War for Mobius

Act 1 Chapter 6

Antoine peers out of the empty gasoline canister he has chosen as his current hiding place. He had only barely managed to open the grate to escape for him and Bunnie to escape the vents only moments before a few robotic guards patrolled by. Bunnie and Antoine had managed to avoid detection however only for the moment. There is no telling when the guards would pass by again and no telling if they could continue to avoid being detected.

The Coyote wiped the sweat from his brow as he climbs out of the metal barrel, "Bunnie? Where are you?"

There is no response. Antoine backs away from his former hiding spot while looking around the room. He couldn't be alone could he? Had Bunnie been captured while he had been hiding? Was he that afraid he didn't hear her getting taken? Maybe she-

Antoine nearly jumps right out of his uniform when a metallic hand clamps onto his shoulder, letting out a loud "Yeep!" in the process.

"Quiet 'Twan!" Bunnie scolds retracting her cybernetic arm from Antoine's shoulder. If it wasn't for the situation she would have found Antoine's fear funny if not a bit adorable, however….

"We have t'keep moving," Bunnie orders. Antoine barely stifles out a nod.

It isn't long before Sonic realizes the fallacy of his proposed plan. Rotor and Sally just didn't know which way to go and now had gotten lost! It probably would have been better if he had stayed in eyesight of them so that they didn't make any wrong turns.

Unfortunately it was too late now to worry about that. He'd better find them before they get caught or worse….

Sonic races up and down the hallway shouting to find his missing friends. Were they his friends now? It would make sense. It probably would be mutually beneficial he guessed. He could watch out for them while they….well let's face it, came up with better plans they he ever did. And if we're being honest here, sometimes they might have to save him. Sometimes…not a lot of the time.

Sonic soon reaches his limit and has to rest to catch his breath. Usually he wouldn't, but the whole shock treatment he received earlier had left him less than one hundred percent. He reaches out to rest his hand on the wall; however when he does he ends up pressing a hidden switch that opens up a secret door.

Of course there had to be secret rooms in one of Robotnik's labs, Sonic smiles to himself. How else would Egg-belly be able to escape capture if it fell into his enemies hands? Perhaps there would be an escape route, or a control computer, or maybe it was a bunker.

A mechanical hand reaches out of the newly opened secret pathway and slashes its robotic claws at Sonic. Perhaps the room was just a storage room for killer Robots. Sonic quickly hops out of its range before it has a chance to strike again. Taking only a few seconds to examine the new path, Sonic realizes that it is indeed an escape tunnel, but not one for Robotnik, one for the mind controlled robian slaves working the factory. Most have gotten aboard the underground tram…trolley….train…..subway….whatever it was, which Sonic had no idea, that led to who-knows-where. However the one standing at the operating table, the one now attacking him, was one all too familiar to the blue hedgehog.

"Uncle Chuck!" Sonic takes a defensive stance as his robotic uncle begins slowly moving towards him, "You have to fight it Unc. Don't let Robo-Butt control you!" Sonic backs away, now wishing to harm his own Uncle. However Uncle Chuck seemed to have no qualms harming his beloved nephew.

"Priority override…..capture Hedgehog," Charles Hedgehog responds in an electronic and mechanical voice that only barely resembles his old organic voice. It was cold, harsh, and unfeeling; unlike his the caring voice Sonic remembered from is youth. No this being was no longer the Uncle Chuck who had helped raise him. This thing was a mechanical monster being used as a cog to run Robotnik's engine of destruction.

And yet….

Something in Sonic says Uncle Chuck could still be saved. Something tells him that Uncle Chuck still has a chance.

Another large explosion rattles its way through the factory reminding Sonic of the doom that awaits any of those who don't make it out. The Princess and Rotor were counting on him; he couldn't just let them down now. After all they must have gone through to come rescue him.

He pauses to look at Uncle Chuck one last time….

"This is bad Rotor," Sally paces impatiently in front of their secured exit through a damaged trash compacter. The compacter had been damaged long ago and for some reason Doctor Robotnik had not had it repaired, instead only trying to cover up the large hole in it that now served as the Freedom Fighters way in and out of the base.

Rotor shifts uneasy, "I'm sure he's fine. He just got a little lost because he didn't know which way to go."

"That's the whole problem Rotor. He doesn't know which way to go and there isn't much time left. If Sonic isn't he soon…." Sally's voice trails off, not wanting to think about the consequences, "We should go look for him"

Rotor puts his hand on her shoulder shaking his head, "If we do that Sonic may whip right by here and miss the exit all together. And neither of us is fast enough to find him and make it back in time. Our best bet is to hope he finds us before it's too late."

Sally kicks the garbage compacter, ignoring the pain it sends into her foot, "We have to do something…"

Suddenly Rotor's face lights up, "Well I do have one idea the might work…."

"Oh…what is taking them so long?" Antoine asks Bunnie. The two of them had made it outside a little while ago. They watched helplessly at the exit by the hover bike they had "liberated" a few missions back. While normally it would not hold the weight of more than two Mobians, Rotor had the idea of attaching a hover pad to it, sort of like a horse drawn carriage. While it still needed some work, it functioned well enough to be field tested…hopefully.

Bunnie taps her foot, losing her patience. While it was normally not very lady-in-waiting like to think this way, but sometimes Sally's actions were cutting it too close, and sometimes Bunnie wished she could scold her. But even if she could, she knew Sally wouldn't listen.

