thick of things again… but we weren't facing an armed mob or insurgents. We would be attacking a column of hundreds of professional military men who'd likely react quickly enough to return fire, even in an ambush.

No doubt said return fire would be accurate.

I may be armored but I've been hurt enough in spite of that to not get overconfident in what I could 'safely' expose myself to.

So if I couldn't take a role in the actual frontline of combat to make a scene of myself I would take part in a fake frontline. While the badniks were drawing all attention from the side I'd 'bravely' drive ahead and cut off the forward advance of a, no doubt no longer moving, column of soldiers. I would take pot shots too of course, just to sell the part of me 'cutting off the advance' of the GUN soldiers.

But of course… the only part of the plan that didn't go off without a hitch was my own…

'Where the hell did they come from!?' I screamed inwardly as I soared towards a small mass of soldiers.

After one last pass of the line of badniks to ensure everything was in place I had set off for my own part to play once the shooting started. I drove Lady through the jungle, bullets whizzing past and ripping apart the foliage all around me, riding her out of the treeline and ramping up the embankment of the highway to make a suitably dramatic entrance. Of course this was about the time I noticed I was heading for a group of soldiers. I'd have angled myself away but by then I was already in midair and about to crash into their midst.

Normally I'd be panicking now but as humans screamed and bodies went flying I found myself feeling more resigned than terrified of my current circumstances. Of course the safe role I had planned out for myself turned out to be anything but, of course! And so, with far more aplomb then I had any right to feel, I drew out my shotgun and fired at a soldier. At this range and it being a shotgun made a right mess of the man's face and he crumpled to the ground. I then leaned out of my seat a little to make pumping my shotgun less awkward when a gunshot echoed right behind me. I felt the now very telltale rush of air from a bullet passing in between my ears.

'I can't believe I can recognize the feeling of bullets whizzing by.' I thought despairingly.

The shotgun was still unpumped and was a bit unwieldy at this angle. So while drawing my pistol I twisted in my seat and shot the first person I saw. At this range even I couldn't mess and even better I actually managed to pinpoint the one who shot at me. Granted he was still aiming towards my head but I was still new at shooting, combat and fighting for my life in general. So it was with grim satisfaction that the person I was aiming at was actually hit and collapsed to the ground. Now if only I was a good enough shot for the other half dozen soldiers around me…

As the soldiers got their wits about them I froze for an instant in indecision. Should I keep shooting and hope my armor would protect me? Or should I just kick Lady into high gear and ride in a serpentine pattern away? I really must have been panicking because it took me a second to realize the first option was stupid and I reached for Lady's antenna handlebars.

Quite suddenly Lady started revving her engine and her tire squealed in a manner that sounded somehow angry. With no warning, Lady started to spin in place and the action would have flung me from my seat if I hadn't clenched my legs in terror at the sudden movement. It was all that I could do to just keep myself planted as the world blurred around me. Despite the fact I was an one brief instance of lost concentration away from going spinning into the air from my seat, I couldn't help but inanely be grateful for the time and drugs I put into training my leg strength.

Just as I was just about to go from overwhelming fear to anger at Lady continuing to spin, she finally slowed to a stop. The instant I was no longer about to go flying out of my seat I immediately grabbed hold onto Lady's antenna to ensure she stayed put and looked about me.

Lady had done something to the soldiers, most of them were in broken heaps on the ground while few others had seemingly flung themselves out of harm's way. I was about to kick the throttle up and speed out of there when a storm of lasers blasted down around me. I stayed stock still, freezing up in fear as blazing death rained down around me. It had taken the sight of the egg robos flying into my view before I remembered that I was on the side with the lasers.

'Wait, doesn't GUN have energy weapons too?' I thought inanely. 'I think they do… but they can't mass produce as easily as Robotnik does.'

