Reactive Factory, Resort Island
Evening
"Something the matter, your highness?"
Sally looked up from the message on her wristwatch device when Tarek spoke to her in an enquiring tone, having noticed while Boris is yammering away to Sonic, Tails, a bored Knuckles and a few others including a local reporter present. Going on about how Team Sonic's presence has helped increase the attendance numbers for the opening ceremony with them around. A bunch of fluff as Knuckles would say.
She put on a smile. Make herself look like she's not aware of anything going on.
"Just a message from my brother Elias bidding me a Merry Christmas seeing as it is December now." The chipmunk fibbed to his face, praying he didn't see Bunnie's message. "The usual family holiday greeting. Do you have any family of your own?"
For the first time since meeting him, the scientist displayed a wistful emotion and she could tell it's a genuine one. "Once but not anymore. I do not dwell on the past and what was then. The path to the future is one I walk on now."
Then something buzzed in one of Tarek's pockets. "Send your brother my regards. Excuse me."
He walked off to go take the call and if her hunch is right, he's probably being notified about Miraju's capture. Sally beckons Team Sonic to come over to her by the catering stand with Sonic mouthing to Boris that they'll be right back in just a moment before going to her.
Knuckles looked the most relieved to get away from that white noise and grabbed a plate as he eyed the grape salad dish that was being served up. "What's up?"
Sally showed the trio Bunnie's message. The situation has gotten serious.
"That's what's up. They know we're onto them."
"How long until the opening?" Sonic asked Tails who checked the time.
"About forty-five minutes."
"What do we tell the Mayor?"
"You leave that part to me. I'll keep an eye on things around here." Sally ordered the trio, glancing over at Boris. "You three hurry over to the labs asap."
"Alright guys. Let's go." Sonic turned to Knuckles who was about to get the grape salad. "No time to waste Knuxs. Come on!"
Sighing as the echidna sets down his ceramic crockery, seeing that he'll have to savor the dish later with a greater priority now on his plate. "Sally. Save a plate for me."
Knuckles followed after Tails and Sonic with the three heroes heading off to Regal Ruins.
"Where are they going? The ceremony hasn't started yet."
Sally turned to Boris who came over to the catering table to grab a feed and catch Team Sonic leaving; confused by their sudden departure. "Don't worry Mayor Speechley, they're just off to respond to a disaster happening elsewhere. They'll be back before you know it."
The Underground Facility, Resort Island
Evening
Forgoing the stealthy approach, Bunnie's team had plowed through the security of the facility in their urgent hurry to find Miraju. Having made their way down to Level Two and reaching Tarek's office where he was at last prior to his capture. Wanting to pick up whatever information lies inside the office terminal before
By the time they arrived, the suitcase in the hi-tech cabinet was taken away presumably in the timeframe they took away their missing teammate.
Manic went to work on hacking Tarek's terminal through a hooked-up device with Bunnie guarding him while the other two heads and the rabbit took out whatever security forces dared to come near the office; being made up of a lot of silver Megabots. The green hedgehog went about trying to access the system differently from Miraju's approach.
Before long, he did a fist pump when he finally broke into the system. "Buns! We're in the system!"
"Good, now go through the files and see what Doc's tryin' to hide!"
"Don't have to ask me twice!"
Gadget and Shortfuse were making scraps out of the security robots that stood in their path; heading their way down to Level Three. Using the signal from Miraju's device to guide them on where to go, the two set their sights on reaching Level Four where the signal is coming from and clearing the way to it for the rest of their team.
The wolf used his Hover Wispon with a substitute power source in place of a Green Wisp to blast away the machines on top of his own grappling hook for long-ranged melee attacks while the armored squirrel uses his blasters to destroy robots that his teammate had missed. Gadget also carries around his own Burst Wispon but he opts to use the green weapon for now.
It wasn't long until they encountered a new enemy type in the form of the Iron Vigiles who were more of a threat than the robots and their ability to form more complex strategies than just standing in the open or rushing at them with some of them attacking from cover.
The Iron Vigiles that are at the front wielded one-way energy shields that halted the pair's momentum and forced them both to take cover in the adjacent labs from their heavy blaster fire. The two mobians took blind fire shots at the armored enforcers from the doorways of their cover. Trying to hit them but the shields proved to be a problem.
Manic quickly looked through whatever files were present as he searched for information on wherever the stolen project was being taken off to if they couldn't retrieve it here and gather clues on what exactly the culprits are using it for.
He skims through a file for the Iron Vigiles and clicks on a random log that makes him freeze in horrified wide-eyed shock when he sees what is contained in it. "Oh Chaos…"
"Can you do something about those bloody guys!?" Shortfuse yelled at Gadget from across, sounds of blaster fire muffled his words a little while taking shots at the Iron Vigiles. "You're supposed to be good at dealing with spots like these!"
Gadget rummages through his utility belt, scrambling for something usable against the enforcers in the halls. Producing a silver orb the size of a strawberry. He hurls it in the direction of the enforcers, producing a little sound wave explosion that disrupts the defense line that the duo were swift to capitalize on and took down that group of Iron Vigiles present not long after.
As the two were running past the defeated pile with them picking up an energy shield each, Gadget let out a loud gasp at one of the enforcers who has a broken visor that revealed not some circuitry under the chrome reflection but a fleshy face bastardized by the implementation of cybernetics and looking like that of a corpse made to function again with a CPU chip shoved into the brain.
Such a horrific sight that Gadget threw up on the floors from just glancing at the ungodly mutilation done to what might have once been a living being.
Shortfuse turned around to scold him but then saw what the wolf had seen and suddenly felt really uncomfortable being inside his own suit of armor right now. He pictures a version of himself where that happened to him.
