Misdirected Anger Written by: Adrian Tymes [Legal disclaimer: This story is based on characters created by SEGA and DiC Productions, and Commander Packbell by David Pistone. Permission is granted to freely distribute this story, so long as: a: no recompense of financial value is received or given by the person who distributes the story, and b: the distributed copy is identical to the story as originally authored. In other words, don't sell it, and don't alter it. Copyright (c) 1998, all rights reserved, et cetera.] ****** Two forms stretched and yawned, greeting the clear morning sky in unison. Snively was actually smiling for once. Collapsing the support struts of his tent, he bundled up the tent fabric and wrapped it around him, making sure that it still warped light around its wearer. Satisfied that he was still mostly concealed, he surveyed the leafy top of the FSM army's temporary headquarters. "Just like old times, eh, Kenal? You and me, and whatever we bring with us, against the world. Just like the other armies Robotnik let us take out." Kenal growled in response. "Oh, come on, Kenal. Sure, you were a robot at my command, but you put more enthusiasm into your work than just about any other workerbot I've ever seen. You must have genuinely enjoyed it, at least a bit." "I enjoyed getting out of your sight, and into situations where you'd let me take control of myself." "And I suppose that the only reason you worked with me yesterday was because what's left of the mind I gave you ordered you to." "As a matter of fact, yes. That IS the only reason I didn't turn you into ground meat when I had the chance. And that's the only thing keeping you alive right now." "No matter. My servant is inside you, and he will help me get through this. Come, Kenal." Snively beckoned as he walked across the shell. Kenal tried desperately not to stand. He willed his wings not to flap. He ordered his guiding feathers to turn him away from Snively. Finally, he suppressed flashbacks to his life as a workerbot. Only in the last activity did he succeed. ****** Two forms stretched and yawned, acknowledging the smog-filled morning sky in unison. "Just a few more minutes, ma," Dulcy mumbled out of habit. Rotor stood up, scratching himself. "Oww...what happened?" "You crashed," Packbell replied. Rotor and Dulcy tensed instinctively, and looked around. They were on the outskirts of Robotropolis, with a few squadrons of SWATbots standing at attention nearby. Packbell's voice sounded from some nearby speakers, while the android himself was undoubtedly kilometers away at the city's core. "It was an impressive collision. Your memories might bit a bit hazy, so allow me to remind you what happened. You were fleeing a group of soldiers from the Federation of Southern Mobius, which had overrun Knothole. You could not see these soldiers due to their stealth suits, and thus could not effectively fight back. These same soldiers had just failed to take Robotropolis, thanks to a city-wide deflector shield I erected. Despite your reservations, I created a temporary hole in the shield so you could pass through and share its protection. Dulcy entered with more speed than was necessary at a sharp downwards angle, and could not pull up in time. The resulting concussion knocked both of you out for twelve hours." "Both? But there were three..." Rotor blinked. "WHAT HAPPENED TO BUNNIE?" "She bounced outside the shield on landing. It is a one-way deflector: things can go out, but nothing can come in. The FSM soldiers captured her before my robots could do anything. You undoubtedly wish to free her, and I offer the few robots I can spare to go with you. The FSM is more of a threat than you have ever been, so for once, I suggest we set aside our differences and work together." Both of the Freedom Fighters paused to let this sink in, and to correlate this with what they remembered of the previous day. Eventually, Rotor responded, "Two things first. One, how come you didn't roboticize us, and two, how do we know we can trust you?" "First, almost all of Robotropolis's power is currently routed into the shield. Even a single roboticization would risk an electrical overload that could shut down the shield, which would ensure the demise of Robotropolis. Second, trust is not a factor in this mission. I expect that you will have a better chance of ridding us of the FSM if my forces accompany you than if they do not. I trust you more than you trust me, if only because you are more predictable." "Huh." Dulcy snorted. "A machine, calling us predictable?" "I only say it because it is true. For instance, I suspect that you are currently in the mood for some food...given the time of day, I believe you'd call it 'breakfast'. However, I also suspect that you would not eat any food I prepared." "You got that right," both Freedom Fighters