Normally I wasn't this close to people being shot by energy weapons so all I had to be concerned about was the smell. This time… this time I got a front row view of what happened when someone got hit by an energy weapon. I don't exactly know where I got the idea that lasers just left neat little burn holes in bodies but that belief was nowhere near right. What exactly was going on, I did not know, but when a fleshy body got hit by a bolt of volatile energy it was as if a small explosive implanted just beneath the skin would go off. Debris would go flying and the sheer heat didn't so much flash cook as turn it into charcoal. Well there was plenty of debris that didn't get charcoaled but the point I was getting to was… there was a charred black crater where I thought a clean little entry wound ought to be.

'Somehow my armor doesn't make me feel so protected anymore…' I had the sudden urge to paw at my own chest plate and would have if I wasn't so intent on keeping Lady still. 'The armor alloy I picked is heat resistant right? Not that it would matter, considering I just saw lasers blow up a bunch of armored vehicles. Why the hell would the amount of armor plate I could carry be able to stop that?'

Suddenly I was feeling dizzy and incredibly anxious. If I wasn't holding so tightly onto Lady's antenna I wouldn't have been surprised if I just bonelessly slipped out of the seat at that moment. It also occurred to me at that moment that the fighting probably wasn't over yet. Here I was just sitting in place making an ass of myself and presenting the easiest target in the world!

Looking back towards the column of soldiers and vehicles I found my fears to be unwarranted. Everything was either dead, burning or about to be dead from badniks specifically ordered to double tap their enemies. This should have been the sign I needed to relax and no longer feel so tense.

It wasn't working.

'Not quite used to being in mortal peril I think.' I remarked to myself, heart pounding so hard I could feel it. 'You know I really should have checked to see what was being done with that confiscated smokeleaf. I bet it's just sitting in some warehouse somewhere, gathering dust and not being used in the slightest. I could have made my own cigarettes with that.'

I wanted to step down from Lady and maybe start going through pockets to see if any of them had a pack, human made junk or not it would settle my nerves at least. The world still seemed determined to somehow spin in place however, leaving me to sit in place until it stopped doing so. Just as I was about to feel angry again at Lady for her little spinning trick, Sigma rolled over on his wheels.

"Hello Underboss, the objective has been completed with zero civilian casualties." Sigma stated flatly.

"Good work! Now secure the civilians and make sure none of them run off!" I commanded. It was bad enough using them as bait for the soldiers, I at least wanted to give them all a once over to make sure they could make the walk back to the city. If there were injures… well, I'd figure something out.

Guilty conscious somewhat assuaged, I watched Sigma snap a salute and quickly roll back towards the captive civilians. I dismounted Lady once I no longer felt like I'd flop over like a wet noodle . Briefly the dizziness returned but not enough to make me trip in place and I started wandering among the bodies.

It felt… disgusting to go pawing at mutilated corpses, looking for something to loot. But it was hardly the first time I had looted things off my victims and it wasn't like I was pocketing money either. Eventually I managed to find a somewhat crushed pack of cigarettes, I really ought to have tried to scrounge up more but it was honestly bad enough I was doing this in the first place so I left the bodies be.

I made my way towards the civilians on foot, Lady following just behind. Passing by Dessy still guarding the road I glanced over my personal heavy hitter. There were a bunch of scratches and a few dents but there had been no real damage to Dessy's frame. Thankfully no one had gotten close this time so Dessy wasn't drooling with blood and gristle.

The civilians had been crowded together alongside the highway. It was a mix of various humans and mobians either sitting or on their knees. Very much not wanting to look anyone in the eye and seeing what I expected to see I focused on trying to light a cigarette. Saffron swooped down from above and angled her laser emitter to get the muzzle near me. Seeing the glowing barrel I leaned over and quickly lit the cigarette in my mouth. Nodding in thanks I continued down the highway and started walking in front of the captive civilians.