"...Now we know why that particular Iron Vigile screamed and went berserk. They became aware of what happened to their bodies and couldn't cope with it. They were normal people forced to become machines and had their souls suppressed with a chip. Theirs' must have been faulty somehow." Manic commented while reading another entry concerning the Iron Vigiles' development, having to power through the deeply disturbing nature of the reports. "And they're one of the ones who survived the surgical process to become one of those things. Can't imagine how many didn't survive theirs'..."
Bunnie frowned at the revelation as someone who was a victim of robotization herself; feeling like she got off easy compared to those poor souls who had their humanity/mobianity surgically removed to become cyborgs and the agony they must be in with their pain receptors renabled. She can have a normal life but they're permanently altered that no Deroboticizer or magic can do. This could have been her reality had Doctor Julian Robotnik thought to use Legionization on his unwilling subjects instead of using Charles' invention.
To think Tarek Mengele is responsible for such severe disfigurements on their bodies and be so indifferent to what he's done to tear away their lives. If this is not the most sordid project he's produced yet, they are afraid to know what is.
Paine was definitely onto something alright but Boris isn't behind it. He's merely just the decoy.
Putting aside their shock and pushing onwards, Gadget would see signs on the walls that guided them towards the entrance to the stairs leading straight down to the Fourth Level. As Miraju has correctly told them, it is under heavy guard. Both Iron Vigiles and Megabots alike.
The two took to using their energy shields as tools to help them push forwards and Shortfuse going in for the shotgun approach by fighting aggressively, using it to clear the obstruction under the invisible time limit they're all on. He sees the need for strategic planning time-consuming compared to the brute force method that gets the job done much faster.
The scumbags in the facility know they're being hunted for and throwing out several groups of security are just a means of slowing down the pursuers while they make good on their own escape.
The cyborg enforcers put up a valiant effort in fending off the intruders but the pair by sheer grit, determination and urgency would eventually break through their defense line where they proceed to descend down the stairs to Level Four. Descending down to the dark depths of the facility itself.
Team Sonic soon arrived at the facility and hurried to Tarek's office where they took out a trash mob of robots trying to storm it. Sonic catches the decapitated head of one of them after Knuckles punched it off the neck it was attached to. Said echidna going on ahead to join up with Gadget and Shortfuse.
Sonic tosses the robot head aside when entering the office. "What did you uncover?"
"Tarek's depravity. That's what." Bunnie responded seriously. "All those missin' people? They're all down at Level Four and the Iron Vigiles came from there. He's their creator."
Sonic's calm expression shifted to a grimacing one in an instant. He knew right away what's going on from just her statement alone. There's a foul, evil aura to this place and it's being all covered up from the public by the administration. A fact that only angers him to his core and he hasn't gotten to Level Four yet.
"NO!"
He snapped his gaze over to witness Manic frantically working on the keyboard and mouse. "Nononono!"
Tails quickly rushed over to the terminal. He'd immediately see the problem as several of the files on it including the tabs that Manic had opened started disappearing one by one.
"What's wrong?" Asked Sonic as he and Bunnie checked to see what prompted such a strong reaction from Manic.
"Dude, these files are all being wiped by a remote deletion command and I can't stop it because it's coming directly from the system admin!" Manic told them as more of the files on the terminal were disappearing right before their eyes. "Everything is disappearing!"
"You downloaded the files, right?"
Manic shook his head. "I did but whatever way they designed the database here and other technical black magic they're using, even the files I have downloaded are getting erased. There must be some kind of failsafe buried in the files and that command acted like some kind of signal or something like that sets it off before I could pull out the stick. They're good as gone bro..."
The screen on the terminal then blacks out. The essential files for the operating systems are all purged and leaving it inoperable. Whatever pieces of information they could have gotten from the terminal and whatever proof they could have grabbed to prove R.I.D.I's crimes, they're gone forever.
Tails turned to Sonic with a frown. Crushed at the loss of the files and Manic felt the same.
The culprits are covering their tracks and catching Miraju only made them sped up their departure time. Knowing what's at hand, the four hurried off to Level Four.
"With his speed, they oughta be back by now."
Sally checks her time and sees only twenty minutes left to go before the ceremony begins. To Boris, that's the equivalent of five minutes with his antsiness.
"They'll be here. Just taking a while, that's all." She assures the man. "He wouldn't dare to miss out on his favorites."
"I would have thought the rest of your team could have handled the crisis while those three stuck around."
"You can't stop them from taking action even if you force them down. Sonic certainly doesn't stand idle when danger's around."
"A hedgehog of action." Came the voice of Tarek when he returned from his phone call and rejoined Boris' company. "Noble in practice but not a socially helpful trait."
Sally crossed her arms. "And why is that?"
"Well, it does leave him with impatience and he acts whether it'll get him in trouble or not. In fragile situations, it can be quite a detriment and he'll realize too late. If you ask some realists, they'll say he acts for himself and not for anybody else. Enough to be mistaken for selfishness."
"Sonic is his own person. He's got his own beliefs in doing what's right. He'll hear you out if you can make a compelling argument but ultimately, he decides for himself."
"So, he answers to no one."
"I didn't imply any of the sort. I'm merely stating the facts as someone who knows him well."
"You think you know someone but then you learn revelations that flip everything you know about them upside down. What they say and what they think to themselves are two different languages Ms. Acorn. How often can you accurately tell what swims in someone's thoughts? What's really in their head?" Crossing his arms behind his back. "For some, it's a very dark place full of the most primal instincts buried deep in the abyss of the mind and for others; admitting out aloud is a one way ticket to the ward."
"Everyone has their demons…" Sally rebuked lightly, then turned to Boris. "I'll go and ring them if that'll help."
"You go do that." Mayor Speechley runs a hand over his brow with a quiet sigh. "I just want everything to go right today."
"Rest assured Mister Speechley, it will." Tarek says assuredly while eyeing Sally who goes off somewhere to call up her team. "I did help with designing the new factory and if it goes wrong, I'll take the blame for it. Take a bullet for you."
