FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter One

Miles 'Tails' Prower had trouble sitting still at the best of times, but on this cool and crisp autumn evening as he, Bunnie and Sally waited in the lee of a gnarled old oak right on the fringes of the Great Forest, the dark and sprawling expanse of Robotropolis just the other side of a steep rise from the group, it was a struggle for even the powerful half-roboticised rabbit to keep him in one place.

"I swear, sugah-fox," she drawled, catching hold of his leg and pulling him quite literally down to earth for the sixth time in almost as many minutes, "you carry on like this, I'll tie you to the goshdurn tree with your own goshdurn tails until he's done."

"But I just want to watch him!" Tails protested, a little petulantly, his twin namesakes whirling madly in a determined attempt to keep him airborne. "Just sit on a branch and watch him!"

With a soft sigh and a long roll of her eyes Bunnie pulled the errant vulpine gently but firmly into her lap and clamped both arms around him, pinning him against her chest. "Sorry, Tails, but we can't risk ya'll givin' our position away. Just sit tight a few moah moments."

"All right, all right," the fox acquiesced, grudgingly, settling himself more comfortably within the rabbit's arms, pillowing his head on her generous cleavage and curling his tails lightly around himself. "At least I've got a comfy seat while I wait."

"We aims tah please," Bunnie chuckled good-naturedly, ruffling the tuft of fur between his ears with her organic paw. She raised her voice a notch, calling softly to the slim brown form lying at the top of the slope. "How's he doin'?"

"Almost there," Sally responded, eyes glued to her digiscope. "Those last four 'bots are taking a little persuading."

"Ah guess ol' 'Botnik's finally catchin' on," Bunnie observed, dryly, as she checked the large backpack by her side for the eighth time that night. "Took him long enough."

"Either that or Snively's gotten a lot further with his reprogramming schedule than we thought." The ground squirrel stretched first one leg, then the other, a contemplative note creeping into her clear voice as she continued. "Though that seems...uncharacteristically incautious of him. Rather makes me wonder..."

"M-maybe he's figured out what we're after," Tails piped up, alarm stealing into his tones as he pressed closer to the comforting warmth of Bunnie's leotard-clad form, his head nestling deeper into the valley between her breasts, "and moved his plans around to match."

Sally lowered her 'scope and gazed over her shoulder at the young fox, nodding. "Definitely possible, especially after Plant Five, which is why we're being so cautious. We're not going in until I _know_we have some decent breathing space. Speaking of which..." She retrained her electronically amplified gaze on the city, and a moment later just the hint of a smile was twitching at the very corners of her mouth. "I think we're good - can't see any SWATs there now."

"Hey, Sal!" her radio headset suddenly called out, with impeccable timing. "I got 'em all clear for ya!"

"I can see - good job," Sally replied, barely above a murmur, the smile broadening for an instant. Getting silently to her feet, she gestured for Bunnie and Tails to follow. "We're moving. Meet you at the regroup in twenty."

"Will do, Sal. HEY!" A sharp metallic crunch. "That'll teach ya to interrupt when I'm on the phone!"

Shaking her head and chuckling quietly the rodent Princess set off down the slope with practised grace, the fox and the rabbit right on her heels. The trio reached the outer fringes of Robotropolis in under a minute, but once inside the towering metallic labyrinth of buildings progress was made in rapid-fire spurts, as they checked and double-checked every alley before darting along it. Courtesy of the blue blur, not one single 'bot stood between them and their target - Storage Complex 52G.

Sally brought them to a halt in front of a control panel for a side entrance; while she punched in the first of several lengthy codes she'd memorised Bunnie and Tails kept careful watch, ears perked and eyes scanning for the slightest hint of mechanised trouble. The last digit entered, a faint, sharp click from the bowels of the door signalled the squirrel's success...much to her surprise.

"The first...? What are the chance...? Too easy," she muttered under her breath, eyes widening momentarily. Her gaze flicked to the two Mobians flanking her. "Right - extra caution, and be ready to bolt at any moment, okay?"

Two nods came in instant response, one calm and collected, the other charged with nervous energy. Sally reached out to ruffle the fur that stuck up between Tails' ears, favouring him with the most reassuring smile she could muster when she herself was thrumming with tension.

"We'll be fine," she insisted, sounding calmer than she felt. "I'm not taking any chances. Slightest hint of something wrong, we abort, head for the regroup. Ready?"

"Ready," her companions responded, in determined unison.

"Good," Sally paused just long enough to suck in a calming breath, forcing herself to focus, then tapped the 'open' button, triggering the door, which slid aside with a muted whirr. "Stay close."

Beyond it was a broad and metal-clad passage, one identical to many thousands of others throughout Robotropolis. The rodent princess led the way along it at a smart jog, ignoring the numerous double doors dotted down either side. Without so much as breaking her stride she dipped down to unclip a compact palm computer from a holder on the side of her right boot, flicking it open.

"Nicole - schematic."

"Accessing, Sally." Even as the cool, soft female voice responded a compact three-dimensional holograph of the building's layout flickered into being immediately in front of the group, three small green dots indicating their position, a large red one their target. "Next left."

Following Nicole's directions they made their careful way deep into the complex, Sally at point, Tails so close behind his nose practically brushed the back of her waistcoat, Bunnie bringing up the rear. Four times they were forced to duck into storerooms to avoid the keen gazes of drifting spy eyes, huddling close together just the other side of the double doors, waiting for the tell-tale hum to fade. Twice they were compelled to backtrack slightly and take a looping detour by the presence of worker drone squads storing, retrieving and cataloguing a huge variety of materials and components for Robotnik. That both the groups were made up entirely of roboticised Mobians, mute metal parodies of the people they had once been, was an unsettling detail, especially for Tails.

Finally, though, they reached the tall doors of the central storage chamber, a full four minutes later than planned.

"Might have to forget the scavenging," Sally whispered to Bunnie, starting to rapidly tap another long code into the lock.

"No chance, Sally-girl," the rabbit countered, resolutely. "Ah'll get the stuff double-quick, don't you worry."

"All right." Sally permitted herself half a grin, buoyed by her close friend's resolve. "If you insi-"

"Code incorrect," a cool, modulated voice interrupted. "Two more attempts before lockdown."

