The Last Freedom Fighter

by Campcrystallake11

The War is Over... Robotnik has won, and now a lone soldier... A relic of that war wanders the apocalyptic landscape struggling to protect the few Mobians that remain, while clinging to a past he can't let go of, fighting for a future that no longer exists. That is Until he's presented with the seemingly impossible opportunity to undo the events that led to the downfall of Mobius.

2. The First to Fall

I chose to go with the Robotnik variant of the character, even though I personally prefer Eggman. His brand of unique cartoonish villainy lends itself well to most pieces of Sonic-related media… Though not necessarily for the world of this story. Robotnik's characterization as a more tyrannical and traditional, almost cliché honestly, type of villain just lends itself better for the type of story I wanted to write. I'm saying this mainly for our readers who might be wondering why Robotnik isn't quite acting like the Eggman most fans know. That's because I'm basing Robotnik after how he was portrayed in Sat AM, and the early Archie Comics. Modern Eggman revels in his villainy and would definitely want subjects to rule over when he starts his empire… Robotnik simply wants to rule the world and doesn't care if he watches it burn to the ground to accomplish that goal, and genocide is just a means to an end.

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Chapter 2: The First to Fall

25 Years Earlier…

Sonic the Hedgehog was doing what he did best… Speeding through the streets of Robotropolis, being pursued by more badniks than he could count, and just generally being the bane of Ivo Robotnik's existence. It was kind of ironic when you thought about it… He was arguably Mobius' greatest hero and yet his primary job on most of these raids into the empire's capital city was serving as a distraction while his friends and fellow Freedom Fighters took care of completing most of their mission objectives. Not that Sonic minded in the least. His role allowed him to do two things he loved… Running circles around slowpoke bots and causing the egg-shaped tyrant yet another ministroke. It didn't hurt either that Sonic could more than take care of himself physically on the rare occasions that his speed was neutralized. The blue blur's only real concern was Robotnik catching on to the ruse, tempting him to put a greater focus on targeting Sonic's teammates.

The Freedom Fighters were a well-organized bunch, however, and thus weren't foolish enough to think Robotnik was too stupid to realize Sonic was merely occupying his time while Princess Sally Acorn and company got shit done. In fact, they understood Ivo was usually keenly aware when they were up to something beneath the surface. The other Resistance members often had to deal with stiff opposition standing in the way of whatever goal they were hoping to accomplish, though it was rarely anything they couldn't handle. Most of the heavy artillery was always focused on Sonic since he was priority target numeral uno. Sonic just hoped that Robotnik never decided to throw them a curveball by ignoring him entirely and focusing the full brunt of his offensive against his fellow Freedom Fighters. If the Egg wasn't so wrapped up in his obsession with eliminating the 'pesky blue rodent', perhaps he'd realize that he could pretty much wipe out the upper echelon of the Freedom Fighter's roster in one decisive blow.

Sonic shook his head and expelled that lingering fear from his mind. No time to waste on hypotheticals that he'd never allow to happen. He needed to focus on keeping his feet moving and being the center of the tyrant's attention. "Alright Sal," Sonic spoke through his communicator. "Robutnik's got every bot in the sector hot on my tail! You guys do whatcha gotta do!"

"We're way ahead of you Sonic… And please be careful." Sally could almost hear Sonic smirking as she cut the transmission. She quickly patched herself through to another crucial cog in their plan. "Rotor, how are those explosives coming along?"

"I'm almost finished with the South Tower Sally…" The bulky walrus grunted with a turn of his wrench. "I'll mosey on along to the next target in about a minute or two… Do you think we should've picked higher priority targets though? Best case scenario, we confuse Robotnik as to why we targeted a couple of unessential buildings, and at worst he totally sees through the fireworks as a distraction."

"It'll be fine Rotor… The explosives are just to give Robotnik something else to think about. A secondary distraction isn't worth risking your safety by targeting facilities with better defenses. Just let us know when you're finished and get yourself somewhere safe."

"Will do your highness! Rotor out…"

Sally sighed before the crackle of her wrist communicator roared to life again. Instead of Sonic or Rotor's rough baritone though, a sultry feminine voice voided the silence. "Oh, princess dear, I'm not exactly sure what you guys are planning, but you might want to get a move on. The doctor has already homed in on your secondary team's location, and there's a sizeable force of badniks coming your way."

"Shit! I thought we'd have more time… We'll just have to speed things up… Thank you for the heads-up Rouge." Sally looked to her left where a pink hedgehog with an oversized hammer stood looking raring to go, standing next to a red echidna with his arms crossed looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. "Would you two mind cutting off that squadron before they reach our position?"

"Permission to smash any robot in sight?" Amy asked as she twirled her hammer. Her usual red attire, replaced by the black and grey stealth uniforms the Freedom Fighters often wore during these types of operations.

"Permission granted," Sally chuckled softly. "Just please be careful and fallback if you get overwhelmed."

Knuckles merely growled in response. "You realize the only reason I'm here is because I just happened to be visiting Knothole when I got roped into this madness," he grumbled before the wriest of smirks crossed his muzzle. "You're lucky I enjoy breaking Robotnik's toys."

Sally smiled in response. She knew Knuckles wouldn't have joined them on this operation if he hadn't wanted to. The echidna always had to make sure to keep up appearances though. "I understand that you have other responsibilities Knuckles, and we always appreciate it when you lend a hand. Now, you two better get moving before those bots are on top of us!"

Knuckles and Amy nodded in acknowledge before sprinting off, the latter getting in contact with Rouge for more intel on how close the approaching squadron of bots were. With that out of the way, there was only one more assignment to pass on… The one she was dreading most of all. Sally exhaled a nervous breath as she slowly turned and looked slightly downward as the piercing sky-blue eyes of their youngest member stared up at her. Those eyes filled with a noticeable mix of excitement and apprehension. "Tails… I know this job is a big one… And a dangerous one at. If you're not up for it, I can always…"

"I'm ready Aunt Sally!" the adolescent's voice cracked with determination. "I know this is my first mission as a Freedom Fighter, but I understand how important my objective is! This is exactly the type of situation that you guys have been training me for, right?"

"I know but… If you think it's too much for you, I can always have Rotor…"

"No can-do Sally!" Rotor disagreed immediately over the com. "I've got my hands full with the explosives. Besides, I'm a mechanic, not a computer guy… Or a multifaceted little prodigy like the big guy over there. If you want that data, there's no one better suited for the job than Tails."

"I know but… He's only thirteen…"

Bunnie, the half cyborg rabbit with the southern drawl who'd been standing directly behind the two-tailed fox, rolled her eyes. There was a good chance that Sally could drag this on all night if somebody didn't put a stop to it. "Oh, not this ole song-and-dance again Sally-girl! When he was eleven, he was only eleven, and when he's fifteen, he'll only be fifteen…" Bunnie wrapped her non-mechanical arm around the fox's shoulders and smiled down at him affectionately… Only she didn't have to look down as far as she used to. Tails had sprouted up like a weed in recent years and was now pretty much muzzle level to most of his average sized contemporaries. Tails returned the smile, appreciating the encouraging words of his big sister-like figure. "Sugar-Fox is more than ready, so it's time to cut that cord and let 'em do his job! He's either one of us or he ain't, so if ya still don't trust 'em he might as well not even be here! Besides, he'll have me watchin' his back every step of the way!"

"You're… You're right…" With a weak grin, Sally finally relented and handed Tails her all-important PDA… AKA Nicole. "I know your ready sweetie, so make me proud, okay?"

"I'll do my best Aunt Sally…" Tails promised, before thinking better about his wording. "No, this mission is too important… I'll get the job done Sally, I guarantee it!"

"I know you will… Now go you two! We've wasted enough time as it is!"

"Roger that!" Bunnie tipped her cowboy hat to Sally before, very inelegantly, yanking a ventilation grate clear off the hinges. Tails wasted no time jumping inside, Bunnie following close behind him. She turned to Sally one last time before completely disappearing from her view. "Don't worry your pretty little head Sally-girl! If anyone wants to harm him, they'll hafta get through me first! Don't forget that we have other friends riskin' their lives out there that need you watchin' over 'em too."

Bunnie and Tails were well out of earshot before Sally finally sighed and lamented, "The others aren't on their first mission… While saddled with the most important job out of all of us. If Tails can hack into the Eggnet and transfer all that vital data to Nicole, it might just change the tide of the war… That's a lot of pressure to put on a thirteen-year-old kit…" Sally jumped, stirred from her musings by the sound of someone clearing his throat from behind her.

"Umm… Excuse-moi your highness, but tis there anything you'd like for me to do?" he asked tepidly in his heavily accented voice, feeling like he'd been forgotten during the briefing… Because honestly, he had been.

"Oh, Antoine… Um, how about you just try to keep your knees from shaking as hard as they are so that the noise doesn't giveaway our position…" Poor Antoine looked confused by the order at first, but upon noticing his knees were indeed rattling a bit, he reached down and grabbed a firm hold on them as if taking the order seriously. Sally felt the sudden urge to slam her head against something hard. She loved Antoine like family, but the guy was lucky he was reliable and competent in combat situations, because dealing with his skittishness in the interim could be exhausting.