"Nah, the island needs your brilliance more than it needs me." The politician admitted with sincerity. "I wouldn't have gotten this far without your help and support when I was free from under that family's thumb. You've been there when the economy was in the dumps, been around for me when Paine is accusing me of crimes I didn't commit and getting me into office. You've done miracles for us Tarek. We, the people of Resort Island owe you our deepest gratitude."
The scientist smiled at his words. To Boris, he took that as him feeling touched by what he said. To him however, there is no such sentiment on his end and the smile has nothing behind it. The man is just a means to an end for him and nothing more than a useful idiot that got him far in his ignorance.
"I suppose I do deserve some of the credit. Here." He hands Mayor Speechley a sealed red envelope. "Don't open that until after the factory's opening. It's rather important..."
"What's up on your end? Rescued Miraju yet?"
"Not yet but we think we know where those missin' people are being taken off to and we're on our way down. We believe the people responsible are makin' for it." Bunnie responded to Sally's hail. Her group is in the middle of hurrying through Level Three.
"You got about nineteen minutes before the opening. Mayor Speechley is getting anxious here."
"He'll be a lot more anxious when we come back with the victims!" Sonic chimed in on the call from where he is with him ahead of his party. "Same for his pal Tarek!"
Going from the white sky-blues of Level Three to the ominous reds of Level Four where shadows cast over much of the halls that the odd artificial blue light source couldn't pierce through the darkness, it comes as a stark contrast to the lifeless and sterile environments of the prior floors.
Rather than having fully metallic surfaces, this level still retains parts of the natural earth that was dug out some time ago and the metal panels show signs of rust to give the place a gritty appearance. Dry crimson marks decorate parts of the metallic surfaces, adding only to the creepiness of the underground cave-like area.
Gadget felt a sense of chilling dread being at the facility's lowest depths that resembles more like a location out of a nightmare than one in reality and it's eerie enough to have a portion of himself be protesting against venturing any further into the unknown. Not helped by the smells his nose is picking up on.
For all his toughness, Shortfuse felt uneasy as there is a sinister vibe to this part of the facility the other sections didn't have and doesn't like it one bit. No matter the lighting output his suit generates, the shadows still hang around like curtains merely pulled aside a little.
Knuckles has been to some unsettling locations in his journeys and this ranks high up on the list. If they were lesser people, they'd probably have steered clear of this place. But they aren't those types of people. They're on a mission and they are going to see it through even when that mission brings them to this creepy location.
Worse still, they have yet to encounter any of the security forces and yet they know they're on the right track. Sounds of their footsteps bounces off the walls and produces an echo.
Suddenly, something from the shadows leaps out at Shortfuse and tackles him to the floors. Knuckles quickly punches the attacker off the squirrel a few yards where the unknown being flips mid-air and lands on all fours over in the darkness before charging at the echidna with jaws open.
Gadget pulls out his Burst Wispon and unleashes some flames at the unknown being's direction. The amber lights of the fire would reveal a glimpse of the attacker's gruesome appearance. Getting scorched at the shoulder with a howl, the creature retreated and fled in the other direction.
"W-What the hell was that!?" Gadget exclaimed in a shriek, aghast at what he saw a moment ago. Voicing out aloud what they were all thinking.
Knuckles helped Shortfuse up to his feet. "Must be a failed lab subject or something. I wouldn't put it past this whole floor to be littered with those. We gotta keep going."
"What, with those damn things wandering around down here!?" Shortfuse complained to the echidna, rattled by what he saw. "We'll be lucky if we'd even find Miraju alive and we don't know how big this chaosforsaken pit is!"
"We still need to stop those people getting away from us. Let's go!"
Swallowing their unease, they followed Knuckles' lead and pressed on. They are losing time enough as is.
Sonic reaches the fourth level and was speeding through the halls when he heard a faint sob coming from somewhere. Deciding to go investigate the source in case it is what he's thinking it is.
Following the sound to its' point of origin, he soon locates an area that took him to the facility's holding cells and saw a lot of people inside their jails behind see-through windows. Full of the people who've been reported missing in the last while with some of them looking to have been held down here for a few days. All held as unwilling test subjects against their will.
Everyone in the cells that looked afraid, miserable or angry all took notice of Sonic and all lit up at the fact he's here to rescue them. He shushes them before they'd launch into a verbal storm and tries to use his Homing Attack on one of the windows but he only bounces off it with no damage on the surface. Same for his buzzsaw attack that yielded the same result.
He goes off to search for anything resembling a release switch or mechanism to free them all. If they can rescue all of the missing people down here, Tarek and the rest of the administration involved in this crime ring will be finished. The testimonials from the victims will make up for the loss of terminal data for evidence of the crimes taking place in the facility.
Knuckles, Shortfuse and Gadget arrive at a very spacious but darkly lit area roughly the size of an airfield hanger on Level Four where Miraju's signal has led them down to. The echidna had punched his way through the doors leading to it.
Compared to the hallways they were running through prior, the openness of the area made Gadget feel anxious from wartime experience. Prime real estate for an ambush.
Checking Miraju's comm signal, he's only a few yards away from where they are and the near pitch darkness is setting off alarm bells for the wolf. When they take a few steps forwards, the whole room lights up and they finally can see what it is they're in.
A mixture between an underground hangar bay and a submarine bay with overhead lights shining down from the ceiling and a few crates were sitting about. If she were here with them, Rouge would say that it's got the look of an expansive movie super spy villain lair in the architecture and styling.
"So, you've managed to get past our security and make it here. I'm rather impressed."
The trio looked over to a ship across from them shaped like a manta ray where some of the staff members were loading the last of their items onto it. Near a big crate, there stood a green reptile in a lab coat addressing them in a smarmy tone with Lindsey and Jason at his side. Both holding up a beaten-up and tied-up Miraju.
