Sonic lay upon the tornado's wings while Tails piloted the plain. It was the next day, and some of the group decided to head out and investigate the crash site, with Amy bringing in what used to be resistance forces now known as 'Restoration Peacekeepers.'
"Do you think we'll find anything or anyone in the wreckage?" Sonic asked as the plane slowly approached the crash site, "I hope so; at least then we can help identify what or who caused this." Tails responded as they finally got a good view of the crash site.
It had crashed in what used to be a lake, though the station easily took up the entire lake and some of the land surrounding it. "Guess everything is going to be more soggy than we would have liked." Sonic joked as Tails circled around the crash site, eventually finding a good place to land.
After landing, the two scouted ahead while waiting for everyone else, and they caught a glimpse of Egg Pawns moving debris back and forth. "EggMan must have gotten here before us." Sonic then replied to Tails, "We don't know if it's EggMan; it could be someone just using his stuff."
The two kept on watch until they heard the sound of thrusters and looked up to see a Restoration shuttle slowly land, with Amy, Whisper, Tangle, and an assortment of Restoration troops stepping out of it. "So, did you guys find anything?"
"Well, it seems that either EggMan..." Tails said before continuing as Sonic looked over at him, "Or someone else is digging through the wreckage of the Ark, seemingly using Egg Pawns."
"Doesn't sound too bad." Tangle said as Whisper put in her two cents, "Might be a trap; perhaps some security systems survived and could still be operational, which, if the right or wrong persons turned them on, would hinder one side."
"We'll be careful then. Now come on, let's find out what's happening and get to the bottom of this." Sonic said as he sped off into the crashsite, "Always running off..." Amy said as everyone quickly followed Sonic as he jumped between the wreckage before landing amongst a group of egg pawns.
"Wow, you guys look pretty new. Did your boss find Egg Head's schematics to build you?" Sonic said as they began opening fire upon him, which he easily dodged before spin dashing them into oblivion.
As he finishes off the last one, a swarm of buzz bombers suddenly pops up from the wreckage and begins to rain fire, only for them to be taken down by a hail of wispon fire. Sonic turns around and gives the others a thumbs up as Amy gestures for the Restoration Peacekeepers to spread out while they go ahead.
"Thanks for the save." Sonic said sarcastically as he, Tails, Amy, Whisper, and Tangle moved ahead, though they had to quickly take cover as they heard the recognizable sound of the Egg Mobile.
"It can't be..." Sonic said as everyone's eyes landed upon EggMan, observing from his seat his robots scavenging the wreckage, with Metal Sonic standing next to him and a group of EggPawns monkeying about with some wreckage.
"So Shadow was right..." Whisper said as Sonic rolled his eyes before jumping out of cover and speaking as EggMan turned, "So EggHead, who gave you back your memories? I'm betting on Metal Sonic."
"I guess you could say that in a way, but I'm currently busy, so if you would run off then that would be great; I'll deal with you later." EggMan said as Metal Sonic jumped down to engage Sonic.
Sonic spoke as he yawned, "So, I'm guessing you're the one who caused the destruction of the Ark?" EggMan laughed as Metal Sonic lunged at Sonic before speaking, "Actually, no, that's the whole reason I'm here—to figure out what happened and if I can exploit it."
As Sonic dodged Metal Sonic's lunge, the other four rushed out to support him, with Whisper and Tangle dealing with any badniks, Amy heading over to help Sonic, and Tails heading over to hack into what appeared to be a still-functioning console.
Amy bashes Metal Sonic in the chest, sending him back before Sonic spin dashes him in the back, knocking him to the ground. Metal Sonic quickly flew into the air, firing his laser at Amy.
"Eeeeep!" Amy squealed as Sonic picked her up and outran the laser before dropping Amy off before jumping off and kicking Metal Sonic right in the chin. "How'd ya like that ya knock off!"
Metal Sonic flies back before charging right at Sonic, who is able to think quickly enough and dodges out of the way, allowing Metal to crash right through the wreckage. "And your the smartest thing EggMan created? Hey EggMan! Ever thought of giving Metal an upgrade?"
"I actually have thought about giving him an upgrade, but he's perfect as he is, and with upgrading him, I run the risk of ruining something." EggMan's said as a hail of lasers flew past him, causing him to duck before looking over to see that Tails had reactivated some surviving turrets.
Said turrets were also able to easily clear out the egg pawns in the area, and Tangle spoke, "Lasers one, badniks zero!" Whisper chuckled quietly as Metal Sonic climbed out of the wreckage, ticked off, and was ready for round two.
He boosted off and grabbed Sonic by the face before grounding his face into the ground; though while he was preoccupied by it, a hail of lasers struck at him, causing him to let go while Amy smashed her hammer against his head.
Metal Sonic goes flying, and EggMan speaks as the heroes surround him: "While it would be nice to continue our normal routine, I think I'll just have my machines deal with you." EggMan snaps, and tons of EggPawns, Buzz Bombers, and Motor Bugs flood into the area.
Though the heroes weren't outnumbered for long as Amy called in for the rest of the restoration forces, as everyone stood ready for a fight, the console of the EggMobile beeped and spoke, "Incoming object? I don't see anything!"
Everyone then heard something similar to thunder and looked up to see a group of four large pods careening towards them. Sonic spoke while Amy ordered all the restoration peacekeepers to spread out. "Let me guess, those aren't one of yours?"
"Obviously not." EggMan said the first pod crashed in between the two forces, with the others landing in other parts of the crash site. The pod slowly opened as some peacekeepers moved up to investigate it.
They were immediately consumed in a blaze as a mechanical voice was heard from within the pod: "DIE, DIE, DIE." Out from the pod as a twelve-foot-tall robot stomped out, both of its arms being large crawls, attached to them are some type of machine gun and flamethrower.