Sally grimaced, but couldn't honestly say she was all that surprised. Adept fingers input the next option on her mental list.

"Code incorrect. One more attempt before lockdown."

She bit back a mild curse - now things were getting tricky. Valuable seconds passed as she oscillated between calling it a night or trying one last possibility. In the end, pure impulse made the choice for her, setting her neat digits to dancing over the keypad one more time. The muted clunk of the lock snapping open was greeted first with relief, then a sting of anxiety.

"Same code?" she murmured, more to herself than her companions. "Now I'm really worried..." Still, they'd come this far. "Nicole - storage room schematic."

The holograph shifted, zooming swiftly and smoothly in on the trio's current location, a huge (and thankfully quite robot-free) room filled to bursting with massive metal storage containers stacked three or four high. The roof was five stories above them, and the floor space was hundreds of feet across in every direction, and this wasn't even close to being the largest of Robotropolis' many warehouses.

They didn't pause to stare, though, Bunnie vanishing down a side alley between the serried ranks of crates while Tails and Sally made haste for the centre of the area. A circular elevator was situated there, giving access to an extensive gantry network above, with the aid of the right heavy-coded keycard. Unfortunately, since concerted efforts to get hold of one in the run-up to this operation had failed completely, the freedom fighters were left with just one way to get to the elevated walkways and the especially interesting items kept up there.

Sally drew to a halt next to the round depression the lift settled into at ground level and turned to Tails. "Ready for lift-off?"

"Yes Ma'am!" came the prompt response, followed by a hushed whirr as the vulpine set his bushy namesakes to spinning and rose gently into the air.

As he climbed above Sally's head she extended her arms up toward him, catching hold of his wrists, as he did hers. With minimal strain Tails lifted the princess into the air, then began ascending at a steady pace, his bright blue eyes fixed on the elevated gantry. They reached it quite a bit quicker than either of them had anticipated, the squirrel dropping from the fox's grip when they were squarely over the grille walkway, landing in a graceful and near-silent crouch. Tails alighted alongside her, the small smile he wore broadening when rodent lips pressed themselves briefly yet warmly to his forehead.

"Perfect." Sally straightened up, a little of the tension fading now they'd regained a bit of lost time, and took a brief look around.

Almost instantly her attention was firmly snagged by the small, idling terminal clamped to the railing of the gantry that circled the silent elevator, or more precisely the curious fact that it wasn't displaying the over-familiar, self-aggrandising spinning Robotnik logo like every other idling terminal she'd ever encountered invariably did, instead playing something much more intriguing.

She jogged over for a closer look, a pensive Tails right with her, and her eyes widened. What to even a half-interested scrutiny looked like nothing more than random, mazelike patterns drifting slowly over and under one another in a repetitive and rather monotonous rhythm bore to her knowledgeable eye very strong resemblances indeed to circuit diagrams. Moreover, incredibly familiar circuit diagrams...

Sally tapped the screen and the animation faded smoothly, leaving her with a simple list of filenames, none of which stood out or even hinted at anything useful, so she quickly decided to grab copies of the lot; no chance of landing the biggest fish of them all was too slim to be passed up. "Nicole - wireless linkup; scan for all encryption levels, starting with highest."

"Accessing... Top level encryption detected. Beginning decryp cycle. Estimate five minutes needed."

"Blastit," Sally hissed, resisting the urge to smack a fist against the terminal. "They must be changing their network codes three or four times a day, now." Forcing herself to accept the delay, she activated her headset. "Bunnie - how's it going?"

"Almost got it all, sweetie," came the typically upbeat reply. "Be with ya in a heartbeat."

"Good going, girl." Sally allowed herself a grin, her flagging mood boosted. "Give me a bell when you're in position."

"You got it."

The squirrel leaned back against the railing, gazing impatiently at the computer held in her hand, trying to will the decryption process into moving quicker. Needless to say, she had no luck, and with a quiet huff switched her attention to her vulpine companion, currently standing across the walkway from her. Tails seemed to have put himself on lookout duty, going by his fully perked and constantly swivelling ears, and the intent way his bright blue eyes swept ceaselessly around the warehouse.

Sally couldn't help but feel a swell of pride at this; the young fox was slowly but surely growing into a fantastic example of a freedom fighter. All right, he could be a touch headstrong and impulsive from time-to-time (a certain blue-furred big brother in all but blood had more than a little to do with that, no doubt) and his boundless innocence could sometimes be more of a hindrance than a help, but his loyalty couldn't be questioned, his determination never seemed to waver, and...

"All done and in position, sweetie."

Sally started violently, a slight flush tingeing her ears and tinting her cheek fur. Mentally scolding herself for drifting off - daydreaming in the depths of a Robotnik facility was tantamount to signing your death warrant, as had been quite brutally proven to her on more than one occasion - she looked over the rail to the floor so far below to find Bunnie standing by the depression and gazing up at her, her backpack bulging. "Good. You're on form tonight."

"Top of ma game, girl." Her head cocked to one side. "What're you lingerin' for?"

"Trying to access a terminal. Encryption's top-level so it's taking a while..."

"You sure we got time for that?"

"No," Sally admitted, after a moment's pause.

"Then ya'll have to-"

"I know." She turned the headset's mic off. "Tails."

The little fox snapped to attention. "Yes?"

Sally smiled briefly, and knelt down before him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "You know what we're after, and where it's kept, right?"

"Yes."

"Good. I want you to get it."

"All right." Tails nodded, managing to look both proud and nervous.

Sally brushed his cheek, smile widening. "Be as quick as you can, and at the slightest little hint of trouble you run, understand?"

Another nod.

"Good. Go."

Tails took off, hustling along the gantry at an impressive clip. Sally stood up. "How long now, Nicole?"

"Three minutes."

"Hope these files are worth it." Sally ran a hand between her ears as she activated the headset again. "Sonic - status."

"Gettin' a little busy, Sal. Nothin' heading your way, though."

"Understood. Moment that changes, tell me."

"Will do. WHOA, that actually got within ten feet o' me... I'm gettin' slow in my old age!"

"Sounds like Sugah-hog's havin' fun," Bunnie observed, grinning up at the squirrel.