"Slimy, Lindsey and Jason…" Knuckles muttered. Looks like a Wormtongue is involved after all.
Shortfuse growls. "Should have known the second-rate cousin of Grimer would be involved in all of this! Give it up, punks, hand him over and we'll go easy on you!"
"I should have figured you stupid brats would make it here." Lindsey chimed in derisively, yanking Miraju's rope. "All the more to put you down."
"You're not getting away with this!" Gadget points an accusing finger at Slimy Wormtongue. "We'll bring you to ju—"
"And just who are you exactly?" Slimy cuts off the wolf sneeringly like he's an unimportant child. "A child playing soldier or some poor imbecile dragged off the streets? You scoot back to your playpen and let the important people do the talking here!"
Those words incensed Knuckles. "HEY! He's accomplished more than you ever had in your entire life and that's a fact!"
"He's nothing but a weakling and that is a fact."
While Gadget didn't let the words get to him too much, it did set off the echidna's fuse and he charged forwards towards the three criminals. Gadget and Shortfuse following behind.
Slimy quickly pulls out a remote and hits a button that brings forth his newest creation.
The big crate next to him splinters open and out comes a large gunmetal metallic figure that stopped Knuckles from getting near him or his associates. The red-optic head being shaped like a rhino, the body of a bipedal crab without the extra kegs and the legs of a bull. The dark-coloured being letting off a metallic growl.
"You want us?" Slimy taunted Knuckles, gesturing to the goliath. "You must defeat my latest and strongest work of art yet; the Iron Samnite!"
"Cane! You see those people over there?" Lindsey called out to the Iron Samnite named Cane, directing his gaze towards the intruders. "They did this to you! They crippled you and left you broken! Now, you can get some payback on them!"
Seemingly convinced by her words, Cane snarled at Knuckles and caught one of his punches. Pulling up the echidna to headbutt him followed by him hurling the Guardian of the Master Emerald back towards an approaching Gadget, knocking both of them down to the floors. Beating his own chest like a rage-filled gorilla.
As Shortfuse flew with blasters blazing, Cane deployed rocket pods from the sides of the waist and fired off the missiles at the squirrel who quickly made evasive maneuvers. At the same time that's all going on, several Iron Vigiles and Megabots swarm in to attack the invading mobians.
"We need some backup now!"
That was the message Bunnie received from Knuckles and had ordered her group to hurry down to the bay but they ran into some issues when a bunch of creatures attacked them. Failed lab specimens that are seemingly lurking in the shadows that act as obstacles to slow them.
Normal people who were disfigured, mutilated and experimented on by uncaring scientists in the name of science… Or so that's what Tails can ascertain from them.
They attacked like wild animals and were seemingly conditioned by the abuse they had endured from the facility staff given their aggressive attitudes towards the Freedom Fighters. Bunnie's team fought off the failed specimens while trying to get through them. Knuckles and them needed help yet these beings insist on harassing the three of them.
Quickly growing fed up with the obstruction in front of them, Bunnie grabs Tails and Manic's hands before gunning for it with her jets. Plowing through the herd and rocketing down the halls as the failed hungry specimen gave chase not long after.
"Ugh, where's that release switch at!?"
Sonic couldn't locate a switch of any kind in the holding cells after searching high and low for one, stopping at the other end of the block. There has to be a way to get them out.
He turned to one of the cells containing a human leaning against the window and asked him; "Do any of you know how these cells open?"
"You're certainly a sight for sore eyes and to answer your question, you can't open the cells from here." Ian told him, looking rugged and exhausted from lack of decent sleep. "I don't exactly know how it works but it looks like the release switch is being operated from another room or those robots carry a remote of some sort that opens these cells."
"A control room?"
"Maybe."
"P-Please get us out of here Sonic…" Said a scared childish voice coming from the cell opposite of Ian's. "I h-h-hate it in here..."
When he turned around to look towards the cell the voice was coming from, Sonic thought he had just seen a younger Fiona Fox there for a split-second before blinking and seeing instead a little red vixen girl in a cream dress around eight years old that looks like a badly neglected child. Said child staring back and tilting her head to one side in confusion.
Was he just imagining it because of the low lighting of this floor or was it that the young vixen just happened to remind him of her?
"Don't worry." Sonic assured the child with a kind smile, letting her know everything's going to be alright. "You and everyone else aren't going to suffer down here any longer."
Unbeknownst to him, a camera is monitoring him. Observing the hedgehog from its post.
Bunnie, Tails and Manic arrived to assist Knuckles' team in fighting off Cain plus the many Megabots and Iron Vigiles backing up the Iron Samnite. Their arrival also brought along the pursuing failed lab experiments which proceeded to virtually attack everyone present and turn everything into pandemonium.
One of the disfigured subjects raced over towards Slimy's group on all fours. Lindsey simply cocks her pistol and puts a bullet into the creature's head when he'd gotten too close. His body having a spasm and dropping dead to the floor in front of a disgusted Lindsey.
Jason taps Slimy on the shoulder and shows him his device that showed a security cam of Sonic at the holding cells. The reptile smiled wickedly, seeing a perfect opportunity at hand. No witnesses and Sonic gets to witness their demise.
Pulling out a remote, he presses a button that activates a fatal function in the cells.
Right after Sonic said those words, he hears a sea of simultaneous clicks throughout the whole block. He looked around to see where the clicks were coming from until he noticed a set of black nozzles up on the ceiling of the child's cell.
The nozzles began producing a gas into the cells that proceeded to make every captive inside them start choking on said gas. Then came the flames and everyone in the cells were all set on fire at the same time. All happening in seconds right before his eyes.
Words died in his throat when shock overtook him and eyes wide in mortified horror as the blood-curdling agonizing screams of the burning victims rang out through the whole block. Several pounding against the glass in vain attempts to escape the intense heat.