Inside the warehouse, Bunnie busted through another ventilation grate, allowing herself and Tails access to the building proper. Thankfully, there didn't appear to be any security bots in the immediate area, or at the very least they hadn't alerted them yet if there were any present. The sheer quiet of the complex really did give Bunnie and Tails the impression that every available unit had been redirected to pursue Sonic or towards the location where Sally and the rest of the secondary team had just vacated. That didn't mean they could let their guard down, however. There was bound to be a security bot or two still lurking about somewhere. Robotnik never left a facility with any semblance of importance completely undefended, even with a meddlesome hedgehog in the vicinity.

Bunnie expected a lengthy search to find whatever it was that her young fox friend needed to work his computer voodoo, so imagine her surprise when it took all of thirty seconds for Tails to locate something that captured his interest. It appeared to be some sort of recharging station with both a terminal and a monitor attached to it. It didn't look like much to Bunnie, but the discovery brought a smile to the teen's muzzle as his twin namesakes began twitching excitedly. "This is perfect!"

Bunnie wasn't so sure she agreed… The terminal was wedged in the middle of an axis point between two long steel corridors that stretched farther than her eyes could see. If there was one thing sneaking through long dark hallways like these during the war had taught her, it was that they usually led to somewhere, connecting one major section of the building to another…. Which meant there was a good chance that large, angry, Mobian hating robots might pass through these corridors as they traversed the facility. Getting caught out in such a narrow passageway wouldn't exactly be ideal, but at least they'd have plenty of warning for a hasty getaway if they caught sight of some badnik lumbering in their direction.

"You sure about this sug?" the rabbit asked even as Tails hastily attached his equipment to the terminal. "I don't know squat about all this tech mumbo-jumbo, but dontcha need one of those big computer rooms to do all that fancy hackin' stuff?"

"Not if you know what you're doing you don't… A monitor and a keyboard are all I need… This terminal even has a port that I can plug Nicole into for the data transfer. Honestly, commandeering one of the control rooms would be the last thing we'd want to do. Highly more likely to be well defended, and the first place Robotnik would look once he's realized somebody has hacked into the Eggnet from this location. This nice little cubbyhole deep in this maze of a facility is the perfect place to set up shop. It could buy us just enough extra time to pirate and bleed Robotnik's mainframe dry! The potential for the type of data we could rip from the Eggnet is practically boundless from future robot designs, troop placements, prisoner locations, scrapped plans, and probably even down to what Robotnik had for breakfast this morning."

"My guess would be broken glass, washed down with the tears of a thousand roboticized Mobians," Bunnie quipped, as she admired her young friend affectionately. She probably should've thought twice before questioning his judgment. Tails had always been smart, even when he was a young kit…. Okay, saying he was smart was underselling it. Smart kids got straight A's on their report cards while in grammar school. Tails had been helping fix, and eventually, building his own airplane and other gizmo's since he was six. He'd become a full-fledged mechanic under Rotor by the time he was eight, and since then even his doubters could no longer ignore his genius with a wrench. Tail's active young mind extended far beyond the limits of a humble engineer though, as did his interests. As he grew into adolescence, his critical thinking ability matured along with him. So much so that Sonic, Bunnie, and even a couple members of the leadership group working behind the scenes at Resistance HQ had seen enough potential in Tails to prompt them to try and convince Sally to at least allow the promising young Freedom Fighter to sit in on the leadership group's briefings and brainstorming sessions, if not to contribute than at least to observe and get a feel for what the process was like… Because the three of them, along with many others, were convinced it wouldn't be long before he became a crucial part of those meetings as one of their primary voices. Tails' brain just worked at a different level than most everybody else, and they'd be foolish not to take advantage of it wherever possible. Of course, Tails was nowhere close to perfect by any stretch of the imagination. He was still a bit too eager to prove himself, which prompted him to take unnecessary risks, and he was still a teen prone to letting his emotions get the better of him… Or his ever-persistent self-confidence issues that could easily lead the fox to doubt himself if his performance was anything less than perfect. It had become a fine line to walk with him lately, allowing him to make full use of his talents to aid the Freedom Fighter's cause, while tempering those expectations when necessary so he didn't get overwhelmed, causing him to make mistakes he normally wouldn't. Basically, his squad mates had to learn when it was appropriate to treat him like a comrade and an equal, and when they needed to reel him in and remind everyone that he was still thirteen. "Not that I'm gona understand the answer, but how exactly does this work again?"

"Once I connect Nicole to the terminal, she's going to infect Robotnik's entire network with a virus that will temporarily lock him out of the system and disable most essential functions throughout Robotropolis, while at the same time allowing me unfiltered access to pretty much anything Buttnik has electronically stored on the Eggnet. Basically, all I have to do is hack my way in after the virus starts creating havoc which will allow Nicole the opportunity to download as much data as she can. She's honestly doing most of the heavy lifting here."

Bunnie smirked slyly, knowing there was more to the story than that. While Tails enjoyed receiving recognition for his achievements and talents, his natural shyness often left him relatively humble… He wasn't someone who liked to brag, but he didn't mind discussing his accomplishments if somebody else brought them up and he would do so with enthusiasm. As much as Tails looked up too and wanted to emulate Sonic when he was kid, he really ended up taking more after his Aunt Sally, which made sense considering those two were much similar in personality… Both being very analytical and serious when the situation called for it, despite the young vulpines' love of adventure. "The virus Nicole developed? Last this big ole ears heard sug, you did your fair share with helpin' to create that whatcha ma-do."

"I helped a little bit…" Tails smirked softly as a faint blush formed across his muzzle. While he didn't mind the praise, he wanted to make sure the bulk of the credit went where it was due. "But the virus was still mostly Nicole's work. Let's face it, if Nicole had fingers and could be in two places at once, she'd be the one in the hot seat right now, and Aunt Sally would still have me chained up to my bedpost back in my hut in Knothole…"

"Well, she doesn't have hands and you're the one here in the saddle with probably the most important job of this entire operation… Maybe even ever, if this data y'all've been yappin' about is as important as it sounds. That's gotta count for somethin', right?"

"I'm not trying to understate how important my role in this mission is Bunnie… I just wish Sally could see that… And that I'm not approaching this job like a kid at playtime… You'd think I'd have done enough over the years that she'd have some confidence in me by now…"

"It's not a matter of trust Sugar-Fox… Sally-girl, just worries about ya… She's never questioned your ability to do the job, just the wisdom of whether or not throwin' ya in the middle of a blazing inferno on your first real mission was a good idea. Her concern comes from a place of love Tails, not mistrust or doubt."

"I get that…" Tails said softly as his mind wandered off task for a moment. Words couldn't express how much he appreciated everything Sally had done for him. The throw-away child that somehow had earned the affection of the princess of an entire kingdom. It was a step up from dumpster diving for scraps while dodging rocks being tossed at your head, that was for sure. He never wanted anyone to mistake his current frustrations for a lack of gratitude towards Sally, Sonic, or any of his fellow Freedom Fighters for that matter. "You have no idea how well I understand that, but you guys had already founded the Freedom Fighters and were fighting Robotnik while most of you weren't that much older than me… You could certainly make the argument that I've been better trained and prepared for this stage, more so than anyone else was when you guys got started aside from Sonic, so why the double standard now?"

"Maybe because Sally-girl was hopin' the war would be over by the time you got to that age, and she wouldn't have to worry about you fightin' in it… None of us really had much of a childhood Sugar-Fox, and none of us wanted yours to get completely stolen from you either… Sally especially."

Tails wasn't sure how to respond to that. He knew Bunnie was right, but that persistent nagging voice at the back of his subconscious, the one that always demanded he needed to prove himself, wouldn't be silenced so easily. His inferiority complex had always been one of his biggest weaknesses, highlighted by his constant need to prove that he was useful and not just a burden to his extended family… That feeling of being a burden on everyone had been a constant presence looming over him since he was a kid, and all those patronizing pats on the head had long since lost their effectiveness. Other than the occasional encouraging peptalk from Sonic or Bunnie, the validation he craved had eluded him. His will to prove himself to everyone, himself especially, to show that he was more than just the two-tailed freak mascot of Knothole. Especially to the person he craved validation from the most… His Aunt Sally, who'd been very stingy with extending that approval. Tails knew the princess would prefer that he not be out in the field at all, and that knowledge stung like a hive of angry hornets.

Tails was never more thankful to have a suitable distraction to avoid thinking too hard about his 'surrogate mommy' issues. "Alright, it looks like I'm in! Time to get Nicole plugged into the network and we can get this show on the road!'

"How much time do ya think we got?"

"There's no telling… The more data we can transfer to Nicole the better, but it's going to take time… Let's hope Sonic is keeping egg-breath extra aggravated."

Tails would be pleased to know that Sonic was more than holding up his end of the bargain. Sonic pinged himself off a wall and into the air, slicing through several robots that had gotten to close for comfort in a single spin dash. He looked behind him at one of the camera drones, from where he knew Robotnik would be observing him, and promptly pressed his finger to his nose before sticking his tongue out at the tyrant.

"Sonic!" The teenaged voice of his best bud reached out to him through his communicator. "The virus has been implemented successfully, and the data transfer is underway!"

"Awesome! I knew you had it in ya little bro!"

"Thanks… We're transferring all the most important data first, but we'd like to extract as much as we possibly can. How long do you think you can keep Robotnik's attention on you?"