"Glad one of us is." Sally started gently drumming her fingers on the hand rail, glancing at Nicole, then the rabbit on the ground below, and finally fixing her attention on the fox fast approaching a large, sealed-off area in one corner of the warehouse's ceiling. "Slow it down, now, Tails - don't charge in."

Almost as if he could hear her the vulpine youngster checked his pace to a walk, then almost a creep over the last few feet to the walled-in section. He paused for some seconds at the entrance, ears cocked, eyes intently scanning whatever lay beyond the narrow slot in the thick metal walls, then cautiously edged inside and out of sight.

"Good boy, Tails." Sally allowed herself a brief grin. "Now don't dally; just grab and go."

"Sally-girl, we got company..."

"What?!" It was both an exclamation and a question, the squirrel's eyes scouring the warehouse urgently.

"Spy-eye. Must be on a patrol. Ain't seen me yet, but can't be long."

"Dammit, why now?" Sally spat, slamming a fist against the rail. "Can you see where its heading?"

"Back and forth across the place. It'll be a coupla minutes at best before it gets to us."

"How long for decrypt, Nicole?" Sally rapped out, teeth gritting, mind whirring at light speed as she considered their options.

"Two minutes."

"Too close," Sally muttered, dragging a hand through the fur between her ears. "Much too close." She caught a glimpse of glistening metal between the containers. "Should've foreseen this. Stupid!"

"Can't cover everythang, sweetie."

"I know. I know." Sally sighed, rubbing the bridge of her muzzle. "But if I don't try..."

"And besides, it's only one little spy-eye - easy enough ta hide from. Now if it was a load of SWATs movin' through here..."

"Sal, I think Buttnik or Needle-Nose know somethin's up - we got a _lot_more 'bots out here; dozens of 'em, comin' from three directions. I can't keep 'em off forever!"

"Darn ma big rabbit mouth..."

"Understood, Sonic - we'll be out in three minutes, tops."

"Gotcha!"

"How's Tails doin', Sally-girl?"

"No sign of him. I'm getting worried, now..."

"Maybe there's a spy-eye in there, too."

"Maybe. Talking of, how's the one down there?"

"Gettin' closer, and darnit, there's another one, comin' from the other direction."

"Oh, this is getting ridiculous. How-"

"One minute, Sally."

"And then up to another minute for download." The squirrel switched her gaze back to the enclosed section, just in time to see Tails rocket from the slot in the wall and along the gantry so fast he was literally blurring, his tails whirring frantically behind him. "What on Mobius...?"

"What's up, sweetie?"

"Tails, moving like there's an army of SWATbots on his back," Sally responded, not at all sure what to make of the youngster's behaviour. "But there's nothing behind him..." Her eyes widened sharply, and her heart made a leap for her throat. "Oh, please no..."

"Terminal decrypted - commencing file download."

"Those eyes are almost on us, Sally-girl - three more sweeps and they'll see us for sure."

"Understood." Barely had she finished than Tails was stumbling to a halt in front of her. "Tails, what -"

"Bomb!" He gasped out, trembling violently. "Th-there's a b-bomb!"

Sally had to clutch the rail hard to keep herself upright. "Trap!" she husked, shaking more than a little herself. "This whole damn thing's a trap!" She tapped her headset. "Sonic! It's a trap! We need your speed - NOW!"

"I'm comin', Sal!"

"Download complete."

"We're gone. Tails."

The fox was already in the air, catching hold of her wrists and carrying her over the rail in one whip-fast movement. They descended hard and fast, a tiring Tails letting Sally go, at her request, several feet above the ground. She landed at a crouch right next to Bunnie, straightening up in time to soften Tails' landing, then all three flattened themselves behind a container, seconds before a spy-eye floated past, it's hyper-sensitive electronic namesake ceaselessly in motion.

Sally watched intently until it was out of sight. "Two...one...now!"

The three darted round to the other side of the container, fractionally before another spy-eye appeared.

"Two...one...go!"

Bunnie holding Tails tightly to her chest, she and Sally broke into a flat out sprint across the warehouse, reaching the exit door in a matter of moments, only to find it shut and locked.

"Naturally." Sally just resisted the powerful urge to thump the panel, instead hammering the code in.

"Code rejected. Building lockdown in effect."

"Dammit!" Now she did slam a fist against the panel. "Sonic - where are you?"

"Right outside! Duck and cover!"

Squirrel, rabbit and fox barely had time to fling themselves behind a nearby crate before the door exploded from its frame, crashing to the floor with a thunderous boom and sliding fully ten feet forward, sparks erupting like fireworks, a bright blue blur coalescing into a crazily grinning hedgehog perched atop it, riding it like a surfboard.

He struck a supremely cocky pose as it came to a halt, legs akimbo and hands on hips. "Sonic Express now standing at Platform One, non-stop to Knothole! All aboard!"

A beaming Sally ran out from behind the container, Bunnie and Tails hard on her heels. "Sonic, remind me to kiss you when we get back."

"My pleasure, Sal." The hedgehog span on the spot. "Grab on and hang on!"

Sally clamped both arms tightly around the blue blur's waist. "Bunnie, grab me; Tails, hold on to Bunnie."

The rabbit had her arms around the squirrel's hips even before the latter had finished speaking, while Tails twirled his namesakes to lift himself the inches needed to try and follow suit. At the same time an impatient Sonic dipped forward to start revving up, pulling the girls forward and down, so poor Tails, already struggling for a decent grip on Bunnie's waist around the bulk of the backpack, now found his hands slipping up her torso to her chest. He didn't get a chance to apologise or shift his hold as a split second later the hedgehog pulled out a power ring and took off like the fur-lined rocket he was.

No matter how often they rode with Sonic none of them ever got truly used to the sheer ferocity of the experience. The world reduced to a streaking, screaming, flashing blur of colour and sound, the very air tearing at every inch of their pelts and clothes with a fury that was almost painful and utterly relentless, their bodies strung out in a long ribbon behind him, twisting and swaying and flexing with every move he made, the barrage of sensation was more than even Sally's keen mind could fully keep up with, let alone process.

