War for Mobius

Chapter 18

They found Ben slumped in an old office chair in the communications tower. There was a nasty gash in his shoulder. He was lucky to survive whatever he had encountered.

In his hand, he held a very large ax. It had taken Johnny quite some time to pry his fingers off it.

Currently Fiona works quickly to bandage up the wound.

"Same shoulder," she grumbles, "Every single time you get hurt, Ben, it is the same shoulder."

"Is going to be alright then?" Bunnie asks.

"I can't make any promises," the red fox answers, "I just don't have the proper equipment on hand to fix him up now. All I can do is bandage him up to avoid bleeding and infection until we leave this dump."

"Do what you can," Rotor replies.

"What do you think I'm doing?" she snaps back, "And even that might not be enough."

The walrus turns away, doing his best to not let Fiona get under his skin. Complaining is how she dealt with this kind of thing. Instead he turns his attention to Johnny and Antoine, "How do things look outside?"

"Coast is clear," Johnny replies with a shrug, "Either Ben was lucky and didn't attract any attention…."

"…Or they didn't care," Antoine gulps, "Shouldn't we be getting out of here?"

"We have to stop Robotnik," Rotor explains, adjusting his tool belt, "If what Ben says is true, and I have no real reason to doubt him, we won't get another chance to stop him."

He turns back to the computer where they hooked up NICOLE in hopes to find more information, either on the other Freedom Fighters, or Robotnik's plan.

"Any luck?" he asks.

"All I can confirm is what Ben has already told us," the A.I. responds, "Robotnik's super weapon, The Death Egg, is already being prepped for launch. Based on the specs available to me here, it has enough firepower to level The Great Forest."

"Oh my Stars…" Bunnie whispers.

"Robotnik wouldn't even need to find Knothole," NICOLE continues, "He could take us out in one swoop."

"And then move on to anyone else who stands in his way," Rotor sighs, "The Mobian Underground, the Wolf Pack, even the Overlander Nations."

"But what can we do?" Antoine tries his level best not to panic, chewing fiercely on his fingernails.

"First we need to link up with Sally and the others…" Rotor begins.

"If they're still alive," Fiona grunts. She looks up to find the others all looking at her, "What? I'm only being realistic."

"…we link up with whoever survived," the walrus continues, "and find out what else they may know. From there we have to find and board the Death Egg, and shut it down permanently."

"And end Robotnik's Tyranny once and for all," Johnny adds, "We can't allow him to escape this time."

"Agreed," Rotor reluctantly nods, "But that is secondary to bringing down the fortress first and foremost."

The hare nods in response, "Everyone Ready?"

Bunnie disconnects NICOLE from the computer, "Ready and willing."

"Oui," Antoine squeaks out before clearing his throat, "Oui Oui."

"Mission Acknowledged," NICOLE chimes in.

They turn back to Fiona. "I can't go anywhere till Ben's patched up," she sighs, "If you need medical attention just contact me here."

"Good idea," Rotor admits, partial because he doesn't want to argue, but mostly because he doesn't want to leave Ben alone in this state, "Alright then Freedom Fighters, Let's do it to it."

Knuckles and Sonic slam into the large rock sticking up from out of the ground.

"Am I really this annoying to fight?" the hedgehog groans loudly.

"You're much worse," the red echidna pushes himself to his feet, "You never shut up."

"Thanks," Sonic grumbles doing the same, "At least I know I'm still 'superior' at something." He makes quotation marks with his fingers at the word superior.

"In coming!" Knuckles shouts as an energy bolt smashes into the rock behind them, destroying it. The duo is forced to shield themselves with their arms from all the debris that launched from the small explosion.

"Rockington no!" Sonic feigns tragedy.

"Can't you take this seriously?" the guardian snarls at him.

"I am," he replies back picking up a piece of 'Rockingtion', "This is me taking things seriously!" The blue blur lobs the chunk at the mechanical hedgehog before them.