"Ha, are you kidding T?! I can give Robotnik's rusty ole trash cans the runaround 'til the sun comes up…" Sonic boasted perhaps a little prematurely. Another wave of badniks were charging his way from the east. There was no clear path to turn round, and this new group of adversaries were too densely packed for him to plow straight through them. Sonic chose the only practical option left to him. He had to break from his own personal rule of avoiding tight narrow spaces that were difficult to maneuver through, but he didn't have much choice in this case. "Whoops… Looks like I gotta take a little detour guys!"

"What do you mean whoops?!" Sally chided him from over the communicator. "Whoops is about the last thing I want to hear out of your mouth at a time like this hedgehog!"

"Chill out Sal! I just had to…" Sonic's words died in his throat upon realizing the narrow alleyway he decided to duck into didn't have an exit… Just a metal plated wall of one of the many buildings dominating the city, and with every bot that could fit down that claustrophobic alleyway hot on his quills, turning back wasn't an option… That left the hedgehog with one alternative, and it was going to hurt… Propelling himself forward as fast as his feet could churn, Sonic curled into a ball, mere milliseconds before connecting with solid steel, managing to cut a coin-slot style hole in the wall before landing on the other side. Sonic hit his knees, and stumbled as he tried to stand up, dizzy from literally punching a hole in solid steel with his small-framed body. He'd be okay, but it was going to take a minute to get the room to stop spinning. "Ouch… Well, that hurt…I've gotta remember not to make a habit of using my head to knock on Robotnik's door…"

"Sonic are you alright?!"

"I'll be fine Sal… I busted my way into one of the buildings and…" Sonic paused as he took his first good look at his surroundings. Robot parts were strewn as far as the eye could see, as well as several conveyor belt type structures that resembled assembly lines. "I think I might be in one of those factory's Buttnik builds his tin toys in."

"Then you're definitely 'not' safe in there. You need to find an exit as soon as possible."

"Nah! I figured I'd hang out here with the doc and pound back a few chili dogs and a case of soda," Sonic chirped, his brow furrowed. He loved the girl, but the way she'd sometimes tell him what was plainly obvious, like no one else but her could figure it out otherwise, could get irksome. "You think he's got cable?… WHOA!"

Sonic hopped out of the way of a laser blast that came from outside of the building. He then noticed some bots trying to simultaneously cut or melt their way through the hole he'd left in the wall that let him inside. "Should've figured as much… I'm so popular with these jerks, that they're willin' to crawl through several feet of reinforced steel just to get to me… I'd be flattered, but I'm not in the mood to sign autographs today. Got stuff to do, so it's time for me to juice!"

"Do you have any idea where you're even going?"

"I think I can help with that Aunt Sally!"

---

Back in his command center, Robotnik was practically frothing at the mouth out of pure frustration. "No, no, no, no, no! I had him! The blue rodent was cornered, and those scrap buckets let him…"

"Um… I hate to interrupt your tirade sire, but we have a situation…"

"Shut up Snively! I need to think… Yes, this development may prove to be beneficial to our cause just yet… His maneuverability will be limited indoors, and that factory is basically a giant maze… Even some of our staff bots get lost from time to time, and they're programed to navigate that facility…"

"But Uncle! We have a serious situation developing that really demands your attention…"

"I said be silent you insufferable twit! Now do something useful for a change and order all available units to Assembly Plant 17. That burdensome rodent will not leave that factory alive… He's finally out of places to run… Quite ironic, isn't it?"

"As much as I'd love to convey that order Doctor, I'm afraid I'm unable to do so at the current time," Snively droned with very thinly veiled frustration.

"You have the nerve to disobey me you miserable little…" With gritted teeth, the rotund tyrant advanced on his nephew, looking like a man who'd enjoy nothing more than tossing his diminutive assistant out of one of his observation windows.

Needless to say, all the snark immediately disappeared from Snively's voice. "I'm not disobeying you Uncle, I'm quite literally incapable of following through with your command! I've been trying to inform you that the Eggnet has been hacked! Some sort of virus has been introduced to the system, disabling most essential utilities needed to run the city… Including communications! I'm surprised the monitors are still…"

As if on cue, all the monitors in Robotnik's command center shut down at once, replacing the footage of Sonic struggling to navigate his way through the factory with a yellow screen featuring a feline Mobian winking at the viewer from the center of the monitor. "What the devil is this?!"

"It appears to be a lynx sire," Snively deadpanned. Robotnik didn't appreciate the display of dry humor.

"I know that you halfwit! If I'm not mistaking, that's the form the Princess of Acorn's AI companion has chosen to take…" Robotnik hummed softly to himself as he pressed his fingers together. He didn't appear to be taking the situation with as much urgency as his nephew felt he probably should. "So, this is what the little vermin were up too while the hedgehog ran wild in my city. I must confess, I'm almost impressed."

"Almost impressed sire? The Freedom Fighters have basically managed to cripple our entire infrastructure in a matter of minutes!"

"Merely a temporary hindrance Snively. This is why I sit on the throne as head of a global empire, while you're forever fated to serve as my woefully unqualified lacky. Now, step aside and go be useless somewhere else that's not obstructing me while I work!" Robotnik powered passed his diminutive associate, and with a few keystrokes activated a secondary computer terminal that rose up through a hatch in the ground. A backup system independent of his main network. "As if I wouldn't have safeguards in place in the case the vermin ever managed to accomplish something like this… While I can't immediately undo the damage this virus has done to the Eggnet, give me five minutes and this virus will be purged, and I'll have retaken control over my city."

Snively noticed the frown crease his uncle's mouth as an audible groan escaped it. Telltale indicators that his uncle was dealing with something he hadn't anticipated. "Something the matter sire? Is the virus more complicated to combat that you originally assumed?"

"This is actually quite an impressive little stunt for such a technologically ignorant race… That's not the issue, however. The question that puzzles me is what they hoped to accomplish with this nonsense. The princess is clever. All of the Freedom Fighter's raids into my city have had some purpose, no matter how mindless and unorganized they may appear at first glance. They have to be aware that it would be merely a matter of time before I undid the damage from their little cyberattack. What could they have hoped to accomplish in such a short window of time? There's something I'm not seeing…" A sinister gleam flashed in the tyrant's eyes. "Once I've regained control over my security systems, I should be able to isolate where the hack originated from… If the perpetrators haven't already fled, perhaps I can… Extract the information from them personally!"

"Do you really believe they'd be stupid enough to perform the hack inside of the city?"

A low growl rolled from Robotnik's throat. "Snively… I hope indeed that I live a long robust life, for if you were ever forced to fill my shoes, I have no doubt that my Empire would crumble within a week. I've created the most advanced and secure computer network this planet has ever seen. The only viable way to infect it with a virus, even one this advanced, would have to have been injected directly into the system! The only way to accomplish this would be from somewhere within the city. If that pea-sized brain of yours can't even detect the obvious… Then just shut up and let me work!"

Back with Tails and Bunnie

Tails watched triumphantly as the data from some of Robotnik's most secure intel got slowly pilfered right from underneath his bulbous nose. "Tails, it appears we have an issue," Nicole warned in her slightly robotic and monotone voice. "Robotnik has already begun the process of purging the virus from the Eggnet. We have approximately four minutes fifty-four seconds before Robotnik regains control."

Bunnie placed a hand on her young friend's shoulder, staring at the screen with concern. "Guess that means this is our cue to skedaddle?"

"Not quite yet," Tails replied confidently. "Robotnik won't be able to pinpoint our location until after he's regained full control over the network, so there's no reason to rush just yet. We need to be patient and give Nicole as much time to download as much data as she can manage…" Tails then addressed the literal ghost in the machine. "By the way Nicole… If for whatever reason it feels like Robotnik is getting close to making himself a threat to you, alert me immediately and I'll pull you out, okay?"

The AI was hesitant. Despite her burgeoning sentience, she was still new to processing these thoughts and opinions she'd been having of her own that went against her traditional programming. A few months ago, she wouldn't have flinched at adhering to that request, as she would've viewed it as an order and it wasn't her place to second guess. "Is that the wisest course of action? Every second matters, and the longer I remain the more data I can extract… I'm merely code, so as long as my PDA remains intact, my wellbeing is inconsequential…"

"Oh, dontcha even start talkin' like that girlie! You're one of us, and Freedom Fighters don't leave friends behind!

"Exactly," Tails agreed. "Besides, Aunt Sally wouldn't be too happy with us if we left you stranded in Butnikland!"

"I…" Nicole struggled to formulate a response. Emotions were still relatively new to her, so deferring to them over logic still felt… Alien. Yet something about her friends voicing their concern for her made her feel something undeniably akin to warm… A feeling she liked. "Thank you… I'll keep you abreast of Robotnik's progress Tails."

Nicole would have to put those warm sentiments aside as the data retrieval team overheard the chatter between Sonic and Sally over their coms. Everybody's favorite spikey blue hero was trapped in a dark factory with bots on his trail and no idea where to go next. Bunnie was by no means stupid, which meant she knew when to defer to a member of the Freedom Fighter's brain trust when presented with a situation that went over her head. "There's gotta be a way to help Sugar-hog from here isn't there?"

"Actually, there might just be if I can hack into the security system and find a path to get Sonic out of there… Ugh, but it would take too long to determine exactly what building he's in! Unless… Nicole can you pinpoint his location?"