The latter was the only one with her eyes open, doing her level best to gauge where they were, but only managing educated guesses at best. Bunnie, in contrast, did her best to zone it all out, focusing only on not crushing Sally every time a dodge or a swerve made her tighten her grip. Tails simply hung on for grim death, trying his hardest not to think about the parts of Bunnie he was hanging on to, and nursing a distinctly forlorn hope that the rabbit wouldn't scold or punish him for it the moment they reached safety.

That safety looked to be well within reach, for Sonic seemed truly unstoppable tonight, whipping past the many ranks of wildly firing SWATbots now filling the passages so fast and so close his turbulence sent half of them flying, laser bolts flashing around the group in a furious blizzard, but not a one even so much as grazing their fur, so dexterously did the hedgehog weave through them.

In a fraction of the time it had taken the trio to find their way inside Sonic was blasting back out, into the alleyways of Robotropolis; not that he stayed there long. With the aid of a few low-lying protrusions from the buildings and several unwitting SWATs he bounded up onto the rooftops, streaking across them in a near dead straight line for the fringes of the Great Forest and refuge.

Behind them a titanic mushroom of raging fire obliterated the central storehouse, its basso roar and the tortured screaming of the metal it shredded blotting all else out in a storm of white noise. A wave of searing heat washed over the group as Sonic jinked and swerved and side-stepped through a hail of burning, sparking debris.

Out in the open, with infinitely more room to manoeuvre and their goal in sight, the blue hedgehog's self-assurance grew almost as fast as he ran. Now he deliberately swerved close to both ground-based and airborne SWATbots, daring them to try and shoot him or catch him, whooping and jeering almost without pause as they invariably failed. Several times in succession he ricocheted off the side or roof or nose of a patrol craft, cracking their bodies like eggshells in the process and pulling faces at the SWATbots inside. His passengers, meanwhile, Sally in particular, felt a growing unease in their guts.

A second, then a third explosion, both as large as the first, eviscerated yet more of the storage complex, but a madly grinning Sonic paid them barely any mind at all, apparently convinced they were too far behind to present any real danger. The shattered, flame-ridden carcass of a SWATbot that crashed through the roof the hedgehog was crossing, so close to him its hand brushed his spines in passing, proved him very wrong indeed, not least since its impact with something large and volatile inside the building triggered one more potent detonation, a vicious upward punch of fire and metal that rent the roof asunder and flung Sonic and his passengers hard and fast into the air. They arced low over the narrow neighbouring building, into an alley and crashed into a wall, the blue hedgehog face-first with a hideous crunch, the others thumping up behind him.

A groggy, dazed and aching Sally hauled herself into a sitting position, then bit back a scream on seeing an unconscious Sonic slumped on his side in front of her, his face smeared with blood bubbling from a badly crushed nose. Bunnie was close by, her metal hand propping her up slightly, her organic one cradling her head, while Tails was a crumpled sack of orange fur bundled over the rabbit's haunches and backpack, his hands still clutching her chest even as he teetered on the brink of consciousness.

"Is he all right?" Sally asked, a little huskily.

Bunnie, flashing a gentle, wry smile, took his hands from her breasts and shifted gently round to look at him. "Some cuts 'n' bruises, but he's okay. Tough little fella."

"Good." The heavy tread of fast-approaching SWATbots growing in her ears Sally shook herself mentally and clambered up onto her feet, teeth gritting as the right one complained vociferously and the leg it was attached to almost buckled under her.

"Sal?" Bunnie's organic hand caught her under her shoulder, taking most of her weight.

"Sprained. I'll cope." She shrugged off her friend's grip and knelt to pick up the now completely insensible Tails, one arm under his knees, the other his shoulders. "Get Sonic, and keep close."

Wordlessly and swiftly Bunny obeyed, gathering the hedgehog into her arms and staying within a whisker of Sally as she hustled along the alley they'd ended up in as fast as her heavily limping gait would allow, then into an even tighter side passage, the walls so close together they had to shuffle along semi-sideways to fit between them. At the same time the ground squirrel was hastily running over her mental map of Robotropolis, trying to get a route together from all the little passages and alleyways between them and the Great Forest, knowing straying out into the open space of a main through-way would be nothing short of suicide without their supersonic trump card, and burdened down as they were.

Unfortunately there was one especially broad thoroughfare, one of several ring roads that ran around Robotropolis, radiating out from the main complex at roughly equal intervals like bands of growth in a tree trunk, she rapidly realised they'd have no choice but to cross.

Unless...

A faint chance, she accepted, but in lieu of anything else one worth taking. Teeth gritting behind a grimly determined face she took the next left turn, into an alley a little wider than the last, but which was cluttered with detritus, a tangle of rusted, jagged metal that looked to have crashed down from the rooftops an age ago.

Bunnie threw a questioning look at her companion. "You sure about this, Sal-girl?"

Sally nodded, already starting to thread her way as best she could through it, Tails clutched tight to her chest. "It's either this or the ring road and half of Robotnik's forces. No contest, if you ask me..."

"Fair point." Bunnie started after the squirrel, her pace a little slower thanks to her larger, more awkwardly-shaped load - squeezing herself and an unconscious, very spiny hedgehog through all of that twisted, corroded steel wasn't remotely easy, and to do it without at least one of them being scratched or cut was next to impossible.

By the time they both reached the far side of the wreckage Sally's waistcoat was all but torn in half right down the back, Bunnie's leotard sported close to a dozen gashes, some inches long, most tinged with red, and both Mobians had taken several nicks to their arms and legs. Their respective charges, though, were untouched.

"Goldarn it," Bunnie groused, under her breath, taking in her sliced-up outfit as the pace picked up again. "This was mah last one."

"I'll patch it up when we're back in Knothole, Bun," Sally assured her. "Least I can do after all this." A grin flashed across her lips. "That is, unless you feel like now's a good time for a change of wardrobe. Be the perfect excuse."

The rabbit chuckled. "Now there's an idea. Maybe ah'll take up your style from now on, Sal. Gotta be comfortable, if nothin' else."

The squirrel's eyes widened slightly, and the grin along with them. "Oh, very; and I'd love to see that - it'd suit you perfectly, and put nicely paid to that lingering self-consciousness of yours about certain things, too."

"Really?" Bunnie seemed less than convinced. "You all don't think anyone might...?"