Then they ceased to scream once they gave up the ghosts and only the crackles of the flames on the burning corpses remained. The ambers of the flames illuminate the whole area in an orange tone.
He dropped down to his knees, realizing what he had been witness to and what had happened once the shock wore off. He promised them all that he'd get them out of this nightmare and yet he failed to save them.
Every one of them perished and he couldn't rescue a single soul from their nightmare. The scream that broke his heart the most is one produced by that scared vixen child. The extra salt to the emotional wounds of his failure.
Was it because he couldn't find the switch in time? Was it due to him not being fast enough to figure out how to bust them out sooner before they got set on fire? Was it his fault that they all cruelly went out like this?
Overwhelmed by the weight of his own perceived failure and angrily pounding a fist at the cold steel floors, he let out a loud howl of sorrow with tears rolling down his cheeks.
First, it was Monica getting shot on his watch. And now, it's the loss of so many innocent lives. He's witnessed death more than once and knows it's an inevitability but he can never get fully used to it; not when it's a senseless one. His nightmares about him not being good enough having seemingly come true.
He lifts his head up and notices the hidden camera disguised as part of the scenery thanks to the amber-lighting. What used to be his sadness became livid rage when his gaze locked with the camera lens. Fists clenched tightly, teeth gritting and his posture straightened when he stood back up from the floors.
Somebody behind the camera had caused and watched those senseless deaths here. Whether they designed the contraption or merely activated the mechanism, it didn't matter. They chose to go through with ending their victims' lives in the most agonizing manner possible.
These heartless monsters had dragged these people down to imprison them, do lord knows what with them away from public scrutiny and then when they saw it's time for them to leave, they kill all of the unused "volunteers" like their lives meant nothing to them. Indifferent to the suffering they wrought upon them.
That enraged him to his core and he rockets off to the bay. Speeding off so quickly that the shockwave from it ends up shattering the camera's lens.
Slimy looked up from the now-static camera screen on Jason's device when the sonic boom echoed through the underground facility and could hear a fast approaching swoosh as did everyone else. A rapidly approaching rocket who's roars of momentum grew louder and louder until it was only a matter of seconds before they saw a fast-moving blue streak effortlessly tearing through both the security forces and the failed lab experiments alike.
The blue streak a beeline towards Slimy's group with Jason fleeing off to the manta ray ship in panic. Slimy and Lindsey on the other hand stood their ground unafraid of the blue hedgehog's power. Both watching the blue line rapidly grow nearer and nearer to them… And then another blue object abruptly cuts right in front to uppercut Sonic right out of his momentum.
Being the athlete he is, Sonic puts his feet to the ceiling arch he got knocked back towards and launches himself off it to land in front of his metallic doppelgänger Mecha Sonic who stood between him and Slimy. Having a smug grin plastered across his metal face.
"Here for round two Blue Balls?" Mecha Sonic taunts his organic twin, noticing the fierce stern look on his face and sees an opening to start getting under his skin. "And why the loooong face bro? Did somebody here call Aleena a royal tramp or somethin'?"
"Out of the way!" Sonic angrily spindashed at the robot. Wanting to shut his mouth and not in the mood for any part of him.
Mecha Sonic countered and forced him back with an obnoxious laugh. "Oh, I know… Someone's been accusin' your uncle of being a child diddler and him wantin' to relive his "youth'' again through it if you catch my drift~"
As predicted, that only sets off Sonic even more with the already furious hedgehog forgoing any caution and trying to get at Mecha Sonic but the robot easily evaded all of his emotionally-fuelled attacks. Using his temper to control the fight.
Mocking his inability to touch him and egging the hedgehog on. "I bet your dear brother Manic grew up earning a few ducats like a rent boy and probably pricks his own twin sister like real royalty!"
"SHUT UP!" Sonic lunges at the taunting Mecha Sonic to pound him for that remark yet the machine got the better of him by side stepping and roundhouse kicking the ticked off hedgehog in the back of the head. Sending him to the floor.
"Woah, chill out bro…" Mecha Sonic snidely cackles at his progenitor. "What, do you beat up your own girlfriend and mother with that temper? That's certainly one way to make that little mutant freakshow behave himself and know who's number one!"
As though being under a red mist spell, Sonic pulled himself off the floor to lash out at the metal hedgehog who's using his own anger against him to have the upper hand as well as keeping him away from his creator. Said creator heading for the ship with Lindsey accompanying him.
While the others had their hands full in dealing with the rampaging Cane and his support plus the hostile failed specimens, Gadget notices Slimy and Lindsey retreating to the ship from behind his cover in the form of a deactivated Megabot. He has to stop them.
The wolf hurries after them, using his grappling hook to cover the distance until he boots Lindsey to the floor with one boot on the woman's neck to pin her down and points his Burst Wispon at Slimy Wormtongue. Eyes narrowed into a fierce glare and pulled out his Hover Wispon to point it at Jason who tried reaching for his gun.
"Put your hands up and hold it! Drop it or I'll shoot! No tricks!" He growled at Slimy who carefully put down his item and put his hands up. Jason doing the same. With Mecha Sonic preoccupied, Cane busy and Lindsey pinned down, Gadget has the culprits dead to rights and not taking any chances.
"H-Hey… You wouldn't shoot us unarmed folks in cold blood, would you?" Slimy asked nervously and eyeing the Burst Wispon pointed in his direction, knowing how bad it is to be on the receiving end of it. "You're one of the good guys. Sonic wouldn't app—"
"Shut your mouth." Gadget responded assertively in his soldier tone. "You weren't long badmouthing me a few moments ago when you had backup but now that I'm up close, suddenly you're not feeling too brave now..."
"M-Maybe I've judged you wrong young man…" The scientist smiled weakly with a forced chuckle. "P-Perhaps we can talk this out? Like c-civilized people?"