Mecha deflects the piece with ease, "Resistance is futile. Surrender now and accept you inferiority."

"I take it back," Knuckles sighs.

"What?" the organic hedgehog looks to his comrade.

"He is more annoying than you."

"Blast it all," Sonic pretends to mope, "I guess I'll have to settle for being better looking."

"No he's got you beat there too," the guardian grins.

"I hate you so much right now," the hedgehog grins back.

"Likewise," Knuckles cracks his knuckles, "Left or right?"

"Left," Sonic replies and they charge the monstrous mechanical being again.

The hedgehog comes in from the left with his spindash technique. Mecha simply grabs Sonic in mid spin and tosses him aside. Just after the blue blur leaves the machine's hand, Knuckles smashes into the machine from the right side. The guardian gets to really good hits to the bot's face before he too is tossed to the side like a simple ragdoll.

"Why is this so freaking hard!?" Sonic whines as he splashes down into a puddle of mud.

"It has absorbed energy from the Master Emerald before it attacked me," Knuckles explains, land on his feet nearby.

"Now you tell me," the hedgehog moans as he picks himself out of the mud, "What does that even mean?"

"Remember when this island floated?" the echidna explains, "That power is powering you robot friend over there."

"Mother of Mobius…" Sonic whispers.

"And Robotnik wants to use that same power, only in larger quantities, to power some sort of super weapon…" the guardian continues.

"And mecha-me over there…the more he stalls us…" the Freedom Fighter starts.

"The harder it'll be to stop Robotnik," Knuckles finishes.

"Man…how long till his power runs out?"

"Couple of hours, maybe."

"I hate you."

"Likewise"

"Right or left?"

"Right."

They charge Mecha again.

"Careful Tails," the princess warns, "This place could still come crashing down on our heads."

Tails nods as they tiptoe deeper into the temple.

"I hope Sonic will be okay," he murmurs aloud.

"I wish I could reassure you Tails…" Sally replies pausing momentarily to check the symbols on the wall, "But to be honest I don't know if he can handle that thing…"

The young fox gently pats her on the shoulder, "Hey I'm sure with what's-his-bucket's help Sonic can take that bot to the cleaners."

"What's-his-bucket?" the chipmunk laughs.

"I'm trying to lighten the mood," he blushes, "How close are we?"

"It might not even be in here," Sally sighs, "So who knows."

The Princess and Tails had originally intended to fight alongside Knuckles and Sonic against Mecha, but the Guardian insisted that they gain access to Robotnik's Chaos Emeralds. With the power from them they might be able to stop Doctor Robotnik.

However without the seventh chaos emerald, the other six wouldn't do them any good, or so Knuckles said. This meant they'd first have to find the one that had onetime been hidden in the temple, or at least some sort of clue on its current location.

And unless that was somewhere on the island, there would be no stopping Robotnik.

Again, according to Knuckles.

The stone corridor that the two freedom fighters are following quickly turns to steel plating.

"Looks like we're safe from the roof collapsing now," the fox shrugs, "Should we turn back?"

Sally shakes her head, "It is possible that Robotnik has the answer we're looking for somewhere in this facility. Let's keep going."

They press on slowly, doing their best to stay out of sight. However it quickly becomes apparent that their use of caution is unneeded.

The base appears by all accounts to be abandoned. There are no Robots anywhere. No guards, no security, not even maintenance workers. No one.

That lack of security only makes it even more terrifying.

Tails grabs a screwdriver from a nearby workstation and chucks it. It crashes to floor shattering the silence. Nothing happens but the echo of the tool clanking against the steel floor panels.

The duo looks at each other.

"Where is everybody?" the twin tailed fox finally asks.

"This is just too weird," she replies, "It seems like everyone just packed up and left."

"Could they have evacuated when the Island fell?" Tails suggests.

"Could be, " the princess ponders thinking back to the horrible feeling of falling while Mecha attacked at them, "But then the chaos emerald won't be here. Without the emeralds Knuckles claims we're finished."