"Searching now Tails… In fact, I think I've already located him!" Nicole announced with more enthusiasm than she was typically known for. "Placing on screen…"

Emerald green and sky-blue eyes went wide as security camera footage of a confused-looking hedgehog appeared on screen. "Fantastic job Nicole! But a static feed of Sonic isn't going to be much help to him. I need to be able to see where he's going before he gets there if I have any hope of navigating Sonic out of that factory."

"Understood… Is this view more sufficient?" The single screen switched to sixteen smaller screens, most of which provided views of rooms adjacent to where Sonic was currently standing, in every which direction he might choose to roam. "I've adjusted the feed, so it travels along with Sonic as he moves."

"This is perfect!... Awesome job Nicole! Though I do wish I'd picked a bigger screen now," Tails muttered drawing a snicker from his rabbit cohort. He pushed the button on his communicator to contact Sonic and the others. "I think I can help with that Aunt Sally! Nicole's hacked into the security feed for the factory Sonic's currently slumming it in, and with it I should be able to guide him to an exit without too much difficulty…"

"Now that's what I like to hear!" Sonic felt his legs twitching, eager to move. "Lead the way little bro!"

"I've got your back Sonic, but keep in mind that the security cameras can't keep up with your normal pace, so you're going to have to take it a lot slower than you'd probably prefer…"

"Actually…" Sonic frowned as his eyes scanned the dark foreboding expanse of the factory. "I don't think that's goin' to be an issue T. It's so dark in here that I can't see more than a couple of feet in front of my face, so unless I want to eat steel every few feet I kinda need to watch where I'm goin' anyway… So, I guess no goin' 'full hog' for me this time huh?!" There was a collective groan across the channel that left Sonic pouting as he glared down at his wrist as if his communicator had betrayed him. "Oh, come on! I've been waitin' to use that one forever!"

"You should've kept it on ice a bit longer," Sally sighed as she tried to get her team back on point. "Please be careful Sonic… Tails try to get him out of there before Robotnik gets the chance to take advantage of the situation."

"Will do Sally! Now, let me see if I can map out a path with what I can see here…" Tails' focus was cut off by the sound of loud metal footsteps in the distance… Followed by the sickeningly familiar sound of gears churning as a security bot appeared in the corridor and slowly began to plod its way in the Freedom Fighter's direction. "Great… I knew our luck so far had been too good to be true…"

"Don't worry your pretty orange head about it sugar. I'll take care of this little 'interruption', you focus on gettin' Sugar-hog outta that scrapyard!" Bunnie held up her robotic limb in the air as a blaster emerged from the wrist area. "I've been itchin' to try out the new toy you and Rotor fixed up for me anyhow!"

"Alright… Please be careful Bunnie…" The rabbit affectionately rustled her fingers through the teenage fox's head fur before rushing off to introduce herself to the facility's security. Unfortunately, the bad news just kept filtering in. This time from Nicole.

"Estimated time of one minute remaining until Robotnik regains control over the Eggnet."

The eyes of the vulpine shifted to the PDA and the downloaded data… 47% complete. That number somehow felt woefully insufficient for the amount of effort and risk the team was putting forward, and yet somehow more than they ever could've hoped for at the same time. "Acknowledged Nicole. I'm going to pull you out before Robotnik retakes control and detects your presence."

"But… I can still assist with guiding Sonic out of the…"

Tails wasn't sure if Nicole could see the motion, but he shook his head anyway. "You've done your job, now let us handle the rest. Knowing that bloated windbag Robotnik, he'll be more concerned with finding out what happened with Sonic first before he even considers coming after us. There's no need to risk your own safety for a task I'm more than capable of handling myself."

Nicole hesitated, unable to comprehend why Tails would show such concern over the welfare of a non-organic lifeform such as herself… Nor could she understand the sense of appreciation she received from it. "I will comply… I've set the feed to keep rolling until Robotnik himself notices and puts a stop to it. Keep in mind that I won't be able to surveil Robotnik's activities once I withdraw… Take care Tails."

Tails smiled as Nicole retreated back into her PDA, but in the process had underestimated the impatience of the hedgehog currently depending on him.

"Yoo-hoo, Tails! I'm waiting…." Sonic whined as he stamped his foot impatiently. A concerned looked washed over his features as his brotherly side took over. "Is everything okay on your end little bro?"

"Sorry Sonic, Robotnik was getting close to purging the virus, so I had to convince Nicole to withdraw… I'm all yours now, so let's get you out of there! Alright, I need you to head northeast about 150 feet and there should be a hallway to your left…."

"Umm…" Sonic looked around with uncertainty. "Uh, what?"

Tails would've facepalmed if he knew he literally didn't have time to waste. "Face behind you, walk forward and then make a left turn before you run into the wall…"

"Okay gotcha! Why didn't you just say so in the first place?"

Tails decided to ignore the comment and began the tense task of guiding his idol through the labyrinth-like facility. "Okay, now take a right…. Now go left and there should be two sets of double doors that you might need to force your way through and then keep going straight until you reach the end of the corridor and then take another right."

Sonic smirked, his confidence and pace increasing the further Tails guided him through the factory and the less obstructions that got in his way. "Keep the directions coming big guy! I'll be out of here and runnin' circles around butt-bots in no time!"

"Let's hope so…" Tail's wasn't feeling near as confident as his hero.

While Tails was busy acting as Sonic's GPS, Bunnie Rabbot was confronting the hulking security bot lumbering towards them. The bandik appeared as if it was going to ignore her at first before it finally looked in her direction and did a quick scan of the rabbit with its ocular scanners. "Organic lifeform detected. Roboticization only forty percent complete. Initiative: Apprehend and escort to roboticization chamber to complete process."

"Sorry to break this to ya partner," Bunnie adjusted her hat low over her eyes before flexing her robotic arm to the much larger bot. "But these limbs are an Uncle Chuck design with a Prower/Walrus finish! Your over-boiled taskmaster never laid one of his dirty fingers on me…"

The bot made a brief motion towards taking some sort of action towards the cybernetic rabbit when it noticed she wasn't alone. "Second organic detected executing prohibited access to the Eggnet. Designation: Priority target."

The lumbering metal guard took one step towards Tails before Bunnie was blocking his path, blaster pointed towards the bot's head, scowling like a mama bear protecting her cub. "You ain't touchin' one hair on his head 'til you get through me first!" Bunnie fired a shot from her blaster, but the unexpected recoil caused the shot to be slightly off target, blasting a hole through the chest plate of the security bot, right next to its shoulder joint. The machine gave the wound a cursory glance before brushing it off as if a gnat had just landed there rather than a round from a blaster. That didn't discourage Bunnie from unleashing a barrage of blaster fire into the bot's chassis, filling it with holes until the machine finally fell to the ground in a smoldering, smoking heap. Bunnie whooped as she waved some smoke out of her face, emanating from the husk that was the badnik.

"Now that had a kick to it! My aim was a little off though… Plum forgot about that recoil… That first shot nearly knocked me on my fluffy hind-end!"

"You kind of have to make a choice between power and accuracy with range," Tails said absently. "It's hard to do both, but I'll take a look at easing that initial recoil when we get back to Knothole." Tails quickly returned to directing Sonic.

Bunnie normally would've inserted a joke along the lines of Tails just wanting another chance to put his hands on her supple golden body… It was just plain fun flustering the teen like that ever since he hit puberty, but now wasn't the time. Tails didn't need any distractions from his current task. Instead, Bunnie climbed on top of the fallen security bot, standing upon it's chest preparing to deliver the coup de gras straight the bot's head, just in case…

Maybe she had celebrated a little too soon.

The security bot's arm shot upward, completely engulfing Bunnie's throat within its massive, rounded hand. Caught off guard, but by no means rendered helpless, the cowgirl used her metallic fingers to crush the bot's wrist, forcing the metallic hand to release its grip on her neck. "That's not an appropriate way to treat a lady ya know!" she howled, and with a labored grunt, ripped the security bot's arm clean off. She then, in a very lady-like manor, proceeded to beat the shit out of the robot with it.

"Alright Sonic, take another left here and the next corridor is pretty much a straight shot for the next few hundred feet except for a couple of doors you might have to find a way to get through."

Sonic chuckled at the thought. "Good thing I double as a pretty handy lockpick isn't it?"

"Sonic…" Sally's voice crackled through the communicator. "Tell me that sound of metal crunching is coming through from your end of the com…"

"Umm… Sorry, but it isn't Sal… It's a little weird, but I haven't seen a single bot inside this factory since I ditched the ones that were tryin' to follow me inside."

"Damn it Sonic…" Tail's thought as he gritted his teeth. His big bro had just unwittingly sold him out. Sally went unbearably silent for a second that lasted close to an hour. "Tails… What's going on at your location?"

"Oh, nothing much… Bunnie's just having some fun with a security bot, that's all…." Tails turned his head to see the cybernetic rabbit stomping the hapless machine repeatedly with her metallic foot. "Everything's under control!"

"Miles…" Tails cringed. It never meant anything good for him when Aunt Sally busted out his birth name. "You were ordered to withdrawn immediately if you ran into any trouble, so why are you still there?!"

"Not exactly…" Tails corrected. "Bunnie was ordered to watch my back while I hacked into the Eggnet so we could implant Nicole's virus into the system while I oversaw the download of as much intelligence as we could extract from the Eggnet to Nicole's PDA, and that's exactly what we've been doing!"