"If it's talk you want to do, then answer this; what are you doing with the cold fusion project, why steal it and where are you taking it to?"
"I do not kn—Okay, okay!"
Gadget's Burst Wispon emits a little amber at the end of the barrel to "persuade" Slimy to fess up. "We're using it for an experiment we'll be conducting in a new location!"
"What kind of experiment?"
"Only Doctor Mengele really knows and I just help him with the technical side of things! I'm telling you the truth here!"
"Sure you are… You didn't answer my other two questions. Why steal it and where to?"
"Uh, it's because…" Slimy reluctantly disclosed some details with the interrogative wolf. "W-We require the cold fusion energy to power the new experiment and I-I thought it'd fit the bill."
"And the new location? Where is it at?"
When Gadget didn't get an answer for his last question, he lowers his Hover Wispon at the back of Lindsey's head if only to pressure one of them into spitting out. "Where at?"
Seeing his girlfriend's life in danger, Jason gave in and blabbered out a location to him. "Pulp Solstice Zone! That's where!"
"You big-mouthed idiot! You just gave him the location!" Lindsey loudly scolded her own fiancé. Displeased at bowing to the red mutt's demands so easily more than the fact she's a hostage.
Slimy on the other hand doesn't seem as bothered by Jason's big mouth and shrugged his shoulders. "You got what you were asking for, young man. No need for pointing guns at us."
After getting an unexpected phone call from her mother she had to take that lasted a few minutes, Sally was on her way back to the ceremony when she got another call on her comm and this one coming from Johnny.
Remembering she had assigned him to a team in tracking down that elusive inside man involved in the heist and answered Johnny's hail. "I take it you found our missing inside man?"
"We have but there is a problem. After we did some looking around, we located our guy and found him stuffed inside a freezer at a meat factory with a broken neck. We aren't too sure on the timeline yet but we know he never left Westopolis to our knowledge."
"...Anything else to report?"
"According to an eyewitness account, he was last seen alive meeting with an individual in a hooded robe. Their description matches that of the ones Mecha Sonic was wearing that night we encountered him."
Tarek checked his time to see seven minutes remaining until the opening. He swiveled his head to Boris.
"Mister Speechley. I am going to go on ahead to take a check of the factory inside to admire the hard work put into it and I will meet you there after the opening." He told his associate. "You can open your letter there."
"Oh, okay. I'll see you there."
With that, Tarek nods and heads on over to the yet to be open factory. Boris being none the wiser to what's happening underground nor what is to come in seven minutes.
Cane tore one of the lab rejects that was attacking him in half with a loud metallic roar and tossing the upper half at an oncoming Tails. The flying fox evades the hazard and flies in for a dropkick to the cyborg's head the same time Knuckles charges at the waist with both fists out. Able to actually knock Cane off his feet since the battle started.
Bunnie and Manic had their own hands full with fending off the Megabots. They're sure they're exhausting the facility's entire stock of them as there were fewer and fewer of the silver robots left.
The Iron Vigiles are still a problem but their rejected brethren were more than happy to hassle them. Leaving Shortfuse in taking care of them.
Sonic still had his eyes all on trying to shut down Mecha Sonic. The latter toying around with him and his temper more than he was engaging his counterpart in battle.
Gadget held his weapons at both of his targets by himself. If he lowered one his Burst Wispon, Slimy would pull out a device. If he lowered his Hover Wispon, Jason would pull the same trick Lindsey pulled on Monica. Leaving the three at an impasse.
And that left no one available to tend to the tied-up Miraju on the floor. Then five of the lab rejects started circling the raccoon like a pack of wolves. With how they tied him up, he's left defenseless against them.
Slimy noticed the danger Miraju is in and smirked at Gadget. "I notice your tied-up teammate has attracted some new friends eager to play with him..."
Looking through the corner of his eye, Gadget saw the situation that Miraju is in and how preoccupied the others are to be able to help him out of his spot. Everyone else has their own situations to worry about and that leaves the wolf the only one presently who can help him.
The problem with that is he'll have to tear himself away from his suspects to go save his teammate from the lab rejects and that meant he'd leave an opening for the three criminals to retreat to the manta ray vessel which in turn would allow them to escape.
"Either you let us go and save him… Or you can keep holding us up and let him die there." Slimy smugly rubs that dilemma in the wolf's face. Knowing as well as he that he's stuck between a rock and a hard place. He'd have to decide what to do with the five lab rejects closing in on the helpless Miraju.
Need of the one or need of the many.
On one hand, he personally isn't too fond of Miraju given their past interactions and Slimy knows valuable information regarding the conspiracy surrounding the cold fusion stolen project.
On the other hand, he couldn't live with himself if he let a teammate die on his watch just because the mission took precedence over someone's life and he's got the info he needed on where they're going next.
Letting his heart decide for him, he got off from Lindsey to run off to save Miraju and allow the suspects to go free.
The red-headed woman was more than eager to shoot the wolf for making a chump out of her but Slimy stopped her while retrieving his items. "We should have been off by now. Besides, the base's self-destruct sequence should deal with them and if not; there's always next time"
Lindsey sneered; reluctantly surrendering her chance to get petty revenge on the red lupine to go follow Slimy onto the ship. "Fine but I'm getting back at that son of a bitch the next time I see him..."
Opting for his Hover Wispon; Gadget blasts away two of Miraju's would-be killers with it and uses his grappling hook to reel one of them towards him to deliver a hard boot to their face. Quickly back the staggered receiver of his kick in the direction of their two friends.
Sighting a half-destroyed Megabot lying close by, he winches his hook onto it, gives the metal object a good swing and then tosses it at the trio. Knocking them straight into a stray beam shot from Cane that eliminated all three.