Now I wanted to just send them off on their way back to the city, unharmed but carrying the tale of what happened here. But it wasn't like we were exactly gentle when we stopped their buses. It wasn't any of my business or right to care if any of them were hurt. As Doctor Robotnik's sole organic hatchet man I was to do the job assigned to me by any means, so long as those means didn't run counter to any of his requirements I could slaughter everyone here and that would be acceptable.

But… it wasn't what I wanted. And so long as I had even the smallest wiggle room I was going to avoid falling that far. I knew what I would do if he ever made specific orders to start murdering people en masse if they just so happened to get in the way. Spirits have mercy on me but to my utter disappointment I've discovered that I'm a giant coward with zero moral fortitude! So long as mercy is easy I'll always try but the very moment it gets difficult I just-!

'Focus.' I breathed deeply and calmly. 'There is a job to do and getting hung up on… issues, won't help anyone.'

I gazed over the huddled mass of civilians along the road. Avoiding locking eyes with anyone was easy, everyone was rightfully terrified and kept their own eyes down. With the masses before me utterly fearful of being victimized it was a simple thing to look them over for any serious injuries. So far no one seemed to be hurt in any significant manner, at most there were a few humans whose skin seemed rather red and that could easily be a sunb-

I locked eyes with someone.

Looking me in the eyes was a woman, a rabbit mobian woman, and was kneeling with her arms protectively around a mobian child. She was wearing a dress that probably looked elegant a day or two ago but currently was wrinkled and riddled with sea salt. Her fur was light cream color with patches of lighter brown around her eyes and on the ends of her lop ears. In her arms was clearly her child, an adorable little rabbit that stared up at me with fiery eyes.

This was the kind of woman I rarely encountered in the bars I'd visit while passing through places. As always I found myself hesitating and needing to reassess. A quick glance towards her hands assured me she was available, not that it helped my hesitation any. Elegant and mature looking women were… interesting to me, and the presence of a child was not a deterrent. I had a soft spot for children, being called uncle by the various kids of my home was something that normally wouldn't fail to bring a smile to my face. Plus the best way to get my foot in the door was winning over the child, so I gave what felt like the first genuine smile I had in months. Said little girl blinked in sudden confusion and went from glaring to frowning in bewilderment.

'Not as disarmed as I hoped but a decent enough first step.' I thought and considered a good way to introduce myself. 'Right, how about-'

Suddenly there was a gunshot and my head jerked forward. A ringing noise resounded painfully inside my skull and such was my surprise that I froze in place. Train of thought completely and utterly derailed, I found myself absently turning my head towards the source of the initial noise.

There was a blonde human woman gasping on the ground, clutching at her chest with a pained grimace. At her feet were a pair of weapons, a revolver and a knife. Just over the woman was one of Lady's outstretched arms, extended in a punch that had clearly crippled the human. I was staring at this scene blankly for what felt like forever before clarity hit me like a lightning bolt.

'IDIOT!' I raged at myself and scowled. 'YOU SEE ONE BEAUTIFUL WOMAN AND SUDDENLY YOU LOSE ALL SENSE?! AND WHAT THE HELL?! I'M SURROUNDED BY BADNIKS AND NOT A SINGLE ONE SHOT HER BEFORE SHE SHOT ME!'

I watched as Sigma marched over to the woman and picked up the dropped weapons. It took every scrap of restraint I had to not just scream at the dullard and demand an explanation. Oh I was definitely going to demand one later! Just not now, not in front of this crowd where I'd make a spectacle of myself trying to curse out a tin can. The big dope was now holding both weapons in his one hand and spent a moment switching between staring at them and me. He then held them out to me.

"Oh and what have we here?" I remarked in a snide tone, refusing to take them or really to look at him directly. Feeling rather pissy at that moment so I was just side eyeing him while still facing my winded attacker.

"Hand sharpened, stainless steel knife." Sigma reported as if I hadn't made a rhetorical statement. "Revolver, non-carbon steel in barrel and cylinder, rest of frame is hand-tooled iron. Cartridges are of non-standardised make, irregular powder mixture, hand-tooled non-alloyed lead and recycled brass."