Sally opened her mouth to retort but nothing came out… Because the fox was right. Those were pretty much the orders she'd given verbatim. She had assumed that the, run like hell if you bump into any trouble part was heavily implied. "You're missing the point Tails…"

The argument ended with the sound of a loud bang followed closely by the cursing pained cries of a hedgehog caught in the middle of the fox and chipmunk's squabble.

"Sonic!"

"Sonic!"

"I'm fine you two… I guess…" The hedgehog grumbled as he rubbed at his now aching face, staring in contempt at the wall, whose first kiss he'd just stolen. "Princess… Can you save the mama bear act for after the mission and let the kid help this blind hedgehog out of this maze! I swear this factory is as dark and dank as Buttnik's smelly ole assh…"

"Sonic don't you dare finish that sentence! Not with Tails in earshot…"

For once Tails wasn't going to complain about being talked around like he was a kid whose virgin ears needed to be protected from something as trivial as a mild swear word… But Tails knew exactly where Sonic was going, and that image was the last thing the fox needed burned into his head at that moment. In fact, he would probably, accidently of course, make sure Sonic Willie Coyoted into at least one more hard surface in penance for such a heinous crime. "Sonic does have a point, so let's get back on track before the sh… I mean crap really hits the fan. So Sonic, turn around and go straight from there, and then hang a left… After that… Wait a second…"

"Something interesting up ahead big guy?" Sonic asked as he sped forward.

"If you consider three Swat Drones heading in your direction interesting, then sure…"

"Interesting isn't the term I'd use, but they'll do." Sonic smiled in anticipation as the small cylindrical flying droids came into his limited view. The blue blur revved up the after burners, and with one simple leaping spin dash, sawed through all three. He landed behind them and gave the fallen machines a brief salute before continuing onward. "Thanks guys, I needed that after the face plant! This dark factory biz is really doing a number on my cred… Come to think of it, this place is kind of like a reverse junkyard… I get to see where the garbage gets made before I trash it!"

While Sonic was busy entertaining himself with his standup routine that could rival all the best dad jokes, Tails was using this opportunity to look over the camera map… There was a four-way intersection that Sonic was approaching fast. North and east appeared safe enough, but there was something odd about the western path. It ended abruptly with a room that appeared to have a bunch of blinking lights inside of it… Tails enlarged that screen for a closer look, revealing dozens of disk-shaped objects lining the walls with flashing red lights in the middle. Tails wasn't sure exactly what they were, but he'd been around the Freedom Fighters enough to recognize an explosive device when he saw one… Not to mention a potential booby trap.

Oh, the poor boy had no idea how right he was. Back in his command center, Robotnik had regained full control over most of his chess pieces and took notice of where the blue hedgehog was headed. "Wait a moment… He's nearing storage room C-74!"

"C-74?" Snively searched his memory for a clue as to why that room number sounded important. "Isn't that where we dumped those defective landmines? The ones you created to detour raids into the city such as this one, yet our own robots couldn't detect them, so they kept setting them off and damaging parts of the city?"

"Indeed Snively… They weren't so much defective, as too effective, hence why I chose not to outright dispose of them then… And now they'll serve as the perfect trap to catch a certain blue rat! If you recall, I'm able program those mines to detonate remotely." Robotnik vigorously began typing orders into his terminal. "I'm rerouting all units towards this area here!" Robotnik used one of his metal incased fingers to point at a particular spot near the four-way intersection on his security map of the factory. "I was planning to ambush the hedgehog near the exit with the full brunt of my forces, but this strategy is much more deliciously sinister… Now, all my machines have to do is herd that little blue pest towards C-74, like a good little head of cattle…." The maniacal laughter that followed even made Snively's skin crawl.

Back in the factory, Sonic was getting restless again.

"Yo, Tails! Now's not the time for the silent treatment! Which way am I headed now?"

"There's a four-way intersection just ahead of you. Straight ahead and to your right both appear to be clear, but whatever you do, do not turn left! Not only is that direction a dead end, but there's a very suspicious room at the end of that path that just screams deathtrap!"

"Okay, so just don't turn left… Easy-peasy!"

Not so easy as Sonic would find out as he reached the intersection. The lack of resistance from badniks up until that point now made a lot more sense as a small army of bots of all shapes and sizes flooded into the factory from both directions Tails had deemed safe. That left Sonic with two options that didn't involve getting engulfed in a storm of metal, and those where to go back the way he came, which Sonic wasn't keen on doing due to the risk of getting sandwiched between this massive horde and whatever forces may have followed him into the factory. The other option was to make a sharp left, and Tails would just have to get over it.

So that's exactly what he did.

"Sonic, what are you doing?! I told you that path wasn't safe!"

"I'm not sure how well you can see through those cameras buddy, but it was even less safe in any 'other' direction I could've gone. This is way too many bots even for me to fight, especially in such a small dark area without a lot of room to maneuver…"

"Yeah, I see that now… All those badniks didn't show up on screen until they were basically right on top of you… Still, I've got a really bad feeling about this… Don't you find it strange that Robotnik conveniently had his forces perfectly positioned where they could try and force you to take that particular path?! You've been at this long enough to smell a trap when you're being led into one!"

"Of course it's a trap! It always is, so I'll just spring it and then make my daring escape like I always do," Sonic tried to assure the fox. "You just gotta trust me okay bro?"

"But… Sally, can try to talk some sense into him please!"

"I think you should listen to Tails Sonic… If he says it's not safe…" Sally's voice died as Sonic cut off his com. He immediately felt guilty about it, but his friends were becoming too much of a distraction. It was time to act, not to think, and besides… It had always been his philosophy to do what needed to be done and then beg for forgiveness later once everything eventually turned out in his favor like it almost always did.

Sonic grimaced as a couple of aerial drones got close and bold enough to rain blaster fire upon him, seemingly aiming for his feet. Normally, Sonic could smoke these rust buckets, but he could only move at a fraction of his full speed due to the unfavorable conditions he found himself under. At least the blaster fire was proving a decent source of light, so he was able to see the closed door he might have slammed into otherwise. Prepping himself to spindash his way through the door, a laser blast near his feet caused the blur to lose his balance and stumble forward. The result was the same, it just made for a clumsier entry as he tucked himself into a ball and prepared for the mild pain that always came along with his body slicing through metal.

The hedgehog was in for a surprise though, as the door unexpectedly opened, allowing Sonic to make a safe though otherwise ungraceful landing on the other side. The door snapped shut, separating him from the pursing forces of Robotnik. Oddly enough, they didn't appear to be attacking the door in an attempt to get at him. Confused, Sonic's eyes tried to pierce through the darkness when the entire room suddenly illuminated red from the flashing lights attached to the round metallic disks that decorated the entire storage room, accompanied by ominous beeping sounds as the devices roared to life.

"Oh no…" Sonic's heart sank as he realized what these objects were… This is what Tails had tried to warn him about, and he had every reason to be concerned. It would appear for once in his life, that his feet had failed him. "Looks like I might've finally entered a race I just can't win…"

Sonic turned to make one last desperate attempt to escape, but it was already too late. He'd never get that chance to beg for forgiveness. For one of the few times in his now all too short life, Sonic the Hedgehog just wasn't fast enough….

The explosion that followed not only completely obliterated the factory and everything in it, but that entire sector of Robotropolis was shaken to its foundation from the ferocity of the blast. Rotor, closest to the epicenter of the explosion, was forced to take cover as smoldering hot debris reigned down all around him. Once the barrage finally settled, he was met by the frustrating discovery that the quickest route to get him to the rendezvous point to meet up with the rest of the Freedom Fighters had been completely blocked off by piles of twisted hot metal.

"Damn it, looks like I'm going to have to take the long way around… Or maybe even one of the alternate escape routes out of the city… I just hope one of our guys didn't get caught up in that explosion…"

Oh, if he only knew.

"Yah!" Amy yelled, as she swatted a piece of smoking debris away from her face with her hammer. Knuckles, thinking quickly on his feet, punched loose a large metal plate from one of the fallen Swatbots, and propped it up so he and Amy could use it for cover.

"What the hell happened?!" Amy asked as Knuckles grunted from the force of their makeshift shelter getting pelted by falling metal. "That explosion was way too big to be one of Rotor's…"

"I have no idea… The only thing I'm certain of is that when crap like this happens, that annoying blue loudmouth usually isn't far from the source!"

"This is a big mess even for him though… I hope he's okay…"

"Eck, that hedgehog is like a cockroach!" Knuckles looked down at Amy with what he hoped was a reassuring smirk. "Nothing short of Mobius imploding on itself is going to shut him up." It seemed to work, as Amy smiled and nodded her head in agreement. This was Sonic they were talking about here… She had nothing to worry about.

Sally had been knocked clear on her ass from the force of the explosion. Clutching her head as she sat up, she tried to pick herself up onto wobbly legs. Lost in the haze of the moment, she completely failed to notice the smoldering hunk of metallic death descending upon her.

"Princess, look out!" Antoine grabbed Sally by the shoulders and pulled her out of the way just in time to avoid the twisted piece of metal as it smashed against the ground. Antoine helped the still rattled princess to her feet and quickly led her to cover as it continued to rain metal. Their location wasn't getting hit as hard as the others, but it still wasn't safe to be out in the open.