He quickly rushes to Miraju's side and uses the heat from his ol' beloved on the ropes to free the restrained raccoon. Able to see his bruisings up close, even notice a black eye on him.
"You alright? Can you stand on your own feet?"
"A-Akira…" Miraju coughed out while being helped up to his feet by the wolf, trying to stand up straight and gazing out towards the manta ray ship that is sailing away from the bay. "T-They're all g-getting away!"
"Don't worry, I got their next location off them." Gadget threw one of the raccoon's arms around his shoulder when the latter's footing looked shaky. "Here, lean on me."
He looks over to see how Knuckles and the others were doing. Spotting them with a defeated Cane laying facedown on the floor like a knocked out boxer alongside the downed Megabot and Iron Vigiles.
The wolf thinks that some great display of teamwork must have occurred and he managed to miss out on all of it. Suppose he can ask one of them about it later.
"Come on Butthead, I'm waitin' for you to actually land a hit on me but you're fightin' like a girl!"
Mecha Sonic was having way too much fun making Sonic fight sloppy by pressing his buttons and having just struck him down with a fast uppercut after dodging his axe kick when Slimy called him through his built-in comms. "Mecha Sonic! Stop playing around and get going before you're buried with the rest of them!"
The blue robot moaned like a child told to tidy up his room. "And just as I was havin' a real good time too..."
"Move it!"
"Welp, sayonara blue rat! You're history like the rest of those pixie-brains!"
Mecha Sonic bids his mocking farewell as he flies off to follow the escaping ship and soon leaves behind a parting gift when he lasered the ceiling of the navel tunnel to cave it in on his way out. Cutting off one of their pursuers' escape routes from the facility.
Thanks to his evil twin's bragging, Sonic found out the entire base is set to self-destruct very soon and loudly called out to his whole team. "Everyone, we need to leave now! Hurry!"
Hearing his warning, the whole group hurried out of the bay with their fastest members pulling their slower teammates along.
Moving quickly to find a way out of the underground base before they end up getting buried alive. All while ignoring the remaining hostile failed lab subjects chasing them down.
With Team Sonic showing no signs of returning in the allotted minutes remaining and having to keep the event going as scheduled, he would have to proceed onwards without them. To his credit, he kept his disappointment over it to himself.
The Mayor of Radical City stood on a podium near the front gates with a red ribbon over it and in the middle of delivering a mayoral address to the excited public and press. Sally stood off to his right as an honored guest.
"...It is more than just a new state of the art factory made possible by you taxpayers. It is more than just a monument to the incredible contributions of our Development Institute. It is a testament to both our resilience to adversity and our drive to better ourselves as an island." Mayor Speechley's voice spoke through the podium speakers. "We, the people of Resort Island have fallen so far yet ascend so high in turn. Through this new opening, we are one step closer to ascending even higher."
The man gestured to the new Reactive Factory with a big grin. "One step closer to the promised future!"
With those eight words spoken in true conviction, a loud chorus of applause and cheers rang out in the air. The residents of Resort Island all believed this event could be their Christmas miracle and the almighty end to their hardships. The beginning of a new prosperous era for them all.
Frantically hurrying through the facility with them all leaving behind the nightmarish Level Four and racing for the nearest exit on Level Three that Knuckles had sighted earlier. Adrenaline running through them in their haste to make it to the surface.
Being so preoccupied they were that none of them thought about their angry pursuers and not kept track of them when one of the beings who happens to bear a burn mark broke off to take another route through the floor. By the time Manic had taken notice of what they were doing, it was too late for him to warn the others about it when the stray pursuer suddenly appeared from a turn up ahead and tore Gadget from Shortfuse's side.
The wolf let off a startled cry before rapidly falling far behind the others and the hostile herd rapidly descended on him.
"You all go on ahead!" Sonic ordered the rest of his team. "Keep going and don't slow down!"
He immediately did a u-turn and raced back in the other way to rescue Gadget while everyone else reluctantly continued on their way. The blue hedgehog quickly finds the wolf being attacked by the lab rejects.
The bespectacled war hero trying to fight off the raging herd with his flame weapon that sets some of their numbers on fire but didn't deter the rest of the pack from going at him before Sonic came in for a timely save and hurriedly grabs his hand to run in the opposite direction. The shaken wolf held onto his hand for dear life.
Despite her feelings about him, Sally thought Boris' speech was actually pretty inspiring and saw how galvanized the audience looked from his speech.
It made her think to herself if it's truly right of them to take away their happiness after all they have been through and break their spirits by showing them the unpleasant truth. Are they justified in doing that to them as outsiders?
They raced over to Level Three's escape exit that the rest had headed through. It resembled a tunnel and they were about to take the carved out tunnel but when Sonic sneezed, he quickly hit the brakes with both of them stopping in front of the entrance.
Gadget was going to ask why they had stopped just as an explosion went off down in Level Four and caused a rumble that collapsed the exit before them. The wolf's mouth hung in shock; seeing how narrowly close they both were biting the dust had Sonic not sensed the impending danger in time.
"H-How did yo—"
"Hold on tight!"
Sonic quickly swept Gadget up into his arms and ran on to locate another exit up on the next floor they could use while more explosions went off that generated more rumbles throughout the facility.
Before Sally could dwell any further on that, a sudden tremor in the earth interrupted her train of thought and the disturbance hadn't gone unnoticed by everyone else either.
To his dismay, the escape exit on Level Two is blocked off just like the other one and the tremors were getting worse by the second. Gritting his teeth, he kept on sprinting frantically with Gadget in his arms.
They got to get out. They have to get out. They need to get out.
As he was speeding along, he spotted a handful of still-functioning Megabots and Iron Vigiles standing at the bottom of the stairs leading up to Level One. Upon entering their line of sight, they all opened fire at the pair. Forcing the two to take cover in the deserted lab nearest to them.