"We'll think of something," he begins but then his ears perk up, "Shh…I hear someone."

He heads off in the direction of the voice he heard, Sally following close behind.

They reach a small radio room with a door that is cracked open enough to peek inside. Doing so reveals Snively communicating with someone on the monitor.

"…I said that there are new orders," he barks into his end of the mic, "That the Master Emerald is now in our possession. You are to abandon the hunt for the Chaos Emeralds on the beach."

He listens for a moment.

"No, we're leaving them behind. With the Master Emerald in our hands, we quote-un-quote don't need them anymore."

Another pause as Snively runs a hand over his face, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

"I don't make the orders; I just relay them to you. Speaking of which, you are now to report back to the Death Egg!"

Again he pauses.

"Yes I'm aware of the newcomers who arrived on the island. We've been ordered to ignore them unless we're directly attacked by them."

"Doesn't matter that they now control the com-tower in sector 8," he continues, "You have your orders, follow them."

After yet another pause, Snively finally clicks off the mic.

"Idiotic fool…" he mutters to himself as he grabs a clipboard from the desk and heads for the door.

Tails and Sally quickly duck back around the corner. Snively exits the room looks in their direction quickly before marching off in the opposite direction.

"Newcomers?" Sally whispers peaking around the corner to watch him go.

"Let's contact them," Tails suggests, "If they can help us find that Emerald on the Beach…."

"Good idea," the princess pushes the door to the radio room. Finding no traps, alarms, or cameras, she steps inside.

"I wish I had brought NICOLE with me," she mumbles to herself as she flips the system back on.

Tails finds a booklet featuring the different codes for the communication towers on the island.

"There are about fifteen towers on the island," he explains, "So we have fifteen codes we can try."

"Just one," Sally corrects, "If we're wrong we'll be compromised. We won't have a second chance to contact them."

"Good point," the fox sighs, "How will we know which one to contact?"

"Which one is sector 8?"

"It doesn't say," Tails thumbs through the booklet again, "It's just the command codes and call codes."

"Probably a cheat sheet for the mercenaries working for Robotnik so they wouldn't have to remember anything," Sally groans rubbing her temples, "This just gets more and more frustrating."

The young fox rubs under his nose in a similar style as Sonic does, "Maybe we could send an acknowledgement of orders call."

"A what?" the princess asks.

"We contact the towers asking if they acknowledge their new orders," he explains, "The tower we're looking for will either verify to hide the fact that they're there or ask for a repeat of the orders."

"How will that help?"

The twin-tailed pup smiles, "Everyone's orders were to evacuate. They shouldn't be there to acknowledge the call."

Sally thinks back to what Snively had said, "That could work…"

"And if more than one responds, nobody will realize it is us because it is an automated action," Tails continues.

"And what if no one responds," the chipmunk asks.

"Well then we'll have to try something else," Tails scratches an ear.

"Better than no plan right?" Sally admits, "Let's do it."

"I hope that's NICOLE…" Fiona whispers at the beeping sound coming from the communications console. While she really didn't want to go locate an injured team member outside, she didn't want to hold the fort down here either.

Various escape routes futilely race through her mind. None would work while Ben was still unconscious. And with the amount of blood he's lost, the wolf wasn't going to be on his feet anytime soon.

This left two options, either abandon Ben, which would most definitely come back to bite everyone on the butt later, or stay and fight, which would be practically suicidal.

The red fox looks over the keys on the console.

"I don't even have any idea what I'm doing…"

She presses one key that looks like the return key on a normal keyboard.

After a brief moment a window opens up on the monitor revealing a text message.

"Please acknowledge you've received current orders…" she reads, "What the heck?"

She presses the key again. Nothing. How was anyone supposed to use this thing? Fiona kicks the console. Still nothing.

"I need help…" she grumbles. Suddenly a help menu pops up on the screen, "You're kidding. Its voice activated?"

Another kick to the console. Her foot might hurt, but it sure makes the rest of her feel better.