"Not one." Sally averred, voice ringing with confidence. "Not a single, solitary one. Actually, if anything, they'll respect you_more_ for it...if that's even possible. For them to respect you more, I mean."

"Ah get what y'all mean, Sal-girl," Bunnie laughed, softly. "And Ah'll think about it once we're out of here, I promise. Talking of which, how much farth-AH!"

She stumbled backwards in a rush of heady panic, almost losing her footing, as a chunk of jagged steel crashed to the ground in front of her, coming within inches of crushing her toes. As her heart slowly dislodged itself from her throat she took in the spot the metal had fallen from, a sizeable indent in the wall of a building to her left completely filled with an unstable jumble of rubble. Most of it didn't look like much of anything, but in the gap left by the collapse a metallic body was gently rusting; a roboticised lop-eared rabbit, most likely a male, half-crushed under a stanchion. One of his hands was outstretched.

"Mah stars," Bunnie breathed, stroking her organic paw lightly over the metal head. "Now what's this all about?"

Sally cocked her head, several possibilities flashing through her mind, but none plausible enough to stick. "No idea. Can't hang around to speculate, though; that door just ahead is our - with luck - way out of here at last."

"Really?" Bunnie eyed it dubiously as they approached.

"If memory serves," Sally answered. "And it usually does." She gently set Tails down on the ground beside her, then twisted the door's handle. With a grunt and a grate and a shower of powdery rust it opened. Coughing a little, she gathered her vulpine charge into her arms once more and stepped through.

Bunnie was close behind her, pulling the door shut, then turning to warily take their new surroundings in. "More storage? How much do they all need, anyhow?"

Sally shrugged, moving between the sagging shelves, paying no attention to their decaying contents. "Not this place, any more. Not for quite a few years."

"So Ah'm seein'. Mouldy old place."

"Not exactly agreeable, I know, but as long as the stairs are still intact I don't care one bit."

That set rabbit ears to rising. "Stairs, Sal-Girl? That don't sound quite right to me."

"Just wait and see." The ghost of a grin curved across the ground squirrel's muzzle. "Should be two rooms further in..."

Fortunately they were relatively small rooms - in comparison to the warehouse of earlier positively claustrophobic - and they passed through a low doorway into the next in pretty short order. It proved in almost every regard to be identical. Almost.

Off in the far left corner a small huddle of toppled shelves had collected, an eye-catcher certainly amongst the serried orderliness of the rest of it, but nothing to dwell on unduly. When they got closer, though, Bunnie's long ears began to prick up, and her head swivelled toward it. Sally stopped walking.

"Something there?"

Bunnie nodded. "Sounds like they're asleep. And either real small, or real young."

"Young?" Sally's body tensed, her voice tightened a notch, and her eyes narrowed just a tiny degree. "Come on."

Purposefully she led the way over to the corner, kneeling down in front of the shelves and peering into the hollow beneath them, Bunnie doing the same close enough to her for their sides to touch. Together they surveyed the small figure curled up tightly into itself, a rabbit girl around Tails' age with soft tan fur matted with dirt and lop ears so large they reached down to her hips, clad in just a filthy white shift that stopped short of her knees. She was sleeping so soundly she didn't react at all when Sally stroked one ear aside to get a better look at her face, a gentle, open visage damp with tears and creased by fear and worry.

"How on Mobius did she get here?" Sally asked no-one in particular, her voice audibly catching. "And how's she survived?" She shook her head. "Later. Now we wake her up and get her out of here."

The squirrel reached out to very gently shake the child's shoulder, and the reaction was instantaneous - the tiny form tensed dramatically as bright hazel eyes snapped open, alive with emotion, regarding the squirrel and the elder rabbit intently for some moments. Just as Sally was about to speak the cub lunged forward to latch onto her, arms clamping around her waist, face pressed hard into her chest. A heartbeat later the girl was sobbing heavily.

"Well, that solves the getting-her-trust problem," Sally noted, fighting back a potent urge to enfold the cub in a tight embrace right then and there. Instead she very carefully gripped shaking shoulders and eased the child back, looking into her eyes. "What's your name?"

"C...Cream..." The voice was high, and so soft she had to strain to hear it.

"Okay, Cream - we're going to get you out of here, but we need to leave right now, and you need to stay as close as you can, stay as calm as you can, and do whatever either of us says without question. Do you understand?"

The rabbit nodded, swallowing her tears. "Yes, ma'am."

Sally couldn't resist briefly ruffling the tuft of fur between those huge ears, a gesture that seemed to calm Cream down even more. "Good girl. Now let's go - we've lingered too long already; I think I can hear footsteps..."

Bunnie nodded. "Comin' along the alley. If they spot the rust..."

Sally was already on her feet again and moving, Tails safely stowed in her arms, Cream pressed tight to her side. "This way."

She led them through to the next room, weaving through the shelves to the back corner and the narrow stone staircase tucked away there. Up three flights to the top floor they climbed, stepping into an echoing space filled with only dust and shadows. Tall, grime-streaked and dirt-clouded windows lined one wall, broken only by a slab of a door pitted with rust. It was to this Sally took them, crouching low so as not to be seen through the glass, easing it open and peering through.

Beyond stretched a suspended passage that crossed the broad main thoroughfare, a rectangular tube of metal and glass hanging between buildings some thirty feet above the ground. Half-decayed, many of the windows shattered, ragged gaps and cracks in the floor, ceiling and walls, it looked fit to collapse any moment. Bunnie surveyed all this in numb silence, then looked at Sally askance.

"You_sure_, Sal?"

"It'll hold." the squirrel insisted, trying to reassure herself more than her friend. "It has to."

Noticing that little more than a foot separated the windows from the floor she set Tails down then stretched out on her stomach, intending to push the child in front of her as she crawled, but that soon proved unworkable. After a moment's thought she switched to lying on her back with the fox carefully arranged on her stomach and chest, inching herself along head first. Cream, ushered on by Bunnie, followed the squirrel quite closely, sliding along on her belly. The rabbit followed Sally's method as closely as she could, her metal arm wrapped around Sonic to hold him steady against her, as well as flatten his quills.

Progress was agonisingly slow, the party freezing every time the tube of a passage shifted or groaned, or a patrol craft passed overhead. As she shuffled around a gap in the floor Sally couldn't help looking down through it, watching for a moment as a phalanx of SWATs marched by directly underneath, implacable gazes sweeping the road and its close environs, though never once looking up.