chorused. "In that case, my forces are ready to leave now, and I would prefer that we attack as soon as possible. I would have woken you earlier, but you fight better when you are fully rested." Four hoverbots, with a net large enough for Dulcy to perch on strung between them, pulled up. "Hop on the transport, and we can discuss our attack plans en route." ****** Two forms stretched and yawned, noticing the smell of chili dogs in unison. Chili dogs? Sonic sprang out of bed, his feet in motion before they hit the ground. He slowed down only to swing his nose back and forth, in order to tell which corridor the scent of food came from. The fact that he was inside a large building, and therefore not in Knothole, hit him just as he reached the kitchen. But he paid it no mind when he saw a mound of his favorite food, freshly made and piled up as if begging him to eat them. He dutifully obliged their call. His ears perked up at a familiar whirring sound. "Now where have I heard that before?" "Above you." Sonic slowly looked up, and made out a familiar orange-brown shape. "Tails? What are you doing here?" "Waking you up." The kitsune landed. From his eyes, Sonic could tell he had not had much sleep. "What are you doing here?" "Eating." Sonic quickly scarfed down the twenty dogs in front of him. "Right." Tails smiled, then spoke to the doorway. "And what are you doing here, Sandra?" After a moment, Sandra walked in, smiling. "You're getting better all the time, young fox. I won't be able to hide from you at all before long." "You didn't answer my question." "You didn't pay me." She held out her palm. "You know I work for money." Tails rolled his eyes. "Or information. And from what I saw, you copied Sonic's notes on the FSM. We should get something for that." "I did try to pay my main hedgehog back..." Sandra sat down next to Sonic and tried to cuddle, only to get the cold shoulder. "...but he won't let me." She pouted. Tails started to protest, then smiled. "Ok, how about information for information?" "That depends on the information." "The FSM's here. I had been separated from Sonic and was almost back to Knothole when I found out. I doubled back to find Sonic, and eventually found you two here. I couldn't wake either of you - Sonic was curled up as if he expected something to attack him in his sleep, and you'd fallen asleep reading his notes. I followed your example, and when I got up, I thought that making chili dogs would wake Sonic." "You know me, big guy," Sonic quipped, then belched. "It appears he does," Sandra muttered to herself. "All too well." "What was that?" "Nothing." No longer pouting, Sandra continued, "If the FSM is here, you two have your work cut out for you. You can thank me for saving Sonic from drowning later. He couldn't remember you afterwards...looks like that was only temporary...so I took him here to recover. While he was here, I indulged my curiosity about his trip by reading his notes." "Did we learn anything you didn't already know?" Sonic asked. "Not much, unfortunately. They still think they're fighting the Kingdom of Acorn. Honestly, when I told you they had working deroboticizers, I thought you'd try to steal one for Knothole, not try to recruit the FSM. Talk about naive..." "Hey, pardon me for trying to bring an end to this," Tails yelled. "Just because I've been fighting all my life does NOT mean I want to keep on doing it forever!" Sandra involuntarily shrank back a centimeter. "Just a little touchy, are we?" "It was his idea," Sonic explained. "And I thought we had a chance of pulling it off." "Sorry," Sandra sighed. "But, what's done is done." "Speaking of what we did, what was that 'reward' business? You've never made moves on me before." "With Robotnik gone, Packbell won't last too much longer. That means you and Sally will be in charge of Robotropolis soon." Sandra blushed. "I just wanted to see how close you two really were. I tested Sally, too, but in a different way." "Yeah? What'd you find?" "Your devotion to her can not be broken." She grinned. "But, just by asking the right questions, Sally's heart might be stolen." "How did you..." He frowned. "You didn't." "I could have. That's what matters." "But you're not even..." "Hold on to her tight, Sonic. She does miss you." ****** Two forms stretched and yawned, bumping their muzzles against the guns pointed at their heads in unison. "Good morning, Princess." Crusher's evil grin made it obvious why her voice was so cheerful. "Ready to die?" "No," Sally replied. "Too bad." "And I'm not going to." She stood up. "Look, I'm sorry about your children, but I can not be held responsible for Robotnik's actions." "Can't you?" Manx queried. "That is the law of your land. The Acorn family rules the Kingdom of Acorn, therefore the Acorn family is personally responsible for the Kingdom of Acorn. And you are