"Yes, yes…" I waved off.

Really what was I doing? Sigma wasn't even a week old, of course he's going to be stu-ignorant. I was just going to have to question his thought process for ignoring the weapons in private. Hopefully it wasn't some hard coded issue I'd have to live with and could get the big green galoot to learn. I just wish that he… he…

'When did I start giving a robot a gender?' I suddenly blinked in remembrance that Sigma wasn't the only one I had gendered. 'When did that start? It… it doesn't really matter I suppose.'

The human woman was still curled up on the ground and wheezing. I wouldn't have been surprised if Lady had broken some ribs with that hit, it would have been like being punched by a steel beam even if she had been gentle. She was a blonde woman with her hair set in a ponytail, a tall one as well but then all humans were tall to me. She wore a tough looking pair of brown leather boots that went up to about mid calf, a pair of faded and patched blue jeans, a navy blue plaid shirt with yellow lines that was rolled up at the elbows, a well worn dark brown hide vest over it with a red handkerchief tied around her neck. Finally there was a black eyepatch over her right eye.

All and all she strongly reminded me of the prospectors I saw two weeks ago. But honestly what were the chances she was from that exact place?

Shockingly I found myself unable to really hate her for trying to kill me, angry and annoyed certainly but outright hate? I could understand why she would be driven to violence. From what records I had access to, Robotnik didn't go out of his way to slaughter populations. But neither did he restrain himself when they violently rose up. Either they were crushed beneath a tide of merciless metal or were saved by Sonic, there was no real inbetween when it came to rebellion.

'Well no, that would be a lie.' My right, partially cybernetic, hand clenched tightly.

"Giv-... give th-... them back!" The woman wheezed out between coughs

Initially I was confused about who she was referring to. But I followed the direction of her one eye and saw she was looking at her weapons in Sigma's hand. Why the hell she thought I'd give my attacker her weapons back just so she can try again I'll probably never understand. Frankly the stupidity of it all had my sympathy drain out of me and left me only with irritation.

"Give them back? Hmm… very well." I stated and to her credit she narrowed her eye in suspicion. "Sigma, return her weapons… after you destroy them."

"N-NOOO!" The woman screamed and managed to leap up to her feet. However an instant later she crumbled to her hands and knees as a violent cough stole away her burst of strength.

There was a brief squeal of tortured metal as Sigma simply closed his hand on the weapons. The knife warped and snapped apart into several pieces and the revolver did the same but several pieces rapidly superheated from the press of Sigma's fingers. They sloughed out between his fingers like glowing clay before rapidly cooling. A moment later the E-100 shook his hand and dropped the pieces before the woman.

Her coughing instantly stopped and she froze in place. A moment later she started to shake and take deep breaths. Pushing herself up onto her knees, she looked up and glared at me. I was struck by the look in her tearing eye, no mere anger at her property being destroyed but something more like… grief. Some mixture of aggrieved fury and something like… I had taken something of deep value to her.

'How… dare she look like that.' I thought and didn't attempt to suppress sneering at her. 'Look like I had murdered her family over a pair of objects with mere sentimental value. How dare she have the GALL to attack me with them if she valued them so much!'

I took a step forward and she didn't hesitate to try to throttle me the instant I was within arms' reach of her. I ignored the sudden movement and simply placed my foot against her chest. With barely a motion beyond simply flexing my leg she was sent flying for a second before rolling along the pavement. That was enough to wind her again and she lay sprawled facedown, coughing her lungs out. I continued forward until I was next to her. She lied there, struggling to catch her breath and find the strength to simply push herself back up. Placing my foot on the back of her neck I lightly pressed down and smirked at the choking noise she made.

"Know. Your. Place."