Halfway across a patrol craft settled into a hover what felt like mere feet from the passage, its painfully bright spotlight lancing through the windows and scattered holes in the left-hand wall. The group pressed themselves as closely as they could to the other side of it as well as each other, the probing beams a whisker away from grazing them, and held their breath, not even daring to look up.

Sally counted more than a minute before the light swept away and the craft moved off, but she didn't move until the last vestiges of its engine note had faded, and then it was only to peer tentatively out of the window. Seeing just a rapidly diminishing speck in the distance the squirrel let out a long breath and starting shifting forward again, with markedly more pace and a lot less caution, simply eager to get it over and done with.

Despite almost falling foul of two separate holes in the floor she got to the far side in a third of the time it had taken her to reach the mid point, and the others weren't far behind. The building they crept into from the passage was a shell, a skeletal remnant long forgotten...yet oddly familiar.

Bunnie's ears rose, her head cocking to one side. "Sal, this looks an awful lot like..."

"Yeah." The squirrel nodded once, settling Tails in her arms again. "He didn't destroy all of it; some he...adapted. Some he just...left to rot in silence. You can find the odd trace here and there, if you look hard enough, though it's all crumbled. Sonic put me on to them - he can be surprisingly observant, considering."

"Well, ma stars. Ah thought he'd wiped out the lot. You'll hafta show me all you and Sugah-Hog have found sometime."

"Consider it a date!" Sally flashed a grin as she led them across the room to the stairs down, her spirits picking up.

"I'll pick out mah nicest dress!" Bunnie proclaimed, not about to let a chance to alleviate a little tension pass her by. "Gotta look mah best for the Princess!"

Sally's smile softened, as did her voice. "Then just come as you are."

Bunnie made a show of visually inspecting her damaged leotard. "Ah really don't think this old thing is mah best, Sal-girl."

"I wasn't talking about the leotard," Sally responded, her grin turning impish. "Just you. Come as yourself."

"Oh." The rabbit's eyes widened, and her ears snapped vertical. "You mean_just_ mahself." She snickered. "You're really don't give up easy, do ya, sugah? Maybe we should meet up in the bathing pool tomorrow mornin', then. Ah really need a wash."

"And what if we get more company?" Sally enquired, taken with the idea but still wanting to be careful. "Like, say, Tails, or Sonic, or maybe even Cream here? You'd be all right with that?"

Bunnie nodded firmly. "Fine an' dandy, Sal. Ah just hope they're fine with it too..."

"Why wouldn't we be, Miss Bunnie?" Cream asked her, softly, having been paying rapt attention to the whole exchange.

"Well, Ah don't wear this leotard for comfort," Bunnie answered, just a little self-consciously.

The rabbit child's head tilted to one side as she considered this. "You got hurt," she eventually realised. "Like the others."

"Others?" Sally probed, ears pricking, and pace checking slightly.

"The ones Mama and I were going in to the machine with. It wasn't working properly, and it really hurt a lot of them. Some of them didn't move again afterwards. I thought we were going to be hurt, too, but we were taken away before our turns came. They...they..." Her voice was catching, and cracking, and her eyes moistening.

"Easy," Sally comforted, sorely wishing she could do more. "You can tell us the rest later. For now try and keep quiet - we're going back outside."

Cream nodded, swallowing and briefly closing her eyes as she settled herself.

A smile drifted across Sally's face, then she was cautiously easing the door they'd reached open with a shoulder. The alley she nosed into so tentatively was narrow but empty, bar a dusting of ragged weeds, the buildings lining it as much stone and concrete as they were metal. The clamour of marching feet and whirring engines seemed to be coming from every direction at once, echoing ceaselessly, but nothing was in view, so the squirrel stepped out, wincing as her ankle twinged.

"I think we need to take a little rest, Sal," Bunnie murmured. "Catch our breaths a bit."

"Yeah," Sally agreed, "but not here. Should be a little courtyard a few minutes further on. This way."

Setting a brisk pace in spite of her complaining leg the ground squirrel navigated the group along three alleys in rapid succession, following a rough zigzag pattern out toward the fringes of Robotropolis. No SWAT squads or flying patrols came near, and by the time they were walking into the courtyard the noise of all that activity had reduced to just a background murmur.

Across the oblong and completely vacant space from them the walls jutted out into an overhang in one dark corner, a compact shelter into which they were quick to scurry. Sally and Bunnie gently set down the still insensible Tails and Sonic, checking them over again. Both were breathing well, and the hedgehog's muzzle had stopped bleeding and started clotting, but neither looked like stirring any time soon.

Sally sat back against the stone, rubbing her ankle. "Not exactly our best night's work, huh?"

"Certainly good have gone a mite smoother," Bunnie agreed, "but we did get a few things out of it all." She patted her backpack. "Supplies, a pawful o' plans, a rescue...and no-one's badly injured, despite half the city blowing up around us. Ah think we've done all right."

"True," Sally acquiesced, softly. "Could have been worse. I just...wish I knew what's going on now. I don't understand how Snively suddenly sprouted a backbone, or why; I don't understand what he's after - it can't just be power, not with him; I don't understand why Robotnik isn't really fighting back - we've not seen him in almost a month; and I really don't understand why Snively, if it even is Snively, has started to siphon people away from the roboticisers. It just...doesn't add up..."

"Maybe there's someone else mixed up in everythang, playing both sides against each other," Bunnie suggested.

"Like Naugus? Could be. You'd think we'd have seen some signs of it, though." She sighed, running a hand down her face, then turned to the small rabbit sitting demurely next to her. "Do you feel up to telling us the rest of what happened to you? It might help fill in some pieces."

"I'll try. The robots took us into another room and made us put these horrid shifts on, then packed us all into transports. I don't know where we were taken 'cause we couldn't see outside. When we got there we were marched into a huge room filled with people, dozens and dozens and dozens, all wearing the same thing as us."

"Really?" Sally cocked a brow. "That doesn't sound like Robotnik or Snively. Were you given a reason why you had to wear the shifts?"

"Just that we couldn't stay as we were - they didn't like it. We all had to be the same, except for the code."

