The sounds of heavy machinery served as Sonic's alarm clock as of late. When his brain heard that gate opening, it knew what time it was. Through merciless conditioning, the blue body jolted awake and curled up defensively, almost entirely out of the hedgehog's willing. He wouldn't have had the strength to do it himself, having only had time for small naps between sessions of agony. He had no idea how long he had been in this cycle, as the Doctor wasn't kind enough to give him a room with a view. Once in a while, he would be dragged past a window, but all he ever saw were the stars.
Pushing through soreness, the hedgehog sat up in the corner of the cold steel cell to see his regular visitor disable the energy bars that blocked his escape.
At first, Sonic would try to blitz through at this opportunity, using his ability to Spin Dash to try and compensate for the glowing cuffs binding his arms and feet. But the entire prison's automated defenses seemed calibrated for his movements, and time and time again he would be thwarted with his handicap. That was a long time ago, as the fitness to try had since been tortured out of him several times over. Now, he blearily sat there and awaited what came next.
Before him stood a muscular red demon, Zavok. Adorned with black horns and spikes on his shoulders and wrists, the former leader of the Deadly Six struck fear into all of the other prisoners. Sonic knew what the Zeti was capable of, but that had ended in his seeming absolute defeat in a pool of lava.
Today, that would do nothing to stop the hulking Zavok from scooping Sonic up by his legs and slinging him harshly onto his shoulder. He was rather brusque about it, as if in a rush to get somewhere.
"Careful there, nanny," Sonic spat, attempting to stick vitriol into his hoarse voice. "Wouldn't want to stab yourself on my spines, would you? I know I would."
"Spines like yours would be nothing more than feathers to me," Zavok countered.
"I bet you think those feathers on your shoulders make you look pretty, too, huh?"
Zavok said nothing, allowing the noise of the gate closing behind them to fill the air. The Blue Blur knew that taunting his captor only made what came next even more gruesome, but it was going to be unavoidably excruciating either way. Verbal banter was his only way of venting his emotions and probably the only thing keeping him sane right now.
Abruptly, Sonic was lifted off of the red shoulder before being tossed like a sack of potatoes out into the room. He curled up instinctively and rolled once he hit the ground, but then looked up and had to scramble some more to avoid a leaping Zavok. The impact of the Zeti's landing had a rippling effect that launched Sonic tumbling into the air again, a fall he was less prepared to handle. He landed face-down on a metal tile, one that appeared to be hexagonal in shape. The platform seemed to be made entirely of these hexagons, and Sonic wondered if Eggman had a sense of irony for the location he and Zavok were last defeated.
Struggling to his feet, he was finally able to see the room they were in. It was very large and cylindrical in shape, with a walkway corkscrewing around the outside. Above, the night sky sparkled through a domed skylight. The bottom of the room wasn't visible from his vantage point in the center of the platform. The walls appeared to be made mostly of prison cells, and he could see humanoid shapes of various colors and sizes within them. Mobians, corralled here to watch the fight. I'm going to need to kick the attitude up to 11 today. The others need to see that I'm still defiant… even if I'm not.
"Oh, is this a surprise party? You shouldn't have! Wanna let me go–" he gestured to his cuffs, "–and join in?"
"You'll have your fun soon enough. Dr. Eggman is on his way to show you what he's accomplished in your absence." To emphasize his point, his muscular red arms swept out, gesturing to the mass of imprisoned people in the room. "Then, it will be time for your public execution. This is the END, Sonic the Hed–"
The power went out. The whole room went dark, the lights and all of the energy-based cell bars and restraints vanishing in an instant. Only the stars above were visible. They were quickly shone out by auxiliary lights that turned on. The room was dimmer than before, but the difference was made up by flashing red sirens. However, the damage had been done already.
"The end, huh?" Sonic mocked, already stretching his sore legs. "Let's see you try something now that I'm free."
Zavok merely shook his head. "Foolish hedgehog. Getting out of your chains does not make you free."
On his command, dozens of Buzzbombers flew up, each taking a cell hostage with its weaponized abdomen. Following them was a titanic version, its glowing compound eyes looking directly at Sonic. Without even looking, Zavok leapt up high and the robot moved forward to let him land on its back. He punched his fists together twice, then let out a guttural roar to show his dominance over the situation.
"If you run away… they all die. Now, come and face the inevitable!"
"The only thing inevitable here is my foot kicking your butt!"
The hedgehog meant that. After all, it wasn't the first time they had gone head-to-head, and before, his opponent's chosen partner was a metal dragon. According to Tails, Zavok was a dominator. He could control a singular being as if it were an extension of his own body. That meant the swarm of Buzzbombers was not under his direct command and would only operate on pre-programmed behavior. And if the workers are automated, they can be exploited. The big bee by itself was nothing.
"We'll see how long you last against this," Zavok spoke from his perch. Several more Buzzbombers rose from beneath the platform and rushed the speedster. He threw himself at them with Homing Attacks, making quick work of their assault, if it could even be called that. This was clearly a test to see what kind of shape Sonic was in, or perhaps a sign that he was going to draw the fight out. Sonic knew he wasn't in very good shape at all, and he was going to rely on adrenaline to carry him through. But for that, he needed action.
Fortunately, his goading Zavok all this time taught him that the brute always fell for it. "Come out here and fight me yourself, and I'll mop you up real quick!"
"Impudent runt! I'm going to savor watching you suffer."