With vindictive satisfaction I watched as she glared up at me through her tearing eye. Wasn't the first time I got to put down some idiot human who forgot just because I was half his size didn't mean I was half as strong. Granted I usually had to leave town soon after, bystanders get WAY too invested when an asshole they like loses his fight.

"Stop it! Leave her alone!"

"Cream!"

I turned my head to look towards the noise though not so much as to not have the human out of my peripheral. The little rabbit girl was running towards me looking more adorably outraged then I'd ever seen a little girl. More importantly her mother was right behind her, eyes alight with fear and alarm. Said mother was also easily twice my height.

'Oh, she's one of those.' I thought, almost at a loss for words. 'I don't know how I missed that, she was taller then I was even while on her knees!'

From what random bits of info I've read on the subject, gigantism in mobians was oddly somewhat common and also came with no real health issues compared to gigantism in humans. Mobian gigantism also did not come with telltale signs like disproportionate facial features and other excessively large body parts. Mobians came out looking like they were meant to be that size as opposed to being obviously outside the norm, it could also be more or less common depending on the breed of mobian. An odd biological quirk but more importantly the sight of the tall mother caused me a lot of confusing… feelings I very much didn't need to be distracted by.

"Stop hurting Miss AJ!" The little girl, probably 'Cream' if the shout was anything to go by, demanded and came to a stop before me. "You leave her alone!"

She then thumped a foot in anger and I damn near startled when the ground loudly cracked. More worrisome however was the badnik reaction of suddenly aiming their guns at the little thing and from behind I could hear the rumbling approach of Dessy, her suddenly churning teeth sounding a bit too much like an animalistic snarl.

From below the human started struggling more and choked out a shout before I pressed down harder.

'A tad of an overreaction! But considering who gives Robotnik the most trouble I suppose I can't fault the threat assessment.' Frowning deeply, I considered the best way to pacify the situation. 'This has gone too far, like hell I am going to let this girl get gunned down if I can help it. Don't want to back down too obviously however. This would definitely be something Robotnik would be embarrassed by, his doom bot legions backing off on a harsh word from a little girl… best to play it off like I'm amused enough to humor her.'

"Leave her alone?" I quoted slyly as Cream's mother reached her, grasping her daughter's shoulder protectively. "Why little miss, this woman attacked me! If it weren't for my helmet I'd be dead right now! Attempted murder is quite the crime don't you know?"

"What about them?!" Cream shouted, pointing towards the burning vehicle column. "What did they ever do to you?! You're just a… a… big jerk!"

"Ha! Well you've certainly raised a brave little thing!" I said to her mother, gamely ignoring how genuinely hurt I was. Certainly it was well deserved but… "Tell you what, I'm in a good mood! I'm willing to overlook this little bit of aggression just this once! But in return you have to do me a favor."

"Oh?" The mother said, standing in front of her daughter with a carefully neutral expression. "What sort of favor?"

"You take this big piece of trash here." I replied, pointing down towards the human. "And throw it into the nearest dumpster for me."

Not waiting for an answer I took my foot off the human's neck and quickly hooked it underneath her stomach as she took an explosive gasp. I twisted and sent her on a short flight through the air before she rolled along the pavement, coming to stop just behind Cream and her mother.

"Miss AJ!" Cream exclaimed and quickly darted to the human's side.

Her mother frowned and twitched as if she meant to go to the human's side as well but stopped herself. It wasn't hard to understand why, very clearly I was the one who commanded the badniks and therefore I was the biggest threat there. The machines will not attack without my orders. I found her wariness intensely disappointing on an emotional level as I wanted to know her name. Unlike before however I easily suppressed the desire and turned away from her.

'It has been a long time.' I remarked to myself. 'Long enough to get distracted by the first comely woman I see.'