That set Sally's ears to perking. "Code? Where?"

"On the back, at the bottom." Cream tried to pull the hem round to show what she meant, but couldn't quite manage it, so instead simply pulled the garment off over her head, then held it out, pointing to the digits printed on it. "There."

The squirrel stared askance at the rabbit child for a moment, taking in the plush tan, orange and white fur that was now all she wore, a little confused by her actions. "You could have just turned around."

"I wanted rid of it." Cream laid the garment in Sally's lap then set to smoothing out her coat with both paws. "It's stuffy, and itches."

"Well, if you're sure..."

The cub nodded, visibly more comfortable.

"Okay." Sally cast her gaze down to the shift, scanning the small line of digits it bore, noting as she did so how coarse and rough the fabric felt. "NBR-SC. Abbreviation, I guess, but what for..."

"That wasn't the only one," Cream told her. "Others had AE or RA or TA. Mama had SE."

Her voice had faltered just a little bit at the end, enough to spur Sally into putting the shift aside and spreading her arms. She wasn't really expecting the offer to be taken up, but felt a need to make it anyway, the little rabbit stirring something maternal in her, so it came as no small surprise when the child shifted into her lap without a flicker of hesitation, sitting sideways against her torso and nestling close, head settling on her chest.

Bunnie chuckled, grinning wide. "Guess she likes ya, Sal. Don't blame her. You're real comfy."

"Says the rabbit with the luxury pillows," Sally couldn't help teasing back. She also couldn't help hugging Cream quite tightly, and dropping the lightest of kisses between her ears. "Don't know what I did to earn this, but I like it."

"Mama told me about you," Cream explained. "When we were in the big room with all the others. She told me she had a way to get me out, and that I was to find you, and I could trust you like I trust her."

"Wonder how she knew that? I don't remember any lop rabbits..."

"I didn't ask. Mama was right, though."

"Maybe." Sally stroked the girl's side lightly, smoothing down a tuft of wayward fur. "How did you get out?"

"A vent in the wall, hidden behind some shelves. A cat knew where it was but wouldn't tell Mama until she'd done something for him. She wouldn't tell me what it was, and she went away with him to do it, and she was bruised and sniffing when she came back." Cream's voice had faded to a hollow murmur. "Mama let him hurt her worse than the big machine ever could...just to get me out...and I just got lost..."

Sally quieted the child with a tender paw, coddling her now trembling form, even as a sick feeling curdled in her gut. Only once the rabbit's shivering had faded to almost nothing did she continue. "How long ago did you get out?"

"About..." Cream's nose wrinkled as she thought. "Six days; maybe seven. I tried to head east like Mama said but I kept going down dead ends, and I couldn't find a way through. I kept trying, but then robots started showing up everywhere so all I could do was hide and run, and never the way I wanted to go. I got completely lost, and ended up just hiding in that building, not knowing what to do. I don't know how long for. I thought I'd...die there, but then you found me." She stretched up to kiss the underside of Sally's muzzle. "Thank you for saving me."

The squirrel chuckled in quiet embarrassment. "Wasn't just me, you know. Team effort."

"I know." The rabbit child leaned up and out of Sally's arms, over the bundled lump that was Tails in pretty precarious fashion, and toward the elder rabbit, fully intending to thank her the same way. Only a few inches from success, though, her arms slipped and she dropped onto the fox with a thump.

As she struggled to right herself Tails began to stir, and quickly, almost as if jolted into life again by the impact. His body flexed and his hands lifted to try and make tactile sense of what was atop of him, running over a Cream now frozen in a kind of shock while waiting for his eyes to finally wake up.

"Sally...?" he asked, in a faint wheeze. "Where...where are..." His eyes finally cracked open, a few rapid-fire blinks bringing things into focus, then snapped wide enough to almost look like one huge one with two pupils. "Whoa...I musta hit my head really hard; you're far too pretty to be real..."

Cream, the tension evaporating, blushed lightly, and giggled. "I'm not pretty," she demurred. "By the way, are you done feeling me?"

"Feeling...?" It was now he realised one of his paws was resting on the small of her back, right above her tail, and the other the middle of her chest. "Sorrysorrysorry!" he gabbled, dropping his hands away, his ears flattening. He scrabbled out from underneath her, only to fall into the lap of a highly amused Bunnie.

"Easy there, sugah-fox." She ruffled his head fur. "I get the feeling she cares about as much as Ah did. Too trustin' by half, this girl."

Tails crooked a brow at her. "You're not angry that I...?"

"Course not!" Bunnie shook her head, ears flapping cheerfully. "Ain't like you could help it, hun, and 'sides, have Ah ever once minded you touchin' them before?"

"Well, no, but..." He hesitated.

"But what?" Sally moved over, concern in her eyes. "You're family to us both, and earned our trust a thousand times over. You couldn't do anything inappropriate if you tried, Tails."

"Someone said otherwise," Tails' answered, quietly. "The...the white possum that showed up a few weeks back. He came across Amy and I playing in the bathing pool, and told us she shouldn't have been nude and we shouldn't have been holding and touching each other so much, that it was...wrong. Got me thinking; worried. Amy too."

"Coming from someone who wears less than Sonic and keeps trying to cop a feel from any female that passes him that sounds just a _little_hypocritical." Sally's eyes narrowed. "I think I need to have a few quiet words with our new guest."

"White possum?" Bunnie's face darkened. "That sounds like the nasty guy who tried ta grope Amy that one time. Now Ah sorely wish Ah had punched him like Ah wanted to..."

"He tried to...?" Sally was practically snarling. "Make that have a lot of very harsh words with him. Bad enough he does it to adults, but a fourteen year old...and then to turn round and..." The squirrel forced herself to stop, taking a deep breath. "I really need to talk to Amy, too; make sure she's all right. As for you, Tails..."

The young fox sat up in Bunnie's lap, still looking just a little groggy, and perked his ears politely. Sally cupped his cheek with one paw, and locked eyes with him, expression softening.

"I want you to forget everything that possum said, all right? He's not entirely wrong, mind you, but he is ignoring a lot of important things, like you and Amy being practically siblings, which make a whole lot of difference. Something being inappropriate comes from more than just what you're doing - it's how, why, where, who to or with, when and a lot more besides. Making sense?"