"Thank you, Antoine…" Sally panted, her eyes bright and wide. "You… Saved my life. That was very brave of you…"

"Eh, uh… Merci Princess! Just doing my duty…" Antoine's enthusiasm at the praise dampened slightly when he noticed her expression. "Do you really have to look and sound so surprised though?"

"I… Can't believe it…" Snively marveled, his eyes glued to the now static infested screen where he'd seemingly just watched his uncle's greatest nemesis get blown straight to oblivion. Even that hedgehog couldn't have outrun a blast that massive, especially while trapped inside that storage room when the explosion had been triggered. Yet, when he looked over at the doctor, he didn't see Ivo celebrating or uttering so much as a maniacal cackle of glee at finally ridding the world of his most hated adversary. Instead, Robotnik looked almost tense as he stared into seemingly nothing. Wasn't this the moment he had longed for, for so long? So why no reaction at all?

"Snively… Order the drones to move in and scan the area. I don't dare celebrate until I'm certain the rodent is dead… He's fooled me before in moments where I've believed there was no way he could have survived…"

"What about the other Freedom Fighters sir? The ones that hacked the Eggnet for instance?"

"Let them go for all I care… They're no concern of mine. All that matters is confirming the hedgehog has been destroyed."

"But sire! The Freedom Fighters are more vulnerable now than they've ever been before! We could potentially cripple the Resistance in one…"

"Who cares about the rest of that rabble!" Robotnik growled, as he pounded his fist against the cold steel of his terminal station. "Without the hedgehog they would've gone extinct long ago… They're nothing without him, and Princess Acorn's little movement will shrivel up and die with her precious little prince! My only concern is confirming that the hedgehog is dead… Then my conquest of this planet will all but be assured."

---

"Ugh…" Tails groaned as he came too, slowly bringing his hand up to caress his forehead as if trying to massage his senses back into alignment. For a few seconds there, he couldn't remember where he was or what he'd been doing… The sparks flying out of the now ruined terminal jogged his memory. The force of the explosion had knocked the teen back into the wall opposite the terminal, and considering the limited space of the corridor it was located in, he'd hit with quite a lot of force, knocking him for a loop.

What had he been doing again? Or right, hacking into the Eggnet, the data transfer, and finally guiding Sonic through the factory he'd been lost in… Then there was the room with the poorly disguised explosive devices and then…

No… That couldn't be right… Sonic couldn't really be? His idol… His big brother, and the hero of Mobius… His best friend, and he just…. Tails just barely avoided succumbing to a panic attack right there on the spot. Reality though, would remain the harsh and cold mistress it often was. There was no pretending Sonic might've somehow found a way to cheat death like he had so many times before. Tails had seen what happened with his own eyes. Sonic had been trapped in that room when the landmines detonated. Nobody could've survived a point-blank blast like that, not even the fastest thing alive.

All Tails wanted to do in that moment was curl up into a ball and cry, but he wouldn't allow himself to do it. He was on a mission… His first mission, and technically a successful one, even if the price they had to pay to accomplish this task was astronomically high. He needed to keep himself composed, continue the mission, and make sure the rest of the Freedom Fighters were unharmed… Please let everybody else be okay… He could have his mental breakdown over the loss of Sonic when they got back to Knothole.

"Nicole!" Tails called in a panic as he searched for Sally's invaluable PDA. He found it not too far way, laying precariously in the shadows, the briefest of sparks lighting up the dark, leading him straight too her. His dread only increased when he noticed cracks in her casing, as well as a few wires that were partially exposed. He hastily opened the handheld device and immediately took notice of a pair of scratch marks defacing her screen. Tails attempted to boot his AI friend up, praying that the damage was only cosmetic. "Come on Nicole, talk to me please!"

"I'm here Tails… Functionality appears to be fully intact…" Nicole's voice began to fade out and crackle towards the end of that sentence. "Though there appears to have been mild damage to my audio functions."

"How are you feeling otherwise? You're outer casing and your screen both took a bit of a beating..."

"My Internal hard drive was undamaged and fully assessable. The data download from the Eggnet was uncompromised."

"That's wonderful, but that's not what I asked… How are YOU doing Nicole? You're not hurt, are you?"

"I… Don't see how my physical condition would matter. The data should be our primary concern..."

"It matters to me! Now answer the question Nicole… Are you okay? I really, really need some good news right about now…""

Nicole was hesitant… Either uncomfortable answering, or unsure of even how to answer. "I'm no worse for wear Tails… Just a little…. What I believe you might call dizzy."

"That's a relief… I don't think I could've taken it if… Wait…" Tails realized he was forgetting about somebody very important here. "Bunnie! Where's Bunnie?!"

"Uhh… Right over here sug…." Bunnie moaned as she sat up from underneath badnik debris. "Oh, my stars, I feel like I just tried to hogtie a twister and lost..."

"Thank Chaos!" Tails exhaled in relief before rushing over to the rabbit as she gingerly got to her robotic feet. "How… How are you feeling?"

"Been better, been through worse…" Bunnie frowned as she tried to adjust her mechanical arm. While she could still rotate her shoulder, she found her forearm was dangling from her elbow at an odd angle. "Though I reckon you'll be workin' on more than just that recoil once we get home sugar." Bunnie managed to smile regardless as she placed her organic hand on the teenaged fox's shoulder. "How about you Sugar-Fox? Ya seem fine just lookin' at ya, but I wana be sure…"

"I…I…" Tail's mouth felt dry. How on Mobius was he supposed to tell Bunnie what he'd just witnessed? He lowered his head, unable to meet the emerald-green eyes of his friend. Bunnie, misinterpreting his reaction as the young vulpine simply being shaken up by one of his first up close tastes of war and its potential consequences, smiled sympathetically.

"It'll be alright sweetheart. I've been there. It's normal to get a little bit shellshocked durin' your first mission. I mean, you were doin' a great job keepin' your wits about ya before that explosion… What brought that about anyway? I betcha anything ole Sugar-hog had somethin' to do with it."

Bunnie got the feeling she might've said the wrong thing. The fox's posture went rigid before he began to shake within the rabbit's grip just as his breathing began to labor. He looked near the verge of tears, making eye contact with Bunnie and failing to maintain it for so much as a second before breaking their gaze as if the rabbit's green eyes burnt his retinas. Tails pulled himself away from Bunnie's grip, pressing his back against the wall before slumping to the ground, his face immediately finding refuge behind his hands. Bunnie had seen more than enough to convince herself that it was more than just nerves that were bothering the two-tailed fox. She cursed herself for not realizing how obvious that was beforehand. Tails had been in far worse and potentially more traumatizing situations than what they'd faced that night, and that was before he even officially became a Freedom Fighter. Clearly there was something she was missing here. "Tails hun, what's gotten you all riled up? Do you know something 'bout that explosion that I need to be aware of?"

"Why didn't he listen?" Tails muttered, barely audible to his fellow Freedom Fighter's ears until he repeated himself with much more authority. "Why didn't he listen?! I told him not to take that path! I warned him it was dangerous and probably a trap, but he wouldn't listen! He just did whatever he felt like just like he always does!"

"Calm down sugar just… Simmer down." The half robotic rabbit had a sinking feeling she knew who Tails was referring too, and who his obvious distress was over… Alarming to say the least. "Who didn't listen? What trap? I need some more details here sug."

"Sonic," Tails sniffed, no longer capable of preventing the moisture from leaking out of his eyes. "There was this room… Full of explosive devices. Robotnik positioned his forces to cut Sonic off and force him to take the dangerous path… It was an obvious trap, but Sonic let himself get herded into it anyway! Because that stupid stubborn hedgehog believed he was invincible and could outrun anything! Well, it doesn't really matter how fast you can run when you're trapped in a room set to explode seconds after you get locked inside!"

"Tails… What are you tryin' to say?"

"Sonic didn't exactly cause that explosion… But he was in the middle of all those explosive devices when they detonated. I… I was watching on the terminal the entire time Bunnie… I was looking right at the screen and Sonic when they went off…"

"No… But that would mean…" A tear leaked from her eye, but Bunnie defiantly wiped it away, refusing to accept what Tails was suggesting could possibly be true. "No, I can't believe that! If any soul coulda found a way to squirm outta a mess like that, it would be Sonic… Sorry, but I can't just give 'em up for dead until we have some kinda proof he's actually gone."

"You don't think I want to believe that?!" Tails spat bitterly. "You weren't watching as it was happening Bunnie… I don't wana argue about this though… And if for nothing else but the sake of being thorough." The young fox sighed and flipped open Nicole's PDA. His long-eared comrade couldn't help but notice the electronic device looked like it lost a fight with a bigger, meaner handheld device. "Nicole… I know you've been through it, but would you mind running a scan of the area for the rest of the Freedom Fighters?… To make sure that Sonic isn't actually… And that the rest of our friends are accounted for as well."

"Searching for life signs now… Oh wait… This is peculiar…"

Okay… Now that had Tails concerned. "What's the problem Nicole?"

"Either my sensors have been damaged, or the aftermath of that explosion is causing some type of interference that's blocking my ability to detect life signs… Currently I can detect you and Bunnie… Anything further than a few dozen feet from our current location though, I appear to be blind to. My apologies Tails."