"Send acknowledgment," she tells the computer.

Text pops up reading: ACKNOWLEDGE CODE.

"Oh come on," the fox moans, "I don't have the code!"

More text: REQUESTING RESUBMISSION OF ORDERS.

"Thanks for that," Fiona spits, "You're such a big help."

Another text response appears: YOU'RE WELCOME. ALL HAIL THE EGGMAN EMPIRE.

Fiona kicks the console again.

Just as she turns away to check on Ben the dang thing starts beeping again.

"Now what!?" she wails. Gritting her teeth she presses the 'return' key again.

"Hello?" a familiar voice comes out of the machine, "This is Princess Sally Acorn, Leader of the Knothole Freedom Fighters. Do you read me?"

Fiona looks back up at the monitor, "Sal?"

"Fiona?!" the princess on the monitor seems to tense and relax at the same time, "What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?" the fox asks, "We were responding to Ben's distress call."

"Ben is alive?"

"Just barley," the field medic sighs, "He's out cold right now."

"Thank Mobius," the chipmunk sighs, "We were separated, we thought he was dead."

"You aren't that far off," Fiona states soberly, "Who is 'we'?"

"Sonic, Tails, and myself," Sally replies, "Who is with you?"

"Just Ben," Fiona jabs her thumb in the wolf's direction, "Rotor, Bunnie, Johnny, and 'Twan are out looking for you guys."

"What did Ben tell you guy in his call…"

Rotor's team ducks behind the trees as a buzzbomber sails through the air above, passing them over without a second glance.

"I think you're right sugar," Bunnie whispers to the walrus, "They appear to be busy pulling out."

"But why?" he whispers back.

"That is the part that is worrying me the most," Antione adds.

"Normally," Johnny includes his two cents, "I'd think Ant is being cowardly again, but even I'm worried about this now."

"I don't like this," Rotor concludes, "We better keep mo…"

"Incoming Transmission," NICOLE interrupts.

"Did Fiona get lonely?" Johnny mocks.

"Not really," the princess's voice comes from NICOLE, "But I figured I'd you guys could use an update."

"Sally-girl!" Bunnie cheers, "You're alright!"

"What's the word Sal?" Rotor asks.

"The potential end of Mobius as we know it," Sal's voice explains, "Robotnik is using the power of the Master Emerald to fuel his super weapon, death fortress, thing."

"The only way to stop him," she continues, "that we're aware of, is to gather all the Chaos Emeralds. Luckily for us Robotnik and his goons did most of the work already. We just have to find his collection. However one still escaped his grasp."

"Lucky for us," Johnny shrugs.

"Beggars can't be choosers right now," the princess replies, "We don't usually get this lucky."

"Fair enough," the hare sighs.

"Continue my princess," Antoine elbows Johnny who in turn punches him in the shoulder.

"Apparently there should be one located on a nearby beach in a cave not too far from your location," the Princess continues unaware of the small scuffle, forcing Bunnie to separate the two.

"We passed a beach when we landed," Rotor recalls, "That's probably where we should start looking."

"How do you know where it is?" Bunnie asks.

"I don't," Sally explains through NICOLE, "But Snively thought it was there and we don't really have anything else to go on right now."

There is a pause.

"We could also use some help on this end find Robotnik's other six."

"I can get there the fastest," Johnny boasts, "Which way?"

"I'll be rescuing the princess," Antoine interjects, "You can, how you say, find the hay in the needle stack."

"Find the needle in the hay stack," the walrus corrects rolling his eyes.

"I don't need rescuing right now," the princess informs them, "I just need help searching and the sooner the better. Sorry Ant, but Johnny is best suited for this task."

"You can count on me," the hare smugly beams, "Where to?"

"Take NICOLE," Rotor suggests, handing the computer to Johnny, "When we find the emerald we'll head back to Fiona and Ben at the Com tower."

"Be careful Rote," Sally replies, "Robotnik's forces were already searching for the emerald. They may be still present."

Antione gulps.