the only remaining member of your family." Sally silently met Manx's gaze of hatred with her own mask of calm. "I do not want to fight you. But no order of mine will cause Packbell to stop." "We'll see, Princess. Even now, your friends are on their way to rescue you. We shall let them come here, and then offer them freedom from your rule. With the atrocities you have ordered, I'll bet they'd gladly do the deed, if we offered to protect them from retribution. Not that we'd honor any promise to them, of course." "What are you talking about?" Manx smiled. "No more Acorns..." He jabbed the end of his rifle into Sally's stomach. "...no more Kingdom of Acorn." Antoine bristled. "You will be leaving her alone!" "Don't try to be a hero." Flint sneered as he stood over the still prone fox. "Not that you could ever be one." "Mon sewer! Zat ees an insult!" "Either your accent is fake, or you have a talent for comebacks." Flint waved his rifle over the fox's chest. "I suspect the former. I used to be in the Royal Guards, like you. None of them had been born outside of Mobitropolis, but they all acted as if they were foreigners. I switched sides when Julian came to power. I could practically smell his intentions, and I wanted no part of a side which would hire him." Manx motioned with his rifle. "Come on, let's get ready to meet your friends." ****** Two forms stretched and winced in pain. Casting her eyes about, one recognized that the other was just her reflection in some highly polished metal. "Ah, our mystery patient finally wakes up." Bunnie quickly looked around. The room she was in reminded her of the hospitals that used to be in Mobitropolis. One antiseptic white bed, a sink with ultraviolet sterilization devices, a nurse wearing so much ceramic and metal medical equipment one could not tell what species she was, more types of bandages than one would find in any first aid kit, a roboticizer, medical charts... "Ro...ro..." Bunnie stuttered in fear. "Row your boat?" The nurse smiled. "Or is that your name, 'Roro'?" Bunnie sat up quickly, but what felt like lightning crackling through her body made her immediately regret it. Ignoring the pain, she pointed at the reminder of Robotnik. "What is THAT?" she asked, hoping that she had mistaken it for something else. "A roboticization modifier, known around here as a roboticizer." Bunnie started to compose a protest... "We were hoping to restore your original body." ...and abruptly stopped. "But first, we must know what a citizen of the FSM is doing on the Northern Continent." Looking around, she saw the FSM's logo on several pieces of equipment, and bit back an urge to insult them. "Why do y'all think ah'm with the FSM?" "We checked your DNA." The nurse scanned a data pad mounted on her forearm. "Miss Bunnie Rabbot, abducted by defectors to the Kingdom of Acorn at age three. Presumed dead." She looked at Bunnie again. "Looks like we were wrong. We'd thought that standard practice up here was full roboticizations only. Let me guess, you were one of their test subjects?" "Not really. They were gonna give me the full treatment, but Sonic got me out in the nick of time." "Ah, that would explain the shoddy work. Pardon me for saying so, but your arm is the most patchwork system I've ever seen." "Patchwork?" "Almost as if someone had ripped out and replaced every system several times." Bunnie frowned. "That's what DID happen, sugar. And ah ain't too keen on anyone disparagin' mah Rotor's work." The nurse shrugged. "Suit yourself. If you've been upgrading it, then I guess I shouldn't ask if you want your original back." "You mean the version Robotnik gave me? No thanks." The nurse blinked. "No...I meant, your original, organic arm. And legs, too. Nobody up here has a working deroboticizer that we know of, and those who are involuntarily roboticized usually want their original bodies back as soon as possible." "Y'all can..." Bunnie gulped. "Ah...y-yes, please!" ****** "Sonic, there's something you should know," Tails said as he raced his best friend through the Great Forest. "I'm listening," Sonic replied. "Knothole was attacked." Sonic's reply was lost as the twin sonic booms that had been following the pair caught up to and passed them, then echoed throughout the Great Forest as Sonic and Tails stopped at the edge of Knothole. Even from the edge, the duo could see holes burned in several huts, the crops of the fields hopelessly trampled, and much more collateral damage to the village. "Sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but I didn't want you to run off to Robotropolis. The attackers didn't come from there." As stunned as Sonic was by the sight of Knothole, he had to admit that Tails' assessment was correct. He probably would have insisted on heading to Robotropolis to search for survivors if he'd known about this earlier. "Who