It was incredibly stupid of me, almost as stupid as falling in with Doctor Robotnik. I can't just attempt to charm any woman I come across anymore. That coyote, Wylla, is a prime example of why I simply can't. A man in my position as Robotnik's enforcer can't flirt with a woman and have it seen as a mundane attempt to date someone. If I approached a woman, especially in places within the Empire or currently occupied by the badnik horde, she'd be far more inclined to think I was making 'polite fiction' of the fact I wasn't asking. My stomach churned with equal parts revulsion at such a thing and outrage at the assumption of my character.

Honestly I was more than a tad surprised I had enough self respect left to feel that outrage.

"Tear up this road!" I commanded, focusing on the task at hand. "I WANT DITCHES AND PILES OF RUBBLE!"

Mounting Lady, I heard the Dessy set off with a will. A roar filled the air as her teeth revved to max speed and she practically scythed through the road. Her zigzagging motion reminded me of a shark's fin zipping to and fro on the water's surface. The E-100s cruised alongside, their powerful plasma bolters blasting craters into the pavement with each shot. Flying above, the Egg Robos unleashed a hail of lasers that turned piles of rubble into superheated messes.

As I rode Lady down alongside the increasingly ruined highway I began to notice certain details of my badnik forces. Apparently Dessy wasn't the only one to be fairly marked up by combat with the GUN soldiers. It was too much to hope my ambush would be so effective that my badniks would get through untouched. I'd have to take stock of the damage once we were back on the Manta.

I had a very undefined amount of time to keep GUN out of Station Square. Even minor losses at this stage would be a grim hint of the days to come…

Annabelle Jackson

I was crying, crying for all the crowd to see but I didn't care anymore.

Everything seemed to hurt but I was numb to it all. Barely even noticed Cream pat at me in a panicked fashion. It was like the whole world had melted into a blur and the only thing clear to see was what my eye were locked on.

Emerson's revolver and Earl's knife… no better than bits of slag and scrap metal now. The only things I had left of them since our hope had gone up in flames, taken away from me by the same bastard who took them away from me. Didn't even have the courtesy to finally kill me while he was at it… just left me lying there before kicking me away like I was just a beer can in the way.

"Miss AJ?" Cream said softly. "Are you okay? Please look at me, Miss AJ."

Suddenly my view was blocked. It took a moment for my eye to refocus and Cream's face cleared into view. I was reminded of all the times I'd be woken up by Emerson in the morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed. Just so very eager to help his Ma bring home the bacon. Never did grow out of waking with the sun, only thing that changed was that he was more considerate of letting his Ma sleep a bit longer. When Earl started staying with us another thing that changed was that I'd wake up to the smell of frying eggs and the sound of sizzling sausages. It was pretty much the only thing we'd ever eat every morning thereon out, not like we had the money to change it up but we could have at least had bacon some mornings. Earl just loved eggs and sausages.

Damn near laughed at the happy memories. Instead I just broke down more into childish sobbing when I remembered that's all they'd ever be now. I'd never wake up to another morning with the family, never leave the house all together for a day's work, never enjoy taking a load off with the mining crew.

"Shhh, it's okay, Miss AJ." Cream said gently, stroking my hair. "I'm here with you, cry as much as you need."

At that my pride about shattered into pieces. It had been almost too much to bear when it had been Vanilla comforting me. A grown ass woman crying like a kid who skinned her knee and needing a child to make her feel better. It felt so shameful that it burned. All the sadness and grief seemed to drain out of me at that moment and I felt… nothing.

The grief was gone, there wasn't even burning anger at meeting my family's killer. Just emptiness and this indescribable need I couldn't make sense of. That is until I looked past Cream and towards the still burning wrecks of the soldier's trucks. Suddenly I knew what I needed to do.

I was back on my feet in a second and walked towards the trucks, the pain a distant dull pounding. Before long I was among the burning wrecks and bodies. It brought back memories of coming home. It took a bit but I eventually found a body with an undamaged chest piece. I strapped on the armor and soon found this powerful looking long rifle with a huge scope in the back of one truck that had only been blown apart, even found a new knife. Its bullets were stored near it and they were these huge things about the size of a shotgun slug. I didn't know they made regular bullets this big and I knew there was no way that rabbit was going to block these with anything short of a tank.