"They had to pick this time to make a barricade…"
Gadget hears the annoyance in Sonic's voice as the hedgehog sets him down to quickly think of a plan in his head while the whole base shakes some more and dust seeping in through the lines on the ceiling panels. The explosions seemingly drawing nearer and nearer to them from the sounds of it.
Then his ears perked up when the blue blue spoke to him. "Hey, you know that Double Boost we used a while back? Well, it's now or never."
He depended on Sonic to get him out of the exploding base and it appears that the hedgehog is depending on him to get him out in turn.
With the severity of the situation at hand, he can't let down his hero when he needs his help. He held out his hand ready to receive.
Sonic nodded and summoned his own energies within that materialized in the form of a beautiful glowing white light in his palm. Once he has it conjured, he high-fives the wolf and the receiver feels a great surge of awesome power running through him; ready to take whatever obstacles lie ahead. The Double Boost is ready.
Together, they jumped out into the hallway. Both acted and moved quicker than their opponents did; the duo plowing right through the barricade like bullets to a sheet of paper and flying up the stairs to reach Level One in about three seconds. Taking out both the Megabots and Iron Vigiles that stood in their way.
The two speedily rocket through the floor together while trashing whatever enemy dares to try slowing them down and keep ahead of the explosions following their trails. None of the Iron Vigiles still fit to fight stood a hair of a chance against the locomotive-like power of their synchronized momentum.
Both worked together to reach for the exit. If the one they used to enter the base with isn't available to them, they'll just have to make their own. They'd find the entrance to the tunnel leading out to Regal Ruins but saw it had already caved in from the earlier disturbances.
That prompts the two to quickly search for the last possible exit out of this place: The one leading up to Reactive Factory itself. A moment later and with Gadget having seen it earlier when his team was barging through the security, the pair would locate a particular room with a set of spiraling stairs that led up to the ceiling.
Seeing as they are running out of time with the explosions closing in on them; even feeling the scorching heat of the rapidly approaching flames, they both gunned for the stairs and flew up the long ascending steps where they'd smash through whatever it was that disguised the upper entrance to make it to Reactive Factory itself. Narrowly making it when the stairs collapsed behind them right after their feet left the last step.
They find themselves inside a storage room and with no time to admire the marvel of the factory's interior or the machinery that makes up the impressive factory, they race over to the nearest exit.
Getting to the front entrance, they saw it's locked with a computerized lock-system that would take too long to hack into and the other exits on the floor were likely locked the same way. Designed to prevent saboteurs or rather prevent people like them from breaking into the building from the outside if the sentries failed to stop them.
Spotting a set of stairs leading up to the higher levels of Reactive Factory and running out of time, Sonic grabs Gadget's hand and quickly leads him up the steps with the latter praying they'd find the exit before the whole factory goes.
What started as cheers of joy became screams of terror. Disaster of biblical proportions had struck.
"SONIC!"
Sally forgot her own calm in a rush of emotions and any pretense of cover going out the window when she screamed out his name. Startling the life out of Mayor Speechley in doing so.
The new Reactive Factory that was to be a bridge to the future abruptly and loudly explodes into a big orange ball of flames followed by clouds of black smoke. The grounds within the factory' boundaries sunk into the earth like mud during a fierce flood.
Speaking of floods, the big body of water that was to act as fuel to the destroyed factory immediately flooded the collapse pace and washed through the surrounding affected area.
A violent seismic wave generated by the explosions underground caused cracks to form on the surface with both solid ground and tarmac opening up to reveal the earth inside akin to faults created during earthquakes. Various objects from knocked over folding chairs to a whole police cruiser and a handful of people fell into the newly-formed pits.
Fireballs produced from the explosion similar to a volcanic eruption rained on the terrified crowd trying to escape the terrifying disaster. A few landing on some unfortunate souls and wiping them out instantly.
Sally witnessed firsthand the destruction of the factory and the following chaos that ensued. Busily helping out the emergency services present in guiding the terrified civilians away from the scene of the disaster as best as she could. Boris would be escorted away to safety by his bodyguards.
She prayed deep down that Sonic and them weren't caught in the explosion. Her prayers would be mostly answered when Tails, Knuckles, Shortfuse and Bunnie came in to assist with the relief efforts. Rescuing anyone in need of help.
They'd tell her that Manic's sticking with the injured Miraju. They also told her that Gadget and Sonic got separated from them when the whole underground facility blew up. She had feared the worst until she noticed something coming down from the skies.
A dirtied Gadget holding his Hover Wispon upwards in one hand and carrying Sonic in the other were descending from the air, occasionally firing off the weapon's hover function to slow their fall until roughly landing on the ground or crashing to the ground to be more precise a few yards from Sally. Due to the strain of bearing their combined weights and the fact it was using a mobian-made substitute power source, the green weapon gave up the ghost when it hit the ground.
When Sonic picked himself off the ground and helped up Gadget, he'd see Sally rush over to them. Looking relieved at both of their survival as she hugged Sonic tightly.
The duo were both relieved to make it out with their lives. The relief was short-lived when they looked towards the billowing black cloud of smoke that hung over the burning remains of the collapsed Reactive Factory, the chaos that came from its destruction and the people affected by the disaster made a grim picture.
The weight of what happened is only now being realized now and the worst has yet to come...
Author's Notes: What a chapter, huh? Plenty of action, some dark discovery and a heartbreak. We go from a routine infiltration mission to absolute disaster in a short time.
Sonic and Mecha Sonic have their second bout with the latter having complete control over it. Able to show off more of Mecha's personality and write his dialogue like he's Fleetway Sonic if Garth Ennis wrote him or Chaos Sonic from Prime if he had more of Scourge's negative qualities besides being a riff on Early 90's North American Sonic.
What lies in the aftermath and fallout of the factory's destruction? Stay tuned for the next chapter and leave your thoughts in the reviews. I'll see you all another time.