"That's unfortunate, but understandable… Let's just hope your inability to sense the others doesn't indicate something a lot worse has happened…" Tails paused as he was interrupted by a low rumbling sound emanating from the corridor to his left, quickly followed by the much louder growling of part of the ceiling as if it were in pain. "That's not good… It looks like this section of the building has become unstable."

"Then we best vamoose!" Bunnie helped her young friend to his feet and hurriedly ushered him towards the ventilation shaft where they had made their entrance. "Let's get the hell on outta here before the entire building decides to fall to pieces and bury us underneath it!"

"Right… Let's go!"

At the rendezvous point, the metallic rain from the explosion had ceased, but that didn't mean there still wasn't cause for concern. Sally had been on her communicator frantically trying to get in touch with any one of the missing members of her team. This meant that either her com was on the fritz, or that not one of the people she'd brought to Robotropolis with her, aside from Antoine, was fit enough to respond to her hails.

"This is Sally calling out to Sonic! Please come in! Tails! Bunnie! Rotor are you there?! Anyone, please answer me!"

"Hey, what are we?! Moldy chili dogs!" A chunk of metal was tossed aside, revealing a pink hedgehog and the echidna that had cleared the path for them. Amy's black infiltration gear was a bit crispy, but otherwise both guardian and hedgehog appeared to be fine.

"Amy! Knuckles! Am I sure glad you two are alright… Ah… You haven't happened to have heard from the others, have you?"

"Afraid not," Amy sighed, as she motioned to her communicator. "I tried to contact pretty much everyone else on the team after the metal storm from that explosion finally cleared up, but I couldn't get through to anyone, so we did the only logical thing and headed back here."

"Well, at least that answers the questions about the coms… I guess all we can do now is wait and hope the others make it back to us in one piece..." No sooner than Sally had accepted that their primary source of communication was useless to them, Sally's own communicator crackled back to life. It was low and heavily distorted, but the muffled voice of Rotor could eventually be heard through the static.

"Sally… can… hear me? This.… Rotor… Trying… tact.. Princess…"

"Rotor! This is Sally… I can hear you, but there's a lot of interference over the com. Are you uninjured?"

"I'm fine, but I've been forced to take a bit of a detour," Rotor explained as his voice became more clearly audible. "There was so much debris in my way that I didn't think there was any chance I could make it to the rendezvous point through that mess, so I'm going to have to take one of our alternate routes out of the city… I'll work my way back to Knothole on my own, so don't wait up for me!"

"Rotor I'm not sure I'm crazy about that idea… Robotropolis is no place to be wandering around alone under the best of conditions, let alone after a mess like this. This area is bound to be swarming with badniks at any moment. What are your exact coordinates? Perhaps we can circle around the obstruction and meet you halfway?"

"Will all due respect Sally… I don't think that's even possible given the mess I'm staring at right now… Even if you could get to me, that would waste too much time and you'd be putting yourself and everybody else in danger. You said it yourself, this area is going to be crawling with bots at any moment. I'm already making my way out of the city, so it's too late to turn back now even if I had a mind too… You just gotta trust me Sal, I promise I won't take any unnecessary risks. I'll see you guys back at the village, okay?"

"Alright Rotor…" Sally yielded reluctantly. "Just… Please stay safe."

Sally spent the next several agonizing minutes trying and failing to contact her three unaccounted for team members. The all too familiar sound of metallic footsteps approaching from inside the building put everyone on edge… Everyone except for Sally that was, who'd recognize the telltale stomp of one of her best friends anywhere. A vent crashed to the ground a few feet to her left, followed a second later by a cybernetic rabbit who landed with a grunt. "Bunnie!"

"Sorry we're late Sally-girl! Things turned into a big ole mess in there, so we hadda find another way out. I take it everybody else's coms have pooped out too?"

"More or less… Now where is…" Before she could spit out his name, the two-tailed fox had used his namesakes to casually lower himself to the ground next to Bunnie. "Tails!"

Sally glomped the vulpine in a hug that bordered far too close to a chokehold for the fox's liking, Sally lamenting slightly that the kit was a bit too heavy for her to lift off the ground anymore. Tails subconsciously chose not to get embarrassed by the excessive display of affection just this once because… Well… He could kind of use this form of comforting at that moment. Sally seemed to remember herself and suddenly released the fox, immediately dialing herself down to team leader mode. "It's… Good to see the two of you safe and sound, is what I was trying to say! It gave us a bit of a fright when we couldn't get ahold of either of you through the coms."

"Sorry to worry you Aunt Sally… Mission accomplished." Tails handed Sally Nicole, and her eyes immediately widened at the rough state the PDA was in. "Nicole got a little banged up in the explosion, but she assured us that there was no internal damage to her hard drive. The data transfer was 47% complete when Nicole was forced to pull out of the Eggnet."

"That's fantastic… I'll be sure to run a diagnostic on Nicole when we get home just to be safe… You did an excellent job, both of you." She made sure to praise them both, but her eyes were firmly locked on the teenaged fox who'd just completed his first mission, and an extremely vital role he played at that. The chipmunk would think he'd be thrilled with himself, so it took her by surprise when the teen's reaction appeared far more sullen than expected. As modest as he usually was, Tails still desperately craved validation from his elder Freedom Fighter's that he was more than just a glorified mascot. His troubled demeanor was alarming for the princess to say the least. "Okay, so that just leaves Sonic unaccounted for… Once we hear from him, we'll…"

Sally's eyes snapped back to Tails as he let out a pained yip. He was visibly biting his lower lip, as if in a desperate struggle to keep himself from crying. She shifted her attention to Bunnie, who met her eyes briefly before the rabbit had to look away, her expression almost as somber as the two-tailed fox. "Okay… What's going on you two? What do you know that I don't?"

Sally's eyes refocused on Tails who seemed to break down from the weight of her gaze right in front of everyone's eyes. He was terrified to tell the others what had happened… What he'd seen as if he was afraid they'd blame him somehow. Actually, he doubted they'd even believe him. Sonic the Hedgehog was most likely dead? The very notion sounded laughable, even to Tails' practical mind after seeing what had happened to his best-friend with his own eyes. With everyone's gaze focused on him now, he finally answered his Aunt Sally's question with one of his own. "You realize where that explosion originated from right?..."

"No, not exactly… Do you happen to know sweetie?"

"It was the factory Sonic was trapped in," Tails answered, in an eerie monotone. His fellow Freedom Fighters were beginning to get nervous as, to a Mobian, they all began to see where this was going. "The one with the sketchy looking room that I begged Sonic not to run towards because it was an obvious trap, but he ignored the warning, per usual, and ran towards it anyway?! Turns out that room was full of some type of explosive device, and they were either wired to explode when that door opened, or they were remotely detonated after Sonic entered that room."

"Tails…" Sally's voice cracked as she tried to maintain her composure in the face of her worse nightmare invading the real world. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Sonic 'was' the cause of that explosion, but not in his usual break Robotnik's stuff and speed off into the night kind of way that we've gotten used to… It was Sonic rushing recklessly into a trap he didn't realize he wasn't prepared to deal with and… And…" Tails stoic façade began to crack. Tears poured from his eyes, moistening his muzzle. "There was nowhere for him to run this time… He was trapped in that room when those devices exploded… I know because… Because… I had to watch the entire thing! Nothing could've survived an explosion that large, especially with Sonic unable to use his speed!"

"No…" a startled Amy whimpered as she hid her muzzle behind her hands. "No, no, no, no, no!" Knuckles, standing next to her, balled his hands into tight fists as he snarled.

Antoine, unsure of what else to do, went over to his girlfriend's side and placed what he hoped was a comforting arm around her. Bunnie had placed her hand to her head, struggling not to bawl like an infant. While she initially dismissed Tails' concern that Sonic might not have survived, the more time she had to think about the circumstances, the harder it began to sink in that the hedgehog just might have finally ridden off into the sunset. The realization wasn't much different than getting walloped over the head by Amy's hammer.

"But… There's no way to know that for sure…" the princess mouthed, clearly only trying to convince herself. She noticed Tails trembling so hard that his bones might snap if he didn't calm himself down. Her maternal instincts pushed her shock to the side for a moment. She wrapped the fox in the warmest hug she could manage… And if she was being honest with herself, she was basically using him as a fluffy orange security blanket. "This is Sonic we're talking about here… He wouldn't go down that easily, especially to such a generic Robotnik scheme as this."

"Does Tails look like he's making this up to you?" Knuckles spoke up, never one to concern himself with reading the room. Not to mention that sudden bursts of anger were his coping mechanism. "He's barely holding himself together! I think you've let Sonic's past heroics blind you into thinking he was somehow invincible… But Sonic is flesh and blood, just like any other Mobian. It was inevitable that there would come a day when even that stubborn hedgehog would find himself in a situation where all that speed and bravado of his just wouldn't be enough…"

"Maybe we did take Sonic for granted, but that's no reason for us to give up on him!" Sally decreed, as she stood up, keeping a protective arm around the shocked fox's shoulders. "I'm not giving up on Sonic until I see absolute proof that he's no longer with us… Which means we need to search this city for him… Freedom Fighter's don't leave one another behind!"

"How do you propose we go about that then your highness?" Amy spat, not so much angry at Sally as she was at the thought Sonic might actually be… No, she didn't dare even think about it. "You said it yourself! We've only got a few minutes before this entire area is flooded with badniks, and I get the feeling that the rest of the city isn't going to be any safer!"