else would..." "The FSM." Tails sniffed the air. "And I think I can track them. Come on." ****** "You're making a mistake," Sally protested as Crusher pushed her through the fake shrub that surrounded the FSM's base. "We shall see," Crusher replied. Manx stepped out behind Crusher, held the palm of his hand to his ear briefly, and continued, "My scouts say your friends will be with us very shortly." "Packbell's robots are not my friends!" "Oh? Then what about the walrus and the dragon traveling with them?" "Workerbots." "They're not roboticized." "Fakes, then." "Why don't you tell me?" Manx raised his voice and pointed. "Would you kindly come out where Sally can see you?" Rotor and Dulcy stepped out of the forest, surrounded by SWATbots. "Now then, Princess," Manx chuckled, "either you order your forces to surrender, or we shoot and you die. Either way, Mobius will finally be rid of the Acorns forever." "Rotor?" Sally asked, noting in the back of her mind that Antoine and Flint had not yet emerged from the shrub. "What's going on?" Rotor pointed at Manx. "They attacked Knothole and captured nearly everybody. We were going to try to free them. Packbell wanted to help, for once." Packbell's voice spoke through one of the SWATbots. "I figured that you would think we were working together, Manx, and would thus allow my robots safe passage to your base in order to boast." Manx blinked. "Wha..." And then, things got confusing. ****** Antoine wiped some sweat from his brow. Luring Flint to the back of the group and quietly knocking him out had been hard, but Antoine knew some weaknesses in the Royal Guards' martial arts techniques. Fortunately, Flint's training in the FSM had apparently not corrected these weaknesses. After quickly donning Flint's cloak, Antoine snuck around. He knew that, even though he only saw two guards on Sally, there would be many more; much more than he could take out alone. He would not be able to help Sally as the situation was. This intuition was reinforced by the fact that the base itself was nearly deserted; almost all of the soldiers were presumably outside, ready for action. Sneaking around the base, he soon found a makeshift jail which held most of the residents of Knothole. In his new cloak, sneaking up to it was a piece of cake; the guard on duty was not expecting anyone to be using a stealth cloak inside the base. The bars were solid, but they proved to be no match for his saber. The guard heard the bar being removed, but when he turned to look, the last thing he saw that morning was the cut-out bar flying towards his face. Antoine turned so his face was visible to the prisoners. "Ees everyone here?" he whispered. "Everyone who was captured," Rosie replied, just as silently. "Not many of us escaped. Where's Sally?" "Out front, in danger. Do not worry, I shall rescue her. But I will need ze big distraction." The unmistakable sound of laser fire came from the front of the base. "Ask, and you shall receive," Rosie quipped. "I'll get everyone out of here." She spied the unguarded storm generator. "Give us five minutes to get clear, and we'll give you a better distraction. I don't suppose you have any more of those cloaks?" "No." "Then you're on your own for rescuing Sally. It's too dangerous for any of us to get near those soldiers without some form of concealment." "Agreed. Once you are clear, get everyone to ze Power Ring Pool. Ah do not think it is zafe to continue using Knothole anymore, but we need a gathering point for anyone else who escaped." Antoine turned away, obscuring his only visible spots from Rosie. "Good luck, mon ami." He snuck off to the fight, intending to get into a good position from which to find and retrieve the Mobian of his desires. Rosie smiled despite herself as she started ushering her fellow Mobians out of the cell. For ages, the ones she had personally lead away from Robotnik's coup - Sally, Sonic, Antoine, Rotor, and Bunnie, who now formed the core of the Knothole Freedom Fighters - had treated her as an elder, much as they had Julayla. That was appropriate behavior when they were kids, but the war had forced them to grow up. Even worse, the rest of Knothole, taking cues from their leaders, treated her as a kind of village-wide nanny, which was especially embarrassing when it came from residents near her own age. For the past few years, Rosie had wished that they would start treating her as their equal, and now Antoine, at least, appeared to be doing just that. ****** Snively cackled with glee as he examined a monitor in one of the FSM's spare vehicles. Kenal wandered around the tank's small control room, trying to deduce each control's function, as laser blasts echoed outside. "The attack's started. Are you sure Packbell won't come in here?" "I'm cracking in to his robots right now. He's already committed over half of