What the hedgehog had thought were the robot's legs lit up, and he nearly tripped over himself dodging the yellow beams that shot out due to a delayed reaction on his part. Steadying his breathing, he forced himself into a constant pace as their rays converged to trace his path. With a smirk, he decided to be annoying and hide under the shadow of the robot itself, where it couldn't get him.
In hindsight, getting close to the giant stinger was probably a bad idea. Blame the sleep deprivation for that. Sonic leapt backwards as the robot slammed itself into the platform. Instead of finding purchase on the ground, he found himself being sent into the air as the hexes rippled once more. He cleared the height of the bee bot easily and saw Zavok scowling at him. He made sure to give his cockiest grin and shot him the finger guns before going in for a Homing Attack. The Zeti didn't need to know that this wasn't intentional.
Zavok swatted him back easily, but the hedgehog didn't relent, aiming for different areas on the demon's body to try and slip through his guard. The second pass was repealed, but the third one smacked him in the side before Zavok shoved him away and flew his drone out of his reach.
A motion from the master bee saw a selection of Buzzbombers divert themselves from their hostages around the edge and fly to surround their floating arena. So he does have control of the little buzzkills, Sonic noted. The squad raised their abdomens simultaneously with the legs of the queen. He had to enter an acrobatics sequence to avoid the lasers and the individual shots, and it hurt his muscles quite a bit. The thrill of the fight was doing its work, but only barely. He wasn't well-prepared for the swarm to then charge at him from all sides and got nicked a few times.
Zavok had readied his thrall to finish the blitz with its own massive stinger, and Sonic had to duck and roll to get out of the way. The hex wave tossed him into the air like onions in a frying pan, but he was practiced enough that, with considerable effort, he was able to right himself and go in on Zavok again. They tangoed once more, and Sonic was once again victorious, hitting a potshot to the Zeti's knee before getting literally kicked off his ride.
The hedgehog landed flat on his back, and both sides took a moment to compose themselves. I'm exhausted, Sonic mentally admitted, but I can't stop now. Zavok directing the regular Buzzbombers means he could potentially slaughter those prisoners if things go too poorly for him. Eggman wouldn't approve, but it's not like he hasn't ignored Egghead's orders before. Even if it was my fault back then.
"You're not making this easy, are you?" Zavok commented.
"It sure looks like your defeat is easy from here!"
"Crushing you is going to be all the more satisfying!"
With a snap of his fingers, two layers of hexes around the edge of the arena detached themselves and fell into the abyss. The Buzzbombers under his command circled loosely around the platform. Individuals would sporadically stop and dash through, but it was no sweat compared to the previous attempt. Zavok himself went for an attack a couple of times, haphazardly destroying his own minions if they got in his way. The master robot didn't even waver, perhaps a testament to its own strength.
On the third pass, Sonic went for a tried and true tactic: he Homing Attacked one of the smaller robots and used the energy from its explosion to propel himself up. He just cleared the energized stinger and leapt at its driver with another spin.
The Zeti was ready this time and went for a straight thrust as soon as Sonic's attack came near. The spinning speedster had to twist awkwardly to land his feet on the giant fist and jump back to avoid being spiked. He went easy to bait me into attacking, Sonic realized. The hedgehog let himself fall. He knew how he could get past Zavok's defenses, but he needed a fresh approach.
The Buzzbombers formed up into three V-shapes, circling around the platform along with their master. Sonic crouched, preparing to jump instead of attempting to follow all of their movements. Zavok wasn't smart enough to try and confuse him; he was just being dramatic to try and be intimidating.
The bees came at him in waves: he jumped over the left group, ducked to avoid being backstabbed, and then the big one came through, callously destroying the oncoming group as Sonic somersaulted out of the way. It almost felt too easy. Maybe Zavok's queen bee wasn't as in control as he thought.
As the last group came in, Sonic went for some Homing Attacks to try and break it up. He only got a couple good shots before they dispersed, the legion forming a large circle around him. Zavok floated in from above, hovering menacingly over the hedgehog and allowing his drones to tighten their circle as a tribal threat.
Funny thing about theatrics: Showing off what you're about to do means your foe knows what you're about to do. To a normal foe, the ring of stingers would be death. But the narrow window between them and the large spike above was an easy shot for the Blue Blur when the attack came. He landed on a hex right in time for it to bounce upward, trampolining him right back where he wanted to be, in Zavok's face.
This time, he allowed himself to stop just short of the demon's strong arm as it swung out to knock him away. He landed squarely on the queen bee's head and used the momentum to spring up straight through Zavok's guard and sock him right in the jaw. He followed with a right hook and spun around to roundhouse kick him, knocking the behemoth off-balance. It was exhilarating, finally giving punishment after all the pain he had been forced through. Two more jabs, a sweep to the crook of the knee for good measure, and Sonic bull rushed straight and knocked Zavok back off his own robot.
Without wasting a moment, he spun up and applied pressure like a buzzsaw to the space between the giant bee's head and its neck until it was decapitated.
"No! How could I lose to the likes of you again?!" the Zeti cried.
Sonic swung back up onto the bee's back, looking around for where Zavok was speaking from. He peered down and saw the brute desperately clinging to the abdomen of his destroyed ride, even as it began losing altitude.
"You were right, that was a blast!" he called down. "Bring some chili dogs next time, though."
He leapt off the robot onto the safe perimeter as it fell into the abyss below. The sound of buzzing still filled the air, and he saw that the remaining Buzzbombers had reverted to their previous behavior – blindly chasing the intruder. Which was him. As they started converging on his position, he booked it down the corkscrew and fled through the bottom entrance.
A swarm of bees fleeing the room was all a red bird saw when he surveyed the chamber he had just entered.