"She's got a point sug, so what do ya want us to do?" Bunnie asked somberly. "Do we comb the city for Sugar-hog and risk more casualties, or do we save ourselves and live to fight another day?"

"I… Just… Give me a second!" Sally barked in frustration, wildly running her fingers through her hair. Never before had her fellow Freedom Fighters seen Sally quite like this… Completely overwhelmed with no idea of what the right thing to do was. No offense to the rest of her team, but this was Sonic they were talking about… He wasn't just anybody… Not to the Freedom Fighters, not to the Resistance, not to Mobius, and not to Sally personally… And while that mantra of never leaving a fellow Freedom Fighter behind was usually always followed without fail, that only applied when they could be positive that the subject in question was still alive. Not only did Sonic's survival seem unlikely, but there was no guarantee there was even a corpse left to be found. She'd never forgive herself if she lost somebody else because she allowed her personal feelings to get in the way of the collective good of the entire team.

Seeing his beloved aunt nearing a similar meltdown to the one Tails wanted to have, the sight prompted the young fox to suck up his internal turmoil and cautiously approach the princess. "As much as I don't want to say this… And as much as I'm going to hate myself for saying it later… Aunt Sally… You know exactly what Sonic would want us to do in this situation. He wouldn't want any of us to risk getting hurt or worse trying to bail him out, and he'd put all the blame on himself if something did happen to one of us acting for his sake. Failing to escape Robotropolis alive with the data Sonic himself may have sacrificed his life for us to retrieve would be a slap in the face to him… And we all know it."

A part of Sally wanted to shout Tails down for being so bold as to speak out of turn… But in reality, she was just thrown off by how right on the god damn money he was. What if she wound up losing him too because of her indecision? She wasn't sure her heart could take it. "I see that you all appear to be in agreement… Okay then, five more minutes… If we haven't heard anything from Sonic by then… We may have to accept the possibility that Sonic may not have survived the explosion, and we'll withdraw from the city…"

Antoine, the only member of the team conspicuous by his silence, had distracted himself from the unsavory topic by examining the mess of rubble scattered about the area. Through the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of something charred, but otherwise distinctly red poking through the drab greys, browns, and dark yellows that dominated the city. Feeling drawn to it, the coyote carefully maneuvered his way over to the object through the rubble. It clearly wasn't metal… In fact, it felt a lot like leather to the touch, but he had to dust off some of the dirt and ash before he realized what he was holding. He gasped, undecided whether he wanted to shriek like a six-year-old girl or vomit. His reaction brought attention to himself that he wasn't quite ready for.

"Coyote, what do you have there?" Knuckles asked, his arms crossed.

Antoine jumped in surprise and quickly hid the object behind his back for reasons he only partially understood. He honestly didn't know what to tell the echidna. "I… Well…" Distracted by Knuckles, he was completely oblivious to Amy walking up behind him to sneak a peek at what he had hidden behind his back.

"Hey, why so secretive Antoine? We both saw you stick something…"

"Mademoiselle Amy, don't!"

It was too late. Amy got the full view of what Antoine had discovered, and her ear-piercing shriek immediately drew the rest of the squad to their location. They found Amy on her rear, covering her mouth with both hands and trembling almost uncontrollably. Knuckles was standing just behind her, hands close to her shoulders, but too uneasy in situations like this one to actually touch the emotionally distraught pink hedgehog.

"Whoa, Amy-girl! What's gotten you hollerin' up to the heavens?"

"Something your boyfriend found," Knuckles answered for the unresponsive girl. "It really spooked her, whatever it was."

"Antoine…" Sally said sternly, letting the coyote know ahead of time that any hesitation to comply with her next command would not be tolerated. "Show us what's behind your back."

"But… I don't believe that's ze best idea princess…"

"Show us Antoine!"

Antoine flinched and immediately caved, showing the rest of the Freedom Fighters what he'd discovered.

It was a familiar red shoe… One designed to withstand supersonic speeds and could apparently even survive massive explosions, badly burnt but still somehow partially intact. What really grabbed everyone's attention, however, was the charred piece of what looked to be the lower half of a leg bone sticking out of it.

It was a sight that no one present would be forgetting anytime soon.

---

Present Day…

With that one single misstep, the fate of the Freedom Fighters altered course substantially. Needless to say, it took the Resistance quite some time to recover from the loss of Mobius' greatest hero. There were times, usually when the Wanderer was feeling at his lowest, that he wanted to blame Sonic for the fall of their planet, but cursing the dead for having the audacity not to live long enough to meet your lofty expectations of them was little more than an excuse to absolve himself from his own shortcomings. Even though the team had been significantly weakened, Sonic's death did not signal the end of the Freedom Fighters. Far from it actually. The data they obtained in exchange for their friend's life proved invaluable to the war effort, just as Sally had hoped. They were able to go on the offensive for a change, crippling strategic targets and doing irreparable damage to Robotnik's ability to run his empire smoothly. Within five years, the beleaguered tyrant was on the edge of defeat, his empire nearly toppled. The Freedom Fighters had proven they were a capable force to be reckoned with, even without the services of the Blue Blur.

The effort… Would sadly fall short. While the team was able to overcome the loss of their champion, what they just couldn't overcome was when the other core members of their team began to fall one by one. Those who had led the charge in the war against Robotnik, who inspired thousands to risk life and limb to stand up to tyranny… Once those voices had been silenced, the movement began to taper off as confidence in their ability to actually ever overthrow Robotnik felt more and more like a distant dream. Within ten years, all but two of the original core group of Freedom Fighters were gone… And while capable replacements would rise to the occasion and continue to take the fight to Robotnik, the scale of the war had drastically changed. While the spirit to fight on remained, Robotnik's poisoning of Mobius was reaching its apex, leaving little to fight for as the landscape became inhospitable, and resources dwindled too almost nothing. By that point, the Resistance was only pressing on either out of spite towards Robotnik, or simply because war had become all so many of the dwindling population of Mobians knew. Within the next decade, the second generation of Freedom Fighters were laid to rest one by one until only The Wanderer remained… A relic of a war long ago lost… A symbol of Mobian pride and perseverance to some, the embodiment of their failure to others, and to an increasing portion of the dwindling number of surviving Mobians, a monster of a different type in his own right.

The Wanderer frequently wondered if things might've played out differently if Sonic had survived that night. They'd gotten so close to toppling Robotnik's regime without the hedgehog that it was hard to fathom that having Sonic fighting alongside them wouldn't have tipped the scales in their favor. Maybe this war would've been over decades ago… If only Sonic had listened for once in his god damned life and hadn't gone and gotten himself killed…

There would be plenty of time to reflect on revisionist history later. The tempting prospect of righting that wrong is what had drawn him to his next destination. After all these years, the sight of a place that was once a symbol of diligence and defiance against a world that would dare impose its will on it, reduced to this state, was still shocking. An island that had once proudly floated in the sky, and the crater it had created when it fell to earth.

End Chapter 2

---

-Yeah, I know… I'm nowhere close to the first person to kill off Sonic, or otherwise indispose of him, leading to a bleak future because of his absence. It's also the other main reason I chose Robotnik over Eggman… This might be just my personal head cannon, but Eggman strikes me as the type of villain who'd get bored and almost regret it if he managed to ever kill Sonic. It's always felt like defeating that blasted hedgehog drove Eggman far more than conquering the world and launching his empire ever did. Robotnik doesn't have that issue. It's not the last time I'd have to make a decision that was best of the story, despite the desire I might've had to go in another direction. I'm not going to lie, in my initial planning stages for this story, Sonic wasn't supposed to die here. That's a story for another time though, as I don't want to accidentally give anything away. Let's just say I didn't go either of the other two routes I had planned, because I realized I was only trying to keep Sonic as the or one of the main characters just because I knew more people would be likely to give this story a chance if it focused more on him. Ultimately, I decided to write the type of story I wanted too and not worry so much about appealing to the broadest group of fans, hopefully allowing my writing skills to attract eyeballs to this project. If not, that's fine too. Again, I'm writing this story mostly for my own enjoyment, writing the type of story I would've loved to have read but was having a hard time finding.

Now, as for the angle where the rest of the Resistance were nearly able to defeat Robotnik without Sonic, that was something I strongly wanted to emphasize. I know this is Sonic's franchise and he should usually be the one to save the day when things are at their bleakest… Even the Wanderer feels that if Sonic had survived it would've tipped the scales of the war in their favor. I just hate how in certain Sonic media, Fanfiction in particular, most of the characters that aren't one of the three male hedgehogs and occasionally Knuckles, are depicted as almost useless in crunch time or used as basically plot devices to get smacked around until Sonic ultimately swoops in to save the day. For the original Freedom Fighters in particular, it's hard to take them seriously as this cohesive militia group if they're completely reliant on Sonic to be effective. I wanted to fix that with this story, and make it clear that the Freedom Fighters/Resistance or whatever you want to call them are a capable force to be reckoned with or without Sonic… Even if the ultimate goal of defeating Robotnik is just out of reach without Sonic leading the charge.

Just one more chapter to go before the Wanderer's identity is revealed, again not that I'm trying all that hard to keep it a secret. I'm sure it's even more obvious now after this chapter. I'll start adding some more tags for the key characters in this story and such come chapter four or five, once I'm done having my fun pretending the Wanderer isn't who everyone probably already realizes he is.