his remaining forces to this assault. He'll be so busy directing them to victory that he won't notice my implanting a new computer virus in them. By the time he does get inside the base, I shall have complete control." Kenal glanced at the monitor, and tried to make sense of the codes displayed. Only one window, labeled "Target AI Monitor", showed text that made any sense to him: SWATBOT 90342534D REPORT STATUS=SEEKING_TARGET STATUS=ACQUIRED_TARGET TARGET ID=1 STATUS=IMPRISONED TARGET ID=2 STATUS=UNARMED DIRECTIVE: NEUTRALIZE (TARGET ID=2) EXECUTING... TARGET ID=1 STATUS=IMPRISONED TARGET ID=2 STATUS=NEUTRALIZED DIRECTIVE: EXAMINE (TARGET ID=1) TARGET ID=1 STATUS=IMPRISONED LOCATION=IN_ROBOTICIZER LABEL=BUNNIE_RABBOT TARGET ID=2 STATUS=NEUTRALIZED DIRECTIVE: EXAMINE (TECHBOT) ERROR: NO TECHBOT PRESENT DIRECTIVE: SUMMON (TYPE=TECHBOT LOCATION=CURRENT TASK=ROBOTICIZE) LOCATION=CURRENT STATUS=COMBAT_ZONE ERROR: TECHBOT NOT ALLOWED IN COMBAT_ZONE DIRECTIVE: REPEAT_LATER (SUMMON (TYPE=TECHBOT LOCATION=CURRENT TASK=ROBOTICIZE)) DIRECTIVE: IGNORE (TARGET ID=1) TARGET ID=1 STATUS=IGNORE LOCATION=IN_ROBOTICIZER LABEL=BUNNIE_RABBOT TARGET ID=2 STATUS=NEUTRALIZED DIRECTIVE: SEEK_NEW_TARGET STATUS=SEEKING_TARGET "Bunnie?" Kenal flew to the tank's top. "I've got to help her!" "Get back here," Snively ordered. When Kenal did not immediately respond, he looked up, saw that Kenal had left, and popped his head out of the tank. Back inside, the window displayed more text: STATUS=ACQUIRED_TARGET TARGET ID=1 STATUS=PILOTING_ARMED_VEHICLE LABEL=SNIVELY_THE_GREAT TARGET ID=2 STATUS=ESCAPING LABEL=KENAL_SKYER DIRECTIVE: PACKBELL_OVERRIDE EXECUTING... "Well, well, well," Packbell's voice spoke from behind Snively. "This is an unexpected bonus." "Eeep!" Snively tried to duck back into the tank, but the strong hand of a SWATbot grabbed his shirt and lifted before he could. "Long time no see, 'friend'. I was beginning to wonder if the Freedom Fighters had finished you off after all. Fortunately, I detected your latest intrusion into my networks as soon as you started it." Visions of torture danced through Snively's head, with himself as the victim. "W-what d-do y-you w-want?" "The same thing you do. Elimination of the Freedom Fighters. And I know the perfect way to let you help me achieve it." ****** As the roboticizer's tube slid down around her, cutting Bunnie off from all sounds of the outside world, she almost thought she heard laser fire in the fraction of a second before there was complete silence. She quickly put the thought out of her mind, closing her eyes and concentrating instead on what she would be like with her natural limbs back. Sure, she would not be as strong, but... ... Bunnie frowned as the answer she had rehearsed refused to make sense. She wanted her old self back, the way she was before Robotnik. And, while she was at it, she also wanted Mobius back to the same state. Her extra strength would come in handy... She closed that thought off in a hurry, and others like it, but the more she tried to resist, the louder her doubts became. Before long, she seriously wondered if her desire was not merely selfish, as long as her robot limbs could make a serious contribution towards finishing off Packbell. Surely, the nurse would have an answer for her. She opened her eyes to try to make contact with her, only to see the nurse sprawled on the floor. It was impossible for Bunnie to tell whether the nurse was unconscious or dead, but the laser burn on her back did not look healthy. Bunnie pounded on the tube, but its clear material was designed to resist much tougher forces. The same went for the not-so-clear top and bottom of the tube. As intent on breaking the tube as she was, Bunnie did not see Kenal enter the room until he was already typing away on the controls. She was relieved until she saw the controls' display panel flash "FULL ROBOTICIZATION". Only then did she see that Kenal was smiling. ****** Combat was always a confusing situation, and the larger the battle, the smaller a piece of the whole that one could be aware of. This had only occasionally been a problem for Sally before, as most of the fights she had been in had pitted a few Freedom Fighters against, at most, a large squad of robots. Only rarely had there been more than twenty individuals, SWATbots included, that she had had to keep track of. By her count, there were over one hundred individuals on each side firing at each other in front of the FSM base. She was at a loss to explain why one of Packbell's SWATbots suddenly broke off, shoved a hole in the FSM base's shrub cover, and charged into the base. Manx did not seem too concerned about it, probably assuming that the few soldiers still inside could take care of the lone robot. Sally was surprised when Crusher went from pushing a rifle in her back to pulling her down to