Tails nodded, tails wafting and eyes sharpening up as he thought. "So me holding Bunnie's breasts as Sonic ran us away wasn't inappropriate as I didn't really have a choice, it probably saved my life, and she trusts me too durn much anyway?"

Sally laughed, and Bunnie full-on whooped with mirth, giving the fox a squeeze.

"That's about the measure of it, sugah-fox," the rabbit confirmed.

"Circumstances matter," Sally added, "and trust even more so, which you are_certainly_ not wanting for."

"Even from pretty young rabbit girls I've only just met," Tails noted, a shyness seeping in as he regarded his fellow youngster. "Which I_really_ don't understand."

"You're a friend of Miss Sally's, so..." Cream too was looking distinctly self-conscious, twiddling her fingers in her lap. "I'm Cream, by the way. Nice to meet you, Tails." She demurely offered her paw.

The fox hesitated for a second or two, then gingerly took it, but he didn't shake it. Instead, he lifted it to his muzzle and softly kissed the back of it. "Delighted, milady."

Cream blushed quite brightly at this, a smile tweaking the corners of her mouth. "Flattered, milord."

"My, my, my!" Bunnie beamed, her tone affectionately teasing. "Ah think our little fox just might have himself a little crush..."

Tails flushed so red his cheek fur almost glowed, wrapping himself in his namesakes and mumbling what sounded like denials, even though he didn't sound very convinced himself, and kept stealing glances at a now even more self-conscious Cream.

Sally leaned over to ruffle Tails' ears. "I really don't blame you, Tails; she's lovely. Now..." The squirrel eased the rabbit from her lap and stood up, testing her foot; it complained, but only mildly. "We need to get moving again - Sonic's been unconscious too long already. He's tough, but..."

"He'll be fine," a now also standing Bunnie assured her, squeezing her shoulder. "Sugah-Hog always is." She stooped down to gather up the hedgehog. "How much further?"

"Only a few more alleys and we're out," Sally answered. "With luck they won't be searching this far out yet, so we should meet very little trouble, if any, but..." She turned to stare quite intently at Tails, the fox standing close behind Cream. "I still want you to look after Cream, just in case. Keep her out of the way if anything goes wrong, okay?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" Tails saluted sharply, clicking his heels together.

"Reliable as clockwork. Come on."

Her ankle paining her a fair bit less now the squirrel set a pace brisk enough that Cream had to quite often break into a trot to keep up with her. Tails kept close vigil on the young rabbit, while Bunnie brought up the rear, ears and eyes alert. The buildings rapidly reverted to the all too familiar identikit metal anonymity, and the clamour of SWATbots quickly faded away behind them. The usually ever present background hum and clatter of mechanisms moving and working soon ceased to be as well, leaving them in a silence so deep and complete it couldn't help but unnerve them.

Robotropolis was never this quiet.

"You think ol' 'Botnik's abandoned this bit?" Bunnie's voice was just a whisper, but seemed to reverberate and carry like she'd shouted.

"Pretty sure," Sally responded, nodding. "He does do it, though we've never figured out why. Sonic's found a few areas like this; lulls, he calls them. Eerie places all..."

"You ain't kiddin'." Bunnie's movements had gained a slight touch of nerves, her eyes and ears flicking about just a little bit more. "Silence don't sit right here. Ah keep thinking somethin's gonna jump out at us any mo-" Her ears snapped tautly upright, along with her spine. "What in the hoo-ha is that?"

"What are you talking a...oh. That." A faint, distant scraping of metal across stone drifted to the squirrel's ears, and her pulse increased by quite a margin. "What is that?"

"Sounds kinda like somethin' draggin' itself," Bunnie suggested. "Or bein' dragged. It's ahead of us. Round the next corner."

"Anything else nearby?"

"No - just that."

"Then let's take a look. Carefully."

Sally crept on noiseless tiptoe along the dark alley, the rough rasping growing steadily louder with every careful step, until she reached the corner. Flattening herself against the wall she took a steadying breath then, as the others clustered tightly behind her, leaned around the lip, every muscle in her body tensed.

Twenty feet further on a small, battered, metallic figure was pulling themselves along the ground, a scuffed and dented feline robian with one leg almost entirely missing, the other bent sideways at the knee, their torso cracked in several places, and one eye a shattered hollow. The other, flickering faintly, fixed on Sally; it's owner sped up.

A shock of panic set the squirrel jolting back, clattering into the other three, sending them all sprawling in a flailing pile, struggling to get up and run the other way...

"Wait..."

All of them froze, four heads turning to look at the crawling robian.

"Please..."

"Oh, mah stars..."

"Help...me..."

The feeble, wheezing voice set them all scrambling again, but toward him now, clustering tightly around him, cradling him in a nest of arms and bodies. Sally stroked his forehead as trembles ran through him.

"We're here," she whispered, her own voice trembling just a little.

"Stay...with...me..."

"Of course." Sally glanced at her younger companions, expecting to have to explain, but the mournful yet determined looks on their faces said loud and clear she had no need to. "As long as you need."

"Thank...you..." By now his voice was barely audible and his single eye glowing so faintly as to barely be visible. In less than a minute the light and the shivering faded completely, until he lay still and silent in their collective grasp. He almost looked peaceful...

Sally wiped away a tear before it could fully form, swallowing down the lump threatening to form in her throat. "I guess it's...not just the buildings he's abandoning. Put him somewhere safe, will you Bunnie? We'll come for him some time, if we can."

The rabbit obliged without a word, putting Sonic aside long enough to tuck the robian into an alcove a few feet ahead, secreting him in the quiet shadows. Tails and Cream watched on, both showing a lot more composure than Sally would have expected.

"How many things have you seen that you shouldn't?" she asked the latter, softly.

"A lot." Just for a moment the innocent facade slipped, and a haunted little girl stared out at them; then she was gone again. "Mama helped me cope; helped me understand."

"The more I hear of her the more I want to meet her." Sally ushered the youngsters onto their feet as Bunnie collected Sonic. "And I _will_meet her, I promise you that. Now, come on - we're almost out."

"And about durn time, too; I've had more than I can take of this place tonight."

"You and all of us, Bunnie. You and all of us..."