There was no anticipation of that fact, no fear like before I'd be trying to kill someone who had an army of killer robots with him. All I wanted was him dead and it didn't matter if I died the same time he did.

I made my way back and saw Vanilla with Cream standing some distance away. Momma rabbit holding back her girl, not wanting her to see the bodies and the gruesome state they were in. Looking past em I saw that the other people were now meandering down along the highway, slowly making their way back to the city.

"AJ… What exactly are you going to do with those?" Vanilla asked warily as she eyed my new weapons.

"I'm going after him."

Cream crashed into my legs.

"Miss AJ, it's too dangerous!" Cream said fretfully. "We should let the proper authorities arrest him!"

I couldn't help but glance over my shoulder at where the 'proper authorities' were now burning. Looking down at the little rabbit clinging to my legs there was now a new reason for me to do this beyond just wanting him dead. Hanging my new rifle over my back with the strap I reached down and lifted Cream into a hug.

"Sugarcube, if he's here then that means Doctor Eggman is here too." I said seriously. "Ain't no way they aren't going to be too busy with that psycho to handle another. So I gotta do my part too, gotta make sure he doesn't hurt anymore families."

"Are you going to be a hero, Miss AJ?" Cream asked in wonder but nearby Vanilla suddenly gasped and her eyes widened in realization. Guess she put two and two together and figured out why and who was the reason I didn't have a family no more.

"I'm just going to try my best to stop him from hurting anyone else." I said before giving one final hug and letting the little thing back onto the ground.

"I know what you are going to do is dangerous but please stay safe." Vanilla said as she stepped forward and placed a comforting hand atop Cream's head.

"Best as I can." Was all I could promise before I headed out.

Didn't want to go down the highway with everyone else, that's where he and his machines went and they were probably keeping an eye out for trouble. I wasn't about to just go changing at him like a fool, all that would do was get me killed and little else. I'd need to scout him out as best as I can and figure out the best angle to get at him. Didn't need a great plan nor an especially good one, just one that'd at least end with him dead.

So I cut through the rainforest towards the coast. Even alone with my thoughts the old doubts didn't come back, this was what I wanted to do. I hadn't been lying to Cream when I said I wanted to stop him from hurting anyone else. Losing my family hurt so bad, genuinely I'd have preferred to be tortured instead. If me killing him meant that families like Vanilla's didn't get torn apart like mine I'd gladly drag him down with me.

And if I wanted some kinda sign I was on the right path? Then well…

"Well whad'ya know!" I exclaimed looking up at a branch over me. Unholstering my new rifle I reached up into branches with the barrel and knocked down something I'd thought I lost for good.

"First thing I'm doing is putting a string on you." I said, brushing the salt off my old stetson. The seawater had definitely done the leather no favors but it was already a well worn old thing. Putting my lost hat back on I took in the sight of the beach and the open ocean. It was oddly peaceful considering what happened not too far away from here.

'Time to get back to the city.'

-TBC-

Author Note: Well I've definitely reached a point in my life where instead of bouncing back from something my body instead breaks down for a while and I need to rest and medicate. Very unpleasant and time consuming to lay there in misery.

Anyway!

As per usual Reginald makes a scene of himself while trying to avoid danger and making a very strong and wrong impression on people. Also a prolonged dry spell causes him to completely lose track of his current circumstances the instant he spots Vanilla. Good thing AJ was there to remind him. And now the news will soon be properly out in the world, Eggman has a flesh and blood enforcer leading his metal legions. Who is he? What is he? Just what kind of person would Eggman want leading his armies and why isn't it just another robot?

Reginald is soon going to be very glad that his helmet and goggles conceal his identity…