the ground, but the bear's action had saved both of them from Packbell's initial volley. The FSM had scattered their troops all over in preparation for a fight, and the maneuverability of Packbell's robots meant that they were similarly dispersed before long. Crusher had gotten up to engage a SWATbot, and no one else seemed to be paying Sally any attention, so she made a break for Dulcy and Rotor *BOOM* and found herself racing up a nearby tree in Sonic's arms. "Hey, Sal, did you miss me so much you threw this party for my return?" "Sonic?" "That's my name - don't wear it out." Sally wondered if Sonic's voice and smirk really did reflect enormous self- confidence, or if they were just his version of a poker face. "I see you've met my guests." "YOUR guests, Sonic?" "Well, I kind of asked them to come up here, but I thought we'd have time to prepare." Sally rolled her eyes. "We'll talk about this later. Right now, almost everyone else has been captured. We've got to get them out." "Looks like that's already been taken care of," Sonic said as he pointed to a large crowd of Mobians fleeing out a hole in the back of the FSM base. "At least something's going right. If you're back, where's Tails?" "Scouting around. He said he saw Snively working with Kenal earlier. If either of them are involved with this, or even anywhere nearby, we won't find them in the fight itself, so the big guy wanted to go check up on his bud." The battle suddenly quieted down as one of the hoverbots began looping wildly and spraying fire all over the battlefield. Everyone ducked, sidestepped, and otherwise dodged the hoverbot's shots, which came too frequently and too erratically for anyone to line up a shot. Sonic sighed. "How much you wanna bet that's Antoine?" "So that's where he went." "Wait here. Despite my better judgment, I'm going to save him from himself." Sonic waited for the hoverbot to pass by, then jumped into its open hatch. "Soneec?" Antoine, whose stolen cloak had fallen off during the ride, was hugging the control stick for dear life. This was all that kept him from being tossed from wall to ceiling to wall to floor as the hoverbot tumbled. "Ah think ah have forgotten 'ow to be flying zis." Not even taking the time to speak, Sonic ran up, peeled Antoine off of the controls, and ran out of the hoverbot. Half a second later, the hoverbot flew into a tree and blew up. "Sonic," Sally complained when he returned to her perch in the trees, "that was dangerous! You could've been on that thing when it exploded!" "No way, Sal. I keep telling you, if you move as fast as me, everything else is like it's frozen." "Ze hoghedge finally makes a funny." Antoine smiled. "Ah knew you would get eet right one of zese days." "You're making less sense than usual, Ant. I wasn't making a joke." "No?" Antoine pointed at the ground. "Eet looks zat way to moi." The entire battlefield was covered by a meter-deep layer of snow and ice, immobilizing everything that did not fly. All of the flying units, both Packbell's hoverbots and stealthbots and the FSM's equivalents, had been grounded by the sudden blizzard. "That's the second in two days," Sally commented. "Where are they coming from?" "Over there." Antoine pointed to where the escaping Freedom Fighters had set up the stolen storm generator just outside of the battlefield. "Ah think Rosie set ze power to maximum, yes?" "What about Dulcy and Rotor? They were down there..." *CRACK* Sally looked down again. *CRACK* The dragon and the walrus, unaffected by the cold, were hovering under Dulcy's power from robot to robot, methodically disabling Packbell's contributions to the scene. In the deep freeze, most of the robots' metal skins and skeletons shattered with distinctive *CRACK*s under precisely directed blows from one of Rotor's larger hammers; those few that did not were quickly dismantled by not-so-precise blows from Dulcy's tail. Sonic smiled. "You know, maybe I shouldn't've left. To think, I almost missed out on all this fun." Sally and Antoine looked at each other and exchanged a knowing smile. "Soneec..." "...think?" Both of them surrendered to a brief giggling fit as Sonic just shook his head and smiled. ****** "Bunnie? What's wrong?" A constant shriek was coming from somewhere as the roboticizer's tube slid up, but Bunnie was unable to spare to attention to find its source. All she wanted to do was to get away from Kenal. "Bunnie?" 'That wasn't Kenal's voice,' part of her mind noted. "Are you in here?" 