"Definitely not yours!" Sonic said as the machine grabbed a peacekeeper before slamming the soldier against the ground, leaving nothing but gore as it raised its other hand, unleashing a hail of rounds into the peacekeepers.
Due to most of the peacekeepers still being in shock, they didn't move, and when the rounds hit them, it blew them apart, sending meaty chunks across the place as Sonic sped up to the machine.
Though before he could spin dash the thing's shins, it slammed its hand down and sent Sonic flying back, the slam causing a shockwave that sent some corpses and body parts flying as well.
The peacekeepers that survived the initial barrage of rounds started firing upon the robot, though they quickly found out that their weapons did nothing to the mech, not even causing burn marks on its armor.
EggMan took this as a note to leave, and as all of his forces fell back, Amy spoke as she ducked into cover, breathing heavily as her eyes went wide, looking down at her as she noticed fresh blood and some organs had stained her clothes.
"Amy! Are you okay?" Amy heard as Sonic ran to her, though she didn't pay any attention to Sonic. Clearly in shock from what was going on, Whisper yelled at Sonic as she, Tangle, and Tails found themselves a piece of cover.
"Get her out of here!" She yelled as she tried to rally the remaining peacekeepers to try and push back against the mech, though she quickly realized that none of the peacekeepers had any AT weaponry on them.
"Sonic, mind taking down that giant black and yellow box while we fall back?" Tangle said, referring to the machine that had just landed out of nowhere as she and Whisper organized a retreat. Sonic nodded and leaped over cover while gesturing to Tails to focus fire on the mech.
The laser turrets start striking the machine, and while they don't damage it, it does allow Sonic to get close and spin dash through the mech's midsection, which was the thinnest part on the mech.
Though he quickly found out that it was thicker than he expected and that he would need to hit it multiple times to actually split the thing in half, as he went for a second spin dash, he felt something rush past him, almost making him go death.
Sonic turned as he saw a squad of ten robots move forward, painted in black, grey, and yellow colors and holding boxy weapons, with the lead one carrying a boxy pistol in one hand and a blade that sparks with electricity in the other.
Sonic quickly dashed to the side as the mech tried squishing him again. He turned and had to quickly dodge shot after shot, only getting glimpses at what the rounds looked like.
"Die Xeno Scum!" He heard the leader yell as it charged directly at him. Sonic jumped up, spun, and dashed at the arm carrying the pistol; it would be much easier dealing with it in melee.
As Sonic cut through the weak point of the arm and landed back on the ground, he felt something on him. He looked down at himself and saw that specks of what seemed to be blood covered him, though it was more of a bronze color than crimson.
Sonic paused at what had just happened, but he quickly reacted as he felt the blade narrowly pass over him. He speeds away from the robot, or whatever it is, as he feels around his head to make sure nothing is cut off.
Though he eventually feels something wrong and notices that the thing has removed one of his ears, Sonic looks back up at the things as more emerge from the crashsite before smoke covers them, and Sonic feels himself picked up.
"I've gotcha you!" Tails yelled as he carried Sonic away, though Sonic noticed multiple aircraft coming down from the sky and looked down to see a battle was happening, with the remaining peacekeepers getting mowed down by humans clad in yellow coats, gasmasks, and combat gear.
"Drop me down!" Sonic yelled, but Tails spoke as he landed him next to the Tornado, "Your injured, stay here!" Tails flew off, and Sonic smiled a little at the fact that his little brother was taking charge for once.
As Sonic prepared for the tornado, he heard the restoration shuttle take off and looked up to see it flying off. It was heavily damaged, though, and with some aircraft following it, Sonic looked over to see Tails running over as the sound of treads filled the air.
"We've got to go!" Tails said as he leapt onto the tornado. Sonic started the plane and took off while looking back to see a few vehicles sporting large AA guns on them.
As AA fire fills the air, Sonic gets comfortable flying again and starts to weave through the fire as he approaches the shuttle. "Come on, Tails, let's go deal with these guys!"
"Father, may I inquire on the reason why you have called for us?" Rogal Dorn asked as multiple tech priests set up ancient technology that had been stored in some of the Emperor's relic rooms.
"BECAUSE ROGAL, I NEED TO REFRESH MY KNOWLEDGE ON A TOPIC AND GIVE YOU ALL KNOWLEDGE ON SAID TOPIC."
"Ah yes, the oh so important topic of what seems to be a...what exactly is this?" Magnus asked as he picked up what seemed to be comic books, "STUFF I STOLE FROM THE BLACK LIBRARY A LONG TIME AGO, THOUGH I FORGOT WHY I STOLE THEM."
"Well, my Emperor, perhaps when we start viewing this content, you will remember why you liberated these items from the filthy Eldar!" Kitten said as the Emperor spoke, "AND ALSO BECAUSE I WANT TO TAKE MY MIND OFF OF THE IMPERIUM."
"Ah, so what have you been doing ever since you were put on your golden couch?" Magnus said, and the Emperor spoke after psychically slapping Magnus, "FUCK OFF. YOU TRY LOOKING AT THE IMPERIUM FROM A TOP-DOWN VIEW."
"What."
"ANYWAYS, HAVE THE SYSTEMS BEEN SET UP?" The Emperor spoke as the tech priests replied quickly in Morse code before leaving the four alone with the relics, ready for both their enjoyment and torture.
"LETS START WHERE IT ALL BEGAN." The Emperor said as he used his powers to put on some shades and grab a control as one of the relics started and music started to play.
Though after a minute of the Emperor setting up the relic, he started the first piece of media, which immediately caused Kitten to speak out: "My lord, why are you showing us an old Terran holo-game featuring a blue xeno?"
"BECAUSE I CAN, NOW SHUT UP AND ENJOY SOMETHING."