Finally getting sick of waiting Bunnie hops onto to the hover bike. "What are you doing!?" Antoine asks, clearly betraying the worry he wished she would not notice.

"Sally and Rote should be outta there by now," Bunnie explains while firing up the engines, "Which means they may need a quick extraction. Now be a dear and turn on the hover pad."

This was definitely proving to be harder than Sonic had anticipated. Not only did Uncle Chuck fight him the entire way, he still had no idea which way to go. Not only was his running wearing him out, but the weight and struggling of his robotic uncle was causing him to lose serious momentum and speed.

"Stop fidgeting Uncle Chuck! You're making this harder on both of us!" Sonic grumbles more to himself than to Charles, "And you said making me take a bath as a kid was hard."

"That music is not authorized to be played in this factory!" Uncle Chuck replies.

Music? What music? Sonic slows down to listen.

Yes he can hear that unmistakable song….ugh…it was definitely not Sonic's choice of music. However that meant somebody had some kind of music player, and that somebody had to be either Sally or Rotor.

Sonic tightens his grip on Uncle Chuck, "Hang on Unc, it's Juice time!"

Before the poor old-bot can respond Sonic takes off running towards the direction of the sound. As it gets louder, Sonic gradually begins changing his mind about the song. Sure it was still terrible, but at least it was helping.

As if on cue the Song changed to something Sonic liked better. Now this was truly being rescued by music.

"That's as loud as it goes Sal," Rotor says as he cranks the volume on his portable A-pod Player to maximum.

"Any louder, and my speakers will blow apart," adds NICOLE. They had managed to hook NICOLE up to the player to maximize the sound output. However NICOLE's speakers were not meant to played at this volume she could barely "Shout" over the music to make herself heard.

"We're out of time!" Sally sighs, "We have to go now!"

"Wait!" Rotor stops her as she opens the rusted trash compactor's door, "listen to that!"

At first Sally thought he wanted her to listen to the song, which confused her as Rotor would have never been so stupid to risk their lives over it. However she then heard it as the song went to the chorus.

"…put the pedal to the metal and baby I guarantee….you'll be juicing to the tenth degree…."

"It's Sonic!"

Sonic doesn't even seem to slow down, in fact he seems to speed up as he spots them. Sally and Rotor barely manage to pry the rusted doors open before they are grabbed by the hedgehog…who is still singing.

"Crank it Super Sonic, it don't take any fuel…cuz the rocket's in my pocket and-"

A large explosion follows them through the makeshift escape route launching them into the air.

The unexpected explosion nearly causes Bunnie to lose it. She had figured something was up with all the rumbling and smoke, well….new smoke, rising from the factory, but she and Antoine had no idea how close the place had been to exploding.

Bunnie quickly turns the bike to go looking for the others, when what appears to be a blue missile misses her and Antoine by inches, causing the bike to go spinning, nearly throwing the coyote from his seat on the hover pad.

However, just as the Missile hurtles by, Bunnie hears its sing, "Waaaa-aaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaay past Cool!"

Missiles don't sing do they? At least Robotnik's don't. Then could that have been….?

Sonic and his passengers shoot just past the edge of the cement marking Robonik's territory, landing on the soft grass just beyond.

At the speed they were flying the grass was still pretty hard.

Sonic jumps up almost instantly, "WAY PAST COOL! Anyone want to go again?"

Rotor barely manages to get to his feet, "N-no thank you…"

Sonic notice Sally's too busy hurling her lunch out to respond. He can't help but laugh, "Good because I think that's all I had left in me." The blue hedgehog collapses back down into the grass, only to jump back to his feet after he remembers something, "Uncle Chuck!"

Uncle Chuck lays a few feet away, repeating the phrase "Systems rebooting, please hold," over and over again.

Sally manages to her feet, "Is that…Sir Charles Hedgehog?"

"I thought he had escaped Robotnik's takeover…" Rotor notes moving over to check the robot, Sonic already beating him to his uncle's side.

"He did," Sonic responds, "it was the after events that got him."

Rotor gives Sonic an understanding nod and checks the bot over quickly. As he does Bunnie and Antoine pull up on the hover bike-pad combo, "My stars, you gave us quite the scare there. Y'all alright?"

"I think so," Sally answers, "I let you know when feeling gets back in my legs…."

"Sir Charles doesn't seem to be damaged," Rotor says with a bittersweet smile, "However…that means he can't come with us."

"What do you mean?" Sonic objects.

"If he's still programmed to be loyal to Robotnik, he'll just escape and bam, there goes our secret base."

Sonic pauses to think this over. Finally he stands back up and hops on the hover pad, "Right. And Mobius can't wait for us forever…"

Rotor climbs on to the hover pad and sits next to Antoine. Sally takes the seat next to Sonic. She looks at him curiously, "What do you mean 'Us'?"

Sonic punches her arm playfully, "Well if you wanna quit the Freedom Fighters I guess we can't stop you, but the rest of us have work to do, right guys?"

The rest can only laugh.

Sonic takes one last look at his Robotic Uncle, "Next time Uncle Chuck."

Bunnie drives the hover bike-pad combo off towards the forest. Uncle Chuck lies there….

"Systems rebooting…..sys…..sys…Sonny…?"