'That didn't even come from his direction. There's someone behind me...' "Why are you screaming?" Bunnie blinked, suddenly becoming conscious of her vocal cords. Willing them to stop, she carefully turned around. "What the...?" Tails took in the scene with wide eyes. "BUNNIE!" He sailed forwards, knocking her off of the roboticizer's platform. "Don't worry, I won't let Kenal roboticize you." "What are you talking about?" Kenal queried. "You're still under Snively's control. Back off!" Kenal shot Tails a questioning glance, but did as he was ordered. "Come on, Bunnie, let's get out of here." Tails dragged a very shaken Bunnie away. Kenal looked after the two, curious. Why would they think he wanted to roboticize Bunnie? Sure, he had taken a bit of extra time to display and read all of the roboticizer's documentation, including a tutorial on how it looked when it was in operation, but that was just so he could make sure not to accidentally roboticize Bunnie. ****** Sally was wondering whether or not to try Sonic's attitude as she walked up to a shivering General Manx. Certainly, the snow was solid and deep enough that, when she walked on it, she stood taller than the human, and arrogant superiority might just convince the FSM to leave. A second's consideration bansihed that train of thought. Right through might was not honorable, and she was determined to make her actions as head of the Kingdom of Acorn as honorable as her ancestors'. She knelt down and offered a hand to help Manx up. It was a symbolic gesture; she was not strong enough to give any meaningful leverage to someone in powered armor. She had also expected, but was still disappointed by, Manx's sneer in reply, which silently dismissed her offer. "Very well, then. I'll just leave you here until the snow melts." "You should have killed us just now." "And I didn't." Sally folded her arms. "Why would I do that, if I really wanted war between us?" Manx frowned in thought. "You are the leader of your military. My father tried to set up peace negotiations with you, just as, I have been told, you tried to do with us." "You shot down all of our attempts!" "ROBOTNIK shot them down. He stopped our efforts, too." Manx snarled. "You came up here to end the Great War, correct?" "Correct." Sally sighed. "Robotnik told us you had already surrendered. We were fools to believe him. Tell you what, if peace is what you want, then peace is what we will offer. We can not speak for Packbell or Snively, but the Kingdom of Acorn shall no longer fight the Federation of Southern Mobius. Agreed?" Manx was silent. "Agreed?" "Agreed." Crusher dug her way out of the snow enough to poke her head out. "Shut up, soldier," Manx barked. "That's an order!" Crusher ignored him. "Our war was started by those who wanted violence. There have been too many lives lost already." Sally turned a curious gaze on Crusher, unconsciously making herself look more imperial in the bear's eyes. "You agree with me? I thought you wanted me dead." "I thought you wanted war." Crusher shrugged. "We all misjudge people, and I see that we have gravely misjudged you." Sally smiled, knelt, and offered her hand to Crusher, who accepted. Once Sally had pulled Crusher up, the princess replied, "Thank you. But, how do we convince everyone else? I mean, they'll listen to Manx over you, and -" Crusher held up a finger, then pulled back her cloak's hood, revealing a comlink. "I'm broadcasting this conversation to our leaders back home. They want peace, too, and unlike you, we do not allow our military to roam unchecked. Within a few hours, Manx will either agree to peace, or be court marshaled and replaced with someone who will agree. Either way, the Great War ends today. We can work out the details once your...internal affairs have been sorted out." Sally's smile grew. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to help us get rid of Packbell?" "Don't push your luck. Your people are free to go, as long as they leave our property here. Once you are gone, I ask that you do not try to speak with us again before we leave. Trust me, it will be easier for both of us that way. Only come to us once you can speak for the Kingdom of Acorn and everyone on its soil, for only then will the Kingdom of Acorn truly exist again." "I see." Her smile disappeared. "Thank you anyway, and I will speak with you again. Soon...I hope." Crusher now smiled. "You and me both. Avenge my children, ok?" "I will. No matter how long it takes, I swear that I will, by ridding this place of Robotnik's legacy." Sonic and Tails looked on as Sally and Crusher made final agreements. "Sonic?" Tails whispered. "Do you think we'll ever do that?" "Do what?" "Get rid of Robotnik's legacy?" Sonic sighed. "No, big guy. We won't. Even if we shut down Packbell and all his robots, even if we deroboticize every workerbot, even if we get King Acorn and Nagus out of the Void, there's still some damage that we can never undo. We can only stop it from getting worse, and do what we can with what's left." He smirked. "That's all we can do, so that's what we will do." Sally, Sonic, and Tails left just as the remaining FSM soldiers began to